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| kb:given_name_disambiguation [2021/12/10 02:22] – [Why do some citations include first names or initials, and how can I prevent this from happening?] dstillman | kb:given_name_disambiguation [2024/02/18 02:17] (current) – [Other Causes] dstillman |
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| ===== Why do some citations include first names or initials, and how can I prevent this from happening? ===== | ===== Why do some citations include first names or initials? ===== |
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| Sometimes you'll see Zotero produce citations like "(J. Doe 2004)" even though your citation style normally only shows the author's last name ("Doe 2004"). In these cases, Zotero is trying to disambiguate different authors according to the rules of your selected citation style. This is generally what you want it to do, but disambiguation can also occur if a certain author is inconsistently named in your Zotero library. For example, Zotero treats the names | Sometimes you'll see Zotero produce citations like "(J. Doe, 2004)" even though your citation style normally only shows the author's last name ("Doe, 2004"). In these cases, Zotero is disambiguating different authors according to the rules of your selected citation style. This is generally what you want it to do, and if you think otherwise, you should carefully review your style's requirements. (APA style, for example, requires this sort of disambiguation.) |
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| | Disambiguation can also occur if a certain author is inconsistently named in your Zotero library. For example, Zotero treats the names |
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| * Jeff Smith | * Jeff Smith |
| === Deleted Items === | === Deleted Items === |
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| If you've made sure that the author's name is formatted consistently in Zotero, one or more of your items may be pointing to an item that you've deleted from Zotero. When this happens, Zotero uses metadata embedded in the document instead. To check whether an item is still linked to your Zotero library, click on the citation, click Add/Edit Citation, click the blue bubble in the citation dialog (red bar, not classic), and look for an "Open in [Library]" button at the bottom of the popup. If the button doesn't appear, the citation is no longer linked to Zotero, and you will need to delete the citation and reinsert it, being sure to select from the appropriate library in the citation dialog search results. | If you've made sure that the author's name is formatted consistently in Zotero, one or more of your items may be pointing to an item that you've deleted from Zotero. When this happens, Zotero uses metadata embedded in the document instead. To check whether an item is still linked to your Zotero library, click on the citation, click Add/Edit Citation, click the blue bubble in the citation dialog (red bar, not classic), and look for an "Open in [Library]" button at the bottom of the popup. If the button doesn't appear, the citation is no longer linked to Zotero, and you will need to delete the citation and reinsert it, being sure to select from the appropriate library rather than the "Cited" section in the citation dialog search results. |
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| === Duplicate Items === | === Duplicate Items === |
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| If you have more than one copy of an item and cite both in separate places, Zotero will treat the authors as separate and disambiguate them in the text. You can fix this by merging the items in Zotero, either via the Duplicate Items view or by selecting the items in the main items list, right-clicking, and choosing "Merge Items…", and then clicking the plugin's Refresh button. | If you have more than one copy of an item and cite both in separate places, Zotero will treat the authors as separate and disambiguate them in the text. Within the same library, you can fix this by merging the items in Zotero, either via the Duplicate Items view or by selecting the items in the main items list, right-clicking, and choosing "Merge Items…", and then clicking the plugin's Refresh button. If you’ve cited items from different libraries, use Add/Edit Citation as described in the previous section to identify the associated item for each citation and make sure each one is pointing to the same item in just one of the libraries. |
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| === Disabled Automatic Citation Updates === | === Disabled Automatic Citation Updates === |
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