Initialize-with only for second given name

dombeck
Hi there,

by adding the option initialize-with=". " into the author macro, it is possible to initialize the given name(s) of the authors and adding a ". " to it, e.g.

Heckman, J. J. (1979) ...

However, I would need a format that completely displays an authors' first given name but abbreviates the second (if any) with a dot, e.g.

Heckman, James J. (1979)

Since I actually do not have anything more than "Heckman, James J" in my database (which is Mendeley), using the long format in the .csl file it consequentially looks like

Heckman, James J (1979)

without a dot after the second "J", but I would appreciate if any of you knows an .csl option to get the second form. Maybe the logic of that option could follow a rule like "if number of given names =2 add dot to second given name"

Thanks for any suggestions!
  • fbennett
    There is no option in CSL that will do this. The best approach will be to include the period on the names in the database, which will produce the result you're after in this case. The same approach is taken with terms (like "et al." or "Mar.") in CSL 1.0 -- it's much easier to remove periods than to insert them correctly. All sorts of strange and wonderful things can happen when machines are asked to insert punctuation intended for humans.

    To produce the opposite result (the initial in a full name without a period) would require a small extension to CSL, to permit the use of the "strip-periods" attribute on the cs:name element. That's not currently allowed by the schema, but it's a small change that might be possible for a future release.
  • dombeck
    Thank you, fbennett, for your immediate answer. However, I'm not yet sure if adding periods in the database is the perfect solution for me. I'm using Mendeley where I have also shared folders with co-authors who usually have no periods added to the initials of an author, and I'm worried that this approach might cause some confusion when references are synchronized...
    Since I will not often use the specific journal style mentioned above, maybe I will try to program a search-and-replace solution in a word processor.

    Nonetheless thanks for your helpful suggestions, I will keep them in mind.
  • blockeliz
    Thanks.
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