Upgrade StorageRIS data changing when exported/imported?
Hi all,
My team & I have noticed a new Zotero issue in the last couple weeks where RIS file data changes when exported & then imported by another person. Common issues: the [ITEM TYPE] field seems to default to "Journal Article" (even when it was previously set to something else like "Document"). The [PUBLICATION] field data gets moved to the [EXTRA] field. Other fields that have been edited previously (ie. [WEBSITE TITLE], [AUTHOR]) show up as blank.
We are all running the most up-to-date version of Zotero. We all use Windows. We've noticed this happening even when the same person exports the RIS file and then re-imports it. This is major issue that is affecting our citations en masse, so we are looking to resolve it ASAP.
Any suggestions for how to troubleshoot this? Thanks so much!
My team & I have noticed a new Zotero issue in the last couple weeks where RIS file data changes when exported & then imported by another person. Common issues: the [ITEM TYPE] field seems to default to "Journal Article" (even when it was previously set to something else like "Document"). The [PUBLICATION] field data gets moved to the [EXTRA] field. Other fields that have been edited previously (ie. [WEBSITE TITLE], [AUTHOR]) show up as blank.
We are all running the most up-to-date version of Zotero. We all use Windows. We've noticed this happening even when the same person exports the RIS file and then re-imports it. This is major issue that is affecting our citations en masse, so we are looking to resolve it ASAP.
Any suggestions for how to troubleshoot this? Thanks so much!
It's not possible to do a lossless transfer using RIS, because RIS can't fully represent the Zotero data model. If you want something closer to a lossless transfer, that's precisely what Zotero RDF is for. RIS is an old, poorly defined format from a defunct reference manager, and RIS handling is largely based on convention — Zotero's RIS import code is a mess of hacks necessitated by the idiosyncratic and often-changing export behavior of other programs (including EndNote, the corporate stewards of the old RIS IP).
To be clear, we strongly recommend using Zotero groups for truly lossless collaboration. Zotero RDF will be close, but even that creates new items that aren't connected to existing citations in word processor documents, and it might occasionally introduce small data inconsistencies (though if you report those, we can fix them).