Bibliography generation errors

Suddenly, since about April 12, 2019 The Bibliographies it is generating are full of errors. For example in APA it is picking up the "Location in Achieve" line and adding it to the end of the bibliography. I tried a few other styles too and some do and some do not create the same error. Often it ignores the publisher and location info. It also sometimes adds a URL that is not the one we have in the "URL" information line. When creating a page of bibliographies there is seldom one that does not need correction. This is happening across four computers that share share the same Zotero Library.

These are almost all entries which we have used successfully before in papers and syllibi.
  • Hard to say without more details.
    The APA style did change around April 12. Location in Archive is indeed used under certain conditions, but that makes a lot of sense given the APA Manual (and it's odd you would have something in that field that you don't intend to be included in bibliographies).

    Most other styles wouldn't have changed.

    While there was a Zotero update around the same time, that should not have affected bibliographies in any way.

    We'd need more examples to say more.
  • We were unaware of any usage of the Location in Archive line that affected our entries, which are now over 9000. So we used the Location in Archive line to show which library and call number we have access to for the item, or the location of our digital backups. Up till this week those lines never appeared when generating a bibliography.
    What type of examples do you need in order to tell what is going on?
  • Apart from the issue with Location in Archive -- for which I'm afraid there's not an easy fix beyond using a style that doesn't use that particular field -- we'd need examples for any other issues you're seeing.
  • I decided to take a fresh look at the problem. I selected the first 50 references from a document that was created in link with our Zotero Library. I then generated their bibliography afresh and pasted them after the older entry. 24 of the 50 references generated errors. We extensively use APA and have not had the problem with thousands of references over the past six years. Any possible help in understanding this new problem would be greatly appreciated. Samples of error types are below.

    Adeyemi, M. B., & Adeyinka, A. A. (2002). Some key issues in African traditional education. McGill Journal of Education, 37(2), 223–240. Retrieved from http://mje.mcgill.ca/article/view/8622/6565
    Adeyemi, M. B., & Adeyinka, A. A. (2002). Some key issues in African traditional education. McGill Journal of Education, 37(2), 223–240. Retrieved from Some key issues in African traditional education.pdf. [this is from the Archive line not the URL]


    Albanese, M. A., & Mitchell, S. (1993). Problem-based learning: A review of literature on its outcomes and implementation issues. Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 68(1), 52–81. Retrieved from http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Abstract/1993/01000/Problem_based_Learning__A_Review_of_Literature_on.20.aspx
    Albanese, M. A., & Mitchell, S. (1993). Problem-based learning: A review of literature on its outcomes and implementation issues. Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 68(1), 52–81. Retrieved from Problem_based_Learning__A_Review_of_Literature_on.20.pdf. [this used the Location in Archive line instead of the URL]


    Alesina, A. F., Easterly, W., Devleeschauwer, A., Kurlat, S., & Wacziarg, R. T. (2002). Fractionalization. Journal of Economic Growth, 8(2), 154–194. Retrieved from https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/4553003
    Alesina, A. F., Easterly, W., Devleeschauwer, A., Kurlat, S., & Wacziarg, R. T. (2002). Fractionalization. Journal of Economic Growth, 8(2), 154–194. [failed to enter the URL]

    Anderson, J. (2009). Cognitive psychology and its implications (7th ed.). New York, NY: Worth.
    Anderson, J. (2009). Cognitive psychology and its implications (7th ed.). New York, NY: Worth. RHOADES LIBRARY. [Added Location in Archive line]


    Barman, A., Jaafar, R., & Naing, N. N. (2006). Perception of students about the problem-based learning sessions conducted for medical and dental schools’ students of Universiti Sains Malaysia. Education for Health, 19(3), 363–368. http://doi.org/10.1080/13576280600938455
    Barman, A., Jaafar, R., & Naing, N. N. (2006). Perception of students about the problem-based learning sessions conducted for medical and dental schools’ students of Universiti Sains Malaysia. Education for Health, 19(3), 363–368. Retrieved from Perception of Students about the Problem-based L - Barman.pdf. [Used the Location in Archieve Line instead of the URL/DOI]

    Thank you for looking into this.
  • I’m not following what you are seeing here. Are these double references (1) what you expect to see, then (2) what you are seeing?

  • To be clear, for journal articles, the APA style lists locations in the following order (showing the first one for which there is data):
    1. DOI
    2. URL
    3. Electronic archive
    4. Physical archive
    5. Nothing

    If you are saying that you have data entered in the DOI or URL fields, but it is printing the Archive or Loc in Archive fields instead, I’m not sure how that is possible. Can you please select some items that are printing incorrectly, right click, and export to CSL-JSON? Then, open the file and copy the text to http://hastebin.com, save it, and paste the link here?

    In general, you should not store arbitrary information like file names in the archive fields—those are sometimes actually used by styles.
  • I will try to follow your instructions. But it may be tomorrow.
    Yes I have info in DOI or URL fields that for some entries are printing Archieve or Loc in Archive lines.
    What looked like doubles was 1st how the bibliography came out before this week. The 2nd was how they came out this week from the same Zotero.
    We were unaware of any usage of Loc in archieve in APA.
    However after years and thousands of usages with no problem we were surprized that items which previous generated well now suddenly do it differently.
    I 'll try to get you the info in the way you requested.
  • @bwiernik -- recall that with default Zotero settings, URL evaluates to false for journal articles with a page range.
  • Right, I had forgotten that—first thing I change when I install Zotero.

    @jer4reasearch Check your Zotero settings on the Cite pane and make sure “Include URL for paper articles” is checked.
  • @jer4reasearch -- as a workaround, you could use a style like https://www.zotero.org/styles?q=id:american-geophysical-union which is APA with minimal changes but doesn't have the same archive code enabled.

    As bwiernik says, though, storing things you don't want cited in random fields is generally not a good idea -- citation styles will use them and the citation styles do change, be it to adapt to new versions of a manual or to cover more types of citations. E.g. Chicago Manual will also use the archive and location in archive field should you ever want to switch to that.
    Notes are the recommended place to store extraneous information.
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