Importing ISI format

bjcooper
I have recently started using Zotero and love it. Having said that, I am downloading lots of references from ISI Web of Knowledge. Some WoK citations will directly import into Zotero, but some will not, particularly older ones. When they don't show the icon for direct importing, I'm saving them using the Save to Other Reference Software option, which writes the file(s) in ISI format. I have tried the Bib Translator site to convert the ISI format to RIS. That works except for one consistent problem - it doesn't put in a line feed between descriptor sections.

So, two questions - I saw somewhere on the Zotero site that an import filter for ISI format is coming. Is there any news on that? If not, can anyone offer a fix for the failure of Bib Translator to write new identifiers on a new line?

Thanks,

Barry Cooper
  • noksagt
    You can export BibTeX from WoS. You can also use bibutils to convert files you already have.

    The WoS translator uses the ISI format. There was minimal discussion about breaking that out into a separate translator to work on stand-alone files. Avoiding the format is a simple work-around, though.
  • bjcooper
    It's true that many citations in WoK, when not directly translatable, can be exported to BibTex, then imported into Zotero. That works pretty well. Not all WoK references include the BibTex option and those have to be saved as RIS. I find bibutils a cumbersome method as I have to run two successive scripts from the Terminal (on the Mac), which takes longer than just correcting the errors in BibTranslator. BT is such a useful tool that I think it's a shame that those problems haven't been fixed. I contacted the author, but he said he is too busy to do it. Oh well.

    I've also noticed that most times when I used the Zotero translator to import a WoK reference, it does not import the abstract. I have been copying and pasting that into the Zotero record.

    Barry Cooper
  • noksagt
    Not all WoK references include the BibTex option and those have to be saved as RIS.
    Can you give an example? I've never had an entry in a marked list that could not be exported via BibTeX.
    I find bibutils a cumbersome method as I have to run two successive scripts from the Terminal
    Why two? Zotero can import MODS XML.
  • ajlyon
    If someone can post some example ISI records to use in testing, I'll make the necessary adjustments to the translator to make it import them directly from the file. This is a pretty simple change, but I want real test data (and I'm having trouble with WoK, so I can't get any myself).
  • ajlyon
    See also the tracking ticket for this: https://www.zotero.org/trac/ticket/629

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