Different authors with improper citation

dstillman
This discussion was created from comments split from: Different authors with same last name not distinguished.
  • rokayam
    Please help me to fix this: Different authors with improper citation as below (styles Journal of Ethnopharmacology)
    (K. R. Bhattarai et al., 2009; S. Bhattarai et al., 2009)
    Bhattarai, K.R., Shrestha, B.B., Lekhak, H.D., 2009. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in the Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal, Himalaya. Scientific World 7, 85–91.
    Bhattarai, S., Chaudhary, R.P., Taylor, R.S.L., 2009. Ethno-medicinal plants used by the people of Nawalparasi district, Central Nepal. Our nature 7, 82–99.

    Same one for Diversity and Distribution style:
    (Bhattarai et al., 2009a, 2009b)
    Bhattarai, K.R., Shrestha, B.B., & Lekhak, H.D. (2009a) Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in the Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal, Himalaya. Scientific World, 7, 85–91.
    Bhattarai, S., Chaudhary, R.P., & Taylor, R.S.L. (2009b) Ethno-medicinal plants used by the people of Nawalparasi district, Central Nepal. Our nature, 7, 82–99.

    This problem is there in Zotero 5.0.52.

  • bwiernik
    The first just looks like correct APA style, which adds initials for different authors. Can you post a link to the style guide saying that it should be otherwise?
  • rokayam
    In my citation: Bhattarai in both cases are surnames where as K.R. is initial and middle names and in next case S. is initial names. I expect it to identify as Bhattarai et al. 2009 in one case and Bhattarai et al. 2009 in next case as they are different authors. It is not identifying them as separate but as same authors either citing them with surnames and initials as (K. R. Bhattarai et al., 2009; S. Bhattarai et al., 2009) or as (Bhattarai et al., 2009a, 2009b). The styles that I used are from the online repository as Journal of Ethnopharmacology or Diversity and Distributions.
  • bwiernik
    I am not following what you are saying is wrong. Are you saying that the authors are not being disambiguated at all?
  • rokayam
    Yes. It is taking both authors as same. Shouldn't it automatically differentiate?
  • adamsmith
    I still don't understand. In the two examples above, Zotero uses two different methods for disambiguating the citation:
    (K. R. Bhattarai et al., 2009; S. Bhattarai et al., 2009)
    uses the initials of the first author and
    (Bhattarai et al., 2009a, 2009b)
    uses the a and b suffix. Either method is fine and depends on the style requirements. If you're saying that one of the styles does this wrong, we'd want documentation for that.

    Using "Bhattarai et al. 2009 in one case and Bhattarai et al. 2009 in next case" as you suggest is not acceptable, as readers wouldn't know which citation refers to which entry in the reference list. I'm not sure this could even be done with Zotero, but it certainly _shouldn't_ be done.
  • rokayam
    In the second one it is fine. I am bit concerned about the first style why instead of (Bhattarai et al., 2009a, 2009b), there is K.R. and S. in front of each Bhattarai. Should it also go as the second one. I am finding it difficult to have it as the second one for the different style (specifically for Journal of Ethnopharmacology).
  • adamsmith
    Differentiating between different first authors using initials in the text is fairly common and definitely not incorrect per se. That's what the two most widely used author-date styles, APA and Chicago Manual, do, for example.

    Do you have particular reason to believe it is incorrect for the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, e.g. an example from a published article where different authors with the same last name & year receive a/b?
  • rokayam
    Yes, they should be as a/b not with the initials in the text. I think something is wrong with coding which I am not able to fix. It should come as (Bhattarai et al., 2009a, 2009b) not as (K. R. Bhattarai et al., 2009; S. Bhattarai et al., 2009) in the text.
  • adamsmith
    How do you know that?
  • rokayam
    coding means particular citation styles..I do not know if you have understood what I mean here. My question is why it is not citing references as as (Bhattarai et al., 2009a, 2009b) not as (K. R. Bhattarai et al., 2009; S. Bhattarai et al., 2009) in the manuscript?
  • DWL-SDCA
    Proper citation requires that different authors who happen to have the same last name be disambiguated so that it is clear to the reader who authored which article.This requires the includion of author initials.
  • adamsmith
    @DWL-SDCA no, that's not right. As I say above, some citation styles don't consider it important that you can disambiguate authors from in-text citations (and you can still do so via the bibliography). We can discuss whether that's a good choice, but it's a choice consciously made by a good number of journals.

    @rokayam -- it wasn't clear to me that you're trying to modify CSL code (and you didn't say so anywhere). The appearance of initials is determined by the disambiguate-add-givenname="true" attribute. If you delete that attribute or set it to false, the initials in text will disappear.

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