Best item type for British or ISO standards?

Sam.Williams
Hello,

New user here, with a question about the predefined item types in Zotero. Sorry if this has been asked before, I did a quick search in the forum but didn't find anything that was very helpful.

Much of my library consists of British standards or ISO standards, and there doesn't seem to be a built in item type that captures all of the information that I would like in one place. The 'Report' item type seems the closest, but doesn't include the ISBN field. The 'Book' item type has the ISBN field, but foregoes the Report Number field (which I am using for the Standard Number), number of pages and Report Type which are all useful fields.

Here is an example of the type of think that I am trying to catalogue - the product details tab gives the key information: http://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail/?pid=000000000030268408

Can I create a custom item type which includes all of the fields that I need, or am I limited to those which are built in?

Thanks in advance,

Sam

  • adamsmith
    We're probably going to get a standard item type eventually (see https://github.com/citation-style-language/zotero-bits/issues/52 ) but until then I'd probably use report and add the ISBN in the Extra field using the syntax "ISBN: 978-12345-12345" (without the quotation marks). Where citation styles use ISBNs, those will be picked up and if the report type does get an ISBN field, it'll migrate that content.
  • BibCat
    I've the same necessity...
  • mtstle
    If I'm required by an instructor to use a specific citation style, e.g. APA 6th, but I need to cite an ISO standard, is it possible to use APA for most of the document but "Report" for the individual ISO citation and or bibliographic entry? mtcstle
  • adamsmith
    I'm not sure I understand the question. APA is a citation style, Report is an item type. You can of course you can cite Report item types in APA style. I doubt it will perfectly format ISO standards to APA specifications, so you should manually check and if necessary fix them before submitting the paper.
  • mtstle
    Don't know what I was thinking, adamsmith. But let's just say, I'm using APA6th but want to use ISO-690-author-date, for this one citation, or just for the single biblography entry. Can it be done? Will the auto-ordering of bibliographic material continue to work?
    Probably best to just do as you suggested to Sam, back in January. And as you say, touch it up manually, before submission. Thanks, mtcstle
  • bwiernik
    You can’t mix two styles in one document, though of course you could modify APA to format reports like ISO. You can also manually add the reference at the end after Unlinking Citations. But you can probably get very close to the correct format using just APA and the report type.
  • mtstle
    Thanks, bwiernik. I think your correct on all counts.
  • markirle
    Hmmm, it is now 2022 and I think that we are still waiting for a style for standards (or norms or regulations), e.g. EN ISO 18135. I am surprised that this lack of style is not more of a problem as in these days of litigation avoidance, everyone tries to use standards.
  • Sam.Williams
    @markirle, I'm still using Zotero which is great in just about all other ways. I ended up using 'Book' items for standards, which works reasonably with IEEE citations/bibliography - e.g.:

    [1] International Organization for Standardization, BS ISO 15665:2003 Acoustics — Acoustic insulation for pipes, valves and flanges (Incorporating corrigendum March 2004). British Standards Institution, 2009.

    Nonetheless, I'm reasonably technically minded so think that I might apply myself to creating a 'Standard/Norm' item type in the future. I would quite like to see dive into what Zotero does beneath the hood.
  • markirle
    @Sam.Williams, thanks for your suggestion. I have been using "Report", but, 3Book" is better because it is possible to give the publisher. I have been using the standard number for author as this seems most logical for alphabetical bibliographies. For example:
    Type Book
    Title Solid Biofuels - Sampling
    Author EN ISO 18135
    Date 2017
    Place Brussels, Belgium
    Publisher CEN

    Results in:
    EN ISO 18135, 2017. Solid Biofuels - Sampling. CEN, Brussels, Belgium.

    Good luck with creating a style; I am sure that many would appreciate it.
  • AbeJellinek
    @markirle: You can add a publisher to a Report using the same Extra-based technique @adamsmith described above: you'd add Publisher: CEN on a new line. Report is generally more likely than Book to produce a correct citation for non-book standalone publications.
  • adamsmith
    Note that CSL has a standard item type now. You can turn a Zotero item into a standard by adding Type: standard to the Extra field. We don't have much support in styles for this yet, though. I think IEEE might have it
  • longtermrenter
    Does anyone know any styles that definitely do include the CSL standard type? I had a look at the IEEE one and it doesn't appear to have it.
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