Bug report: wrong authors' name order

I am using Mac + Zotero 5.0 + Chrome. When I add an item from https://www.nature.com/articles/srep03949 , the order of the authors' names are changed. This is strange, and I think there may be something wrong.
  • edited November 29, 2017
    The page has the metadata that Zotero uses for import entered incorrectly:
    <meta name="citation_author" content="Daniel Alonso"/>
    <meta name="citation_author" content="Gerardo Adesso"/>
    <meta name="citation_author" content="Jos&#233; P. Palao"/>
    <meta name="citation_author" content="Luis A. Correa"/>


    You will need to contact the journal and ask them to fix it.
  • Please do contact the publisher about this. I noticed this problem about 10 days ago and reported it to their A&I team. This is a really important problem that goes beyond Zotero metadata. The metadata that is going to databases is also wrong. The reply I received said that if such a large problem was real they would expect to receive complaints from many sources. They recommended that I “check my settings” before complaining again.
  • Best I can tell this is now fixed.
  • @DWL-SDCA I’m not sure what details you give when you email publishers, but I’ve had good success by never mentioning Zotero or any other specific apps and instead just indicating that their header metadata is incorrect and thus is being incorrectly indexed by Google Scholar and other indexes/aggregators. I think like you, I’ve found that when I mention an app, they assume it’s a problem with the app not their data.
  • edited December 1, 2017
    @bwiernik I never mention Zotero. I regularly correspond or speak with with the A&I offices at publishers many of which give me access to their metadata via FTP. I have a first name relationship with those folks at many publishers. SAP among them. Another publisher’s rep actually said that their business is publishing and that getting the titles and summaries “out there” on Google is what is important. I anguished with the decision to keep indexing their journals. Every now and then some foolish author sends a well-written report concerning an important topic and I know I must continue to index at least some of their contents. For articles that are indexed, I must consult the pdf version to make sure the author list is complete and correct. Authors pay large fees to have their material published. They don’t receive the benefit of decent review or copy-editing. The recipients of those fees should at least make an effort to correctly list authors’ names. [/rant]

    I mourn the loss of Jeff Beall’s forum.

    Although we have access to metadata from Elsevier, Sage, Taylor & Francis Group, and other publishers’ journals; for journals not indexed cover-to-cover we use Zotero to examine the journal websites and selectively import articles that meet the inclusion criteria. That is much quicker than importing full contents via ftp and then dumping that which is non-relevant. Essentially, I use Zotero as a smart MODS translator — one that allows me to quickly see that important fields are filled and in the proper format. When batch editing of Zotero records is implemented I will be overjoyed. Manually adding a language tag and deleting “Supplement C” from zillions of ScienceDirect each day is more than tedious.

    If you want to know more write to me directly. My email is included on my website listed in my Zotero profile.
  • Sigh, that is incredibly frustrating.
  • I've noticed the weird "Supplement C" in the Issue field for many/most ScienceDirect saves. I have wondered what it is and just leave it there given my ignorance if it's a real thing or not. So, it is not and I should delete it?
  • Yes. We have no idea what's going on at Elsevier
  • In my conversation with Elsevier A&I I learned that this was an indication that all issues in the volume were combined into a single Combo issue. They couldn’t explain why this included the word, supplement.
  • Perhaps, I should add that I asked if their German - language Combination issues were labeled with the letter “K” she laughed and said that I shouldn't give them ideas.
  • Why, why, why...
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