Error when saving papers from sciencedirect

Shelling0
edited August 24, 2018
From yesterday (Aug. 23, 2018) on, an error continuously occurs when I save items from sciencedirect using Zotero connector for Chrome.

The error message says, "An error occured saving with ScienceDirect. Attempting to save with using Embedded Metadata instead."

As a result, items can be saved to Zotero, but information about the authors is missing, and PDF is not downloaded even if I have full access to it. No such error occurs when saving items from other websites (e.g. sciencemag.org, PNAS.org). Restarting Zotero, Chrome, and computer does not help at all. The same problem also happens to a colleague who uses Zotero.

Can anybody help?
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  • DWL-SDCA
    edited August 24, 2018
    I can confirm that this sort of thing happens with all ScienceDirect journal articles. The error/alert isn't regularly happening for me but I cannot get the authors. At the same time the language field is now imported where I didn't get this before.

    The problem occurs whether proxied or direct.
  • adamsmith
    edited August 24, 2018
    I _think_ this should be fixed now. Sciencedirect does a lot of tweaking of their site, often with different layouts for different articles, so if this continues to be a problem after updating your translators (Zotero Connector preferences), let us know with a specific URL/set of URLs
  • Shelling0
    Great! No problem now.
  • thaibaoson
    Hi Shelling0, I am still facing this problem. Please tell me how did you fix it?
  • Shelling0
    Hi thaibaoson, I just updated zotero and zotero connector, and it's fixed. Have you tried to update them?
  • thaibaoson
    Hi Shelling0, thanks for your reply, I've tried to update zotero and the connector in both chrome and firefox, but it's still not working. The error message still appears when I try to save a paper from science direct, although it works fine with other website. I use zotero 5.0.55 in Win 10.
  • adamsmith
    as per above, we'd want URLs for articles that don't import.

    It's also not about updating Zotero, but just the translators, which you can do from the general tab of the Zotero preferences or from the connector preferences.
  • thaibaoson
    edited August 25, 2018
    Hi adamsmith,
    Here is a link from sciendirect that zotero connector dose not work.
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141029616309099
    I've try to update the connector and use it with other papers in Sciencedirect but same problem still occurs, no authors' name and pdf files.
    I think that this problem happened to me since yesterday.
  • adamsmith
    Thanks. Do you have access to the full text of the article?
  • thaibaoson
    edited August 25, 2018
    yes, i can download pdf files in sciencedirect manually
  • thaibaoson
    edited August 26, 2018
    Zotero worked one time in sciencedirect after I update the connector in the browser and restart the system, then it broke down with the previous problem
  • zuphilip
    What is the error message before it switches to Embedded Metadata translator? Can you provide a Debug ID from your Zotero Connector in your browser?
  • adamsmith
    Let's continue this in a single thread here: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/73329/sciencedirect-still-no-authors-5-0-56-beta-2-6d898e477#latest

    I think I see what's going wrong
  • craiglperkins
    Hi,
    I've had this same error started popping up when trying to save from ScienceDirect, which used to play just fine with Zotero. I don't see a resolution in any of the threads on this topic. Does anybody have any suggestions on how to fix this?
  • craiglperkins
    I'm using Zotero 5.0.55 and Firefox, trying to save data from this link
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2017.01.048
  • thaibaoson
    edited September 24, 2018
    Hi craiglperkins, I still encounter this error in sciencedirect, I'm waiting to the next update of zotero.
  • adamsmith
    Works for me on that page. Could you please run through https://www.zotero.org/support/troubleshooting_translator_issues
  • craiglperkins
    Thanks Adam. After uninstalling and reinstalling the connector, rebooting, and resetting the translators, I can get data from that one ScienceDirect link to save now. I'm not sure which action fixed it however.
  • bwiernik
    (Resetting the translators was likely the action that did it.)
  • craiglperkins
    I'm again having this same issue, this time for the following link:
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2016.05.019
    Now, resetting/updating the translators in the connector plug-in does not fix the problem.

  • craiglperkins
    Another aspect of this issue that I just noticed is that Zotero went from not saving the author data to not saving any part of the record (same ScienceDirect link, after resetting translators, restarting Zotero). Clicking the connector still yields a message saying that Zotero is saving to the folder that I selected, that there is a problem but was using metadata, however I don't find any part of the record anywhere in my library. Strange.
  • adamsmith
    If you've definitely run through all the other steps (add-ons, privacy settings) in the troubleshooting, we'd want a debug ID from the Firefox connector for trying to save that item (which saves fine for me). Also, just in case, the URL exactly as you see it when you're trying to save.
  • craiglperkins
    The URL is https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927024816301209?via=ihub

    Debug ID is D1659510632
  • adamsmith
    @dstillman could you take a look?
  • adomasven
    @craiglperkins the Debug ID doesn't contain you trying to save the page. You should take these steps:

    1. Open the Zotero Connector preferences
    2. In the Advanced tab of the Zotero Connector preferences, check the box next to “Enable Logging.” Do not close this tab.
    3. In a new tab navigate to https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927024816301209?via=ihub
    4. After the page loads, hit the Zotero button and wait for the save to finish/fail.
    5. Go back to the Advanced tab of the Zotero Connector preferences, uncheck "Enable Logging" and click Submit to Zotero Server.
  • craiglperkins
    @adomasven, I'm pretty sure that's what I did the first time but here goes again. BTW, does it matter which "submit" button is used? The Debug ID from "Submit Bug Report" is D26436213. This was generated after Zotero failed on that ScienceDirect link. The failure this time was not loading author data or the pdf. If it matters, I'm always using Zotero at a Federal site where I have access to the pdfs.
  • dstillman
    edited October 4, 2018
    Parsing code for ScienceDirect (b6d0a7a-d076-48ae-b2f0-b6de28b194e, 2018-05-21 08:53:02)
    It looks like you still have an outdated translator for ScienceDirect (which should show a timestamp from 2018-09-08).

    Can you reset translators in both Zotero and then the Zotero Connector and try again, and provide another Debug ID if it still fails?
  • craiglperkins
    Done. The new Debug ID is D1660793334 after failing in the same way (no data for authors). The timestamp appears unchanged, and I reset translators in both Zotero and the Connector. Maybe there's a firewall or permissions issue that is preventing the translators from updating?
  • dstillman
    edited October 4, 2018
    Can you provide a Debug ID from Zotero for resetting translators from the Advanced → Files and Folders pane of the preferences and clicking Update Now from Advanced → General?
  • craiglperkins
    @dstillman : I wasn't totally clear on what you wanted me to do but in Zotero I enabled error logging, tried to update the translators, then clicked "update now" in the Advanced/General pane. That made the "update now" button display "error". I then disabled error logging and submitted the error report, ID D1845180313.
This discussion has been closed.