How accurate is Zotero regarding APA style? (V5,6)

David Boyda
Hi, Im using Zotero for my PhD and other journal work and I'm a little concerned at how accurate zotero is outputting to APA V6. I see differences in how Mendely outputs to APAv6 and how Zotero does it. For instance:

Mendeley:

Aina, Y., & Susman, J. L. (2006). Understanding comorbidity with depression and anxiety disorders. JAOA: Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, 106(5 supplement 2), S9. Am Osteopathic Assoc

Zotero:

Aina, Y., & Susman, J. L. (2006). Understanding Comorbidity With Depression and Anxiety Disorders. The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, 106(5 suppl 2), S9-14.

So which is right? Unless Mendelely is out of date?
  • stinson
    In my view, the formatting of that citation by Zotero is the "better" one pursuant to the APA (6th ed.). I see no reason to add the journal's name acronym before the full title. and Zotero correctly lists the page numbers. On the other hand, only the first word of the article title should be capitalized. But, my guess is that you blindly imported the information into Zotero. Don't rely so heavily on imported items; the better practice is to always double-check and make manual edits within Zotero when you first enter the item into your Zotero Library.
  • adamsmith
    Zotero is right - APA wants inclusive page numbers and certainly no journal publisher (that's what I assume Am Osteopathic Assoc is) at the end. I'm not sure where the "S" comes from - that's not something that the style puts there - are you sure you really want S9-14 in the page field? In any case that would be a problem with your data.

    Between Mendeley and Zotero, the latter pretty much always has it right when the output differs (they use the same styles and processor, but Mendeley apparently sometimes does weird things internally - also, most styles are written with the Zotero data model in mind).

    For your general questions - Zotero APA is good, but not perfect, there are some glitches still - some I'll fix soon, others will need updates in csl.
  • David Boyda
    Ah, your are indeed correct. I have been blindly importing references thinking Zotero was the end all and be all for references :).

    Okay thats a lesson learned. Gah time to recheck this paper..

    thanks Stinson.
  • David Boyda
    Im assuming the 'S' denotes a supplement? I could be wrong. How should it look?
  • RintzeRintze
    edited June 30, 2011
    It's a bit of a messy reference. The paper is published in a supplement to issue no. 5, and the supplement is the second one from that year, which explains the "5 suppl 2". Apparently, in these supplements page numbers are preceded by an "S".

    See also

    http://www.jaoa.org/cgi/content/full/106/5_suppl_2/S9
    http://www.jaoa.org/content/vol106/5_suppl_2/
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16738013?dopt=Abstract
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