Adding Datasheet or Manual item type

tasty · November 13, 2020

Hi,

Would it be possible to add an item type for Manuals, this would include things like; Manuals, Datasheets and Application notes. The IEEE have a specified method of referencing datasheets and it would certainly make sense in engineering. The links below describe how they're cited.

https://www.bath.ac.uk/publications/library-guides-to-citing-referencing/attachments/ieee-style-guide.pdf
https://ieee-dataport.org/sites/default/files/analysis/27/IEEE Citation Guidelines.pdf
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/140573/citing-a-datasheet-or-technical-document-in-ieee-style

Lattuga_Blu · February 5, 2021

I totally agree, this type of document is a kind of must for engineer.

Until a new item appears how can I customize an item myself?

P.S. thank you "tasty" to have brought this issue.

adamsmith · February 5, 2021

Use "Report" for Manuals/Datasheets -- we debated Manual a while ago and at least for the time being decided it'd be too narrow and could reasonably be captured by Report see https://github.com/citation-style-language/zotero-bits/issues/35

olivercouch · April 17, 2021

IEEE does have separate style recommendations for manuals and reports, but neither are suitable for referencing technical datasheets.

https://i.imgur.com/Fa0qNgA.png

See: http://journals.ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/IEEE_Reference_Guide.pdf

Interestingly though IEEE don't cover citing datasheets, though some institutions do: https://guides.lib.monash.edu/c.php?g=219786&p=5937317

See also: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/140573/citing-a-datasheet-or-technical-document-in-ieee-style

For now I'd suggest using the generic Document field for technical datasheets and manuals, and entering the details as follows:

Datasheets:
Title = Datasheet Title
Author = Company Name
Publisher = Part# datasheet

You'll get something like:
[1] Company Name, ‘Datasheet Title’. Part# datasheet, Accessed: Apr. 18, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://someurl.com/

Manuals:
Title = Title
Author = Company Name

There's also no ideal object for a Technical Standard at the moment in Zotero or a type in CSL, the closest is probably Statute.

https://aurimasv.github.io/z2csl/typeMap.xml

IEEE support is limited at this stage, but still a LOT better than typing it out yourself.

tasty · April 20, 2021

I'd also say it'd be useful to have as you might want to reference sub sections of doccumentation which your unlikely to do with a report. For instance it would be a bit absurd to just cite the entire Arm Cortex M4 Documentation when your just talking about one chapter,

bwiernik · April 20, 2021

You can Indicate that you are citing a chapter of a report or manual by adding the container title to Extra like this:

Container title: Title of the report

hstenglein · June 11, 2022

Following the discussion around (technical) standarts / specs https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/97457/feature-request-item-type-specification/p1
you could extend @olivercouch 's use with Extra: "Type: datasheet" as best practice?

Plain documents lack a field for revision, using the date field is improper for "rev. C" IMHO.

Appnotes are recognised by zotero connector as Articles which is fine for now IMHO.

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A further question we could or should discuss:
Are engineering / technical documents really "narrow" or more "in the shadows"?

To my knowledge companies and industries have their own "habits" for numbering reports, appnotes etc. (I assume big corporations hire librarians for a reason...)

bwiernik · June 12, 2022

Use ‘Type: dataset’

For the revision, use ‘Version: rev. C’

For numbering of reports, etc, all of those can be stored with ‘Number: 1234’