Journal Abbreviation does not appear in the Citation Style menu

mhawwary
I can not find the option of Journal abbreviations through the document preferences and citation style menu ?
  • adamsmith
    Then the citation style you're using is likely not set to use journal abbreviations. Check e.g. with the Vancouver style that's built in.
  • mhawwary
    My problem is that the references that I have added to Zotero does not have an abbreviation item correctly, and I am in the process of writing a paper to a journal who wants the list of references with abbreviations. So, I want to output the .bib file with the journals abbreviated.

    How can I do that ? is there a config file or something that can be modified or added ?
  • adamsmith
    Better Bibtex https://github.com/retorquere/zotero-better-bibtex will write automated journal abbreviation to your bib file.
  • emilianoheyns
    To be specific, it will auto-abbreviate if you have the option turned on (it's off by default) and have nothing in the "Journal Abbrev" field (which always takes precedence).
  • mhawwary
    That is very helpful. However, I just have one small problem remaining for now. Some references has a wrong or full title in their Journal abbr tab inside zotero and when I export using Better Bibtex it uses these wrong abbr. So, is there a way to empty those fields automatically ?
  • emilianoeheyns
    Not automatically, no.
  • mhawwary
    Ok. Another question, can we synchronize BBT citation keys with the online account ?
    I need to link my zotero library with overleaf and when I tried that I found that citation keys are just the old zotero defaults.
  • adamsmith
    edited January 12, 2018
    no, sorry. Overleaf gets the bibtex from the stock Zotero bibtex translator on the server which has no idea that BBT even exists.
    (edit: see more precise answer below; my answer refers to the first part)
  • emilianoheyns
    Depends on which way to sync it. If you use the Zotero API, then no; this would require a change in the Zotero server. I have no control over this. If you use Overleaf via git it is possible to get the BBT citation keys in Overleaf.
  • mhawwary
    How is that ? can you explain more emilianoheyns ?
  • emilianoheyns
    It's not a pretty setup, but it would go like this:

    1. Enable git on your overleaf project
    2. Set up BBT to auto-export your collection into your git clone
    3. Use something like sparkleshare to keep the bibfile synced
    this is a fragile setup, but it should work. I've asked Overleaf for a formal API, which they deemed "interesting", but I don't see it happening soon.
  • emilianoeheyns
    BBT 5.0.115 has experimental support for Overleaf git repos.

    If you have it enabled (https://retorque.re/zotero-better-bibtex/configuration/#overleaf), if you auto-export a bib file to a git checkout of an overleaf project, BBT will add, commit and push on auto-export.

    Keep in mind that git push isn't discerning; BBT will only add its own auto-exported file, but anything you "git added" will be committed and pushed along with it. I'd recommend getting a separate clone of your project set up for BBT and not do other edits in there (not that I keep to this recommendation myself).
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