Zotero, LyZ, & Better Bib(La)Tex are not populating the Year & Journal fields of the bib file

marsh
With Zotero 5.0.34.6, LyZ 4.0.0, and Zotero Better Bib(La)Tex 5.0.90, however I try to export certain items, they wind up with empty Year and Journal fields in the .bib file. OTOH, the Journaltitle and Date fields have the correct information. Apparently the two LaTeX standards, BibTeX and BibLaTeX, need the Year and Journal fields, because the date and journal don't show up in my document.

FWIW, I'm also using LyX 2.3.0rc2. The reference flow is Zotero -> Export via LyZ (according to BibLaTeX settings) -> bib file -> LyX -> LaTeX -> final pdf document.

Also FWIW, when I export a reference using Zotero's built-in export, the resulting bib file is the same as when I use LyZ.

Any idea how to fix this?
  • adamsmith
    edited February 8, 2018
    The BibLaTeX standard doesn't have journal and year can be replaced by date.
    Check p. 8 here http://tug.ctan.org/macros/latex/exptl/biblatex/doc/biblatex.pdf (massive PDF)

    Zotero and BBT are correct in using date and journaltitle and if a biblatex style requires year and journal, it's incorrect -- have you tried just using BibTeX export instead?
  • marsh
    Thanks, Adam. I'll try BibTeX.

    But here's at least part of the problem I think I'm running into. I'm using LyX 2.3.0rc2, which is notable for adding BibLaTeX support alongside the BibTeX support LyX has had for some time. But some document formats, e.g. the Tufte classes, only work with one of the two. So one may need to switch back and forth between BibTeX and BibLaTeX. Rather than have separate *.bib files for each, it makes more sense to have a single one with data in all the necessary fields for either one.
  • adamsmith
    bibtex and biblatex are only partially compatible. Mostly biblatex just adds fields, but in some cases it changes them. I don't think a combined bibtex/biblatex style that's actually correct is feasible -- we're certainly not going to attempt it.
  • emilianoeheyns
    Combined bibtex/biblatex is not feasible -- biblatex will try to make the most out of bibtex references it's offered, but there will always be loss.
  • emilianoeheyns
    (one such fallback is that "year" is supported in biblatex but it will be treated as verbating text, not as a date)
  • marsh
    I seem to recall the BibLaTeX manual describing some special files that can be input as options either to Biber or BibLaTeX and that make Biber/BibLaTeX able to handle a BibTeX file with certain differences from what BibLaTeX ordinarily handles.

    But as this is above my pay grade, I'll try to find other ways to work around such limitations.
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