Converting to MDPI - References are duplicated

DrRobKim
When I cite the same aritcle more than once it appears in the bibliography (APA 7 Style) once for each citation. Duplicates. Second citation includes "b" and so on. When I convert MDPI style, the bibliography contains dublicated of the references of course. Fixing this in the MDPI doc is a major consumption of time, hours. Is there a way to avoid duplicating references in the bibliography when I paper is cited more than once? Thanks.
  • adamsmith
    When I cite the same aritcle more than once it appears in the bibliography (APA 7 Style) once for each citation.
    That's not expected behavior. You'd only get that if you're citing two different items. Can you replicate this behavior in a completely new document? If (as I'd expect) that's not the case, a couple of reasons this could be happen in your original one:
    1) Did you export and re-import your library at some point while writing that document?
    2) Did you cite items from a group?
  • DrRobKim
    Hi Adam. Thanks for your prompt reply. After suffering from this problem for a couple years, I finally sought assitance on this forum, and within a couple of hours, and some related posts, managed to sort it out. Mostly.

    Yes, you are correct, the problem is related to export and import of library/collection. I work in series with my collabortor, not simultainiously. So, she does her bit, and emails the doc, and her exported library to me. I import her collection, and should I then add a 2nd citation for an existing reference, it appears as a duplicate with "b" for a 2nd citation for a reference.

    This problem becomes serious when converting to numbered bibliorgraphy from APA style and then having to fix the problem manually. A couple of hours of tedious, meticulous work. And then, should the reviewer(s) require additional references... well you can imagine.

    The work around, not exactly solution - If, after importing the exported collection, I need to add a 2nd or 3rd citation for the same reference, it is necessary to search/find using MS Word, find the original in-text citation, and edit it to the reference in the collection again, then, it is possible to add citations for that reference and not get duplicates. Zotero will function as expected.

    Yes, I would like to know how to fix this properly, with an exported and imported collection. If there is a way, please let me know. Thanks.
  • dstillman
    The fix is to not use export/import, which duplicates items. Use a group library for collaboration.
  • adamsmith
    If groups are absolutely impossible to organize (they're definitely the best option) it's possible to work on a single document with two separate libraries with some care: references are stored in the document, and any time one of you wants to cite an already cited item, they'd have to make sure to select it from "Cited Items" (only available in the quick format dialog with the red frame).
    This does require a lot more care, obviously, but it's possible and also avoids the above problem
  • DrRobKim
    Hi, thanks to both of you. I have been reading up on Groups. That is the proper solution provided by the platform. I experimented with Groups in the past with poor results, but we were trying to use the collaborate feature in Google docs and the same time. That tech is not quite ready for actual production environment, so, I discontinued use and dropped Groups at the same time. Issues may have been related to slow throughput actually.

    Considering that I work with several co-authors on several docs, but not simutainiously, and often with sketchy connectivity, I think I'll try the second solution above. Thanks again.
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