[Tex/LaTex] biblatex-apa: Multiple citations in the same parentheses with the same first author, but different co-authors get condensed

apa-styleauthor-numberbiblatex

@MISC{john_big_1991,
  author = {John, Oliver P. and Donahue, E. M. and Kentle, R. L.},
  title = {The Big Five Inventory--Versions 4a and 54},
  date = {1991},
  langid = {american},
  publisher = {Berkeley, {CA:} University of California, Berkeley, Institute of
    Personality and Social Research}
}

@INCOLLECTION{john_paradigm_2008,
  author = {John, Oliver P. and Naumann, Laura P. and Soto, Christopher J.},
  editor = {John, Oliver P. and Robins, Richard W. and Pervin, Lawrence A.},
  title = {Paradigm Shift to the Integrative Big Five Trait Taxonomy: History,
    Measurement, and Conceptual Issues},
  booktitle = {Handbook of personality: theory and research},
  date = {2008},
  edition = {3},
  publisher = {Guilford Press},
  location = {New York},
  isbn = {9781593858360},
  pages = {114-158},
  langid = {american}
}

These two BibLaTeX entries cited within the same parentheses with…

\parencite{john_big_1991, john_paradigm_2008}

…lead to the following citation output:

(John, Donahue & Kentle, 1991, 2008)

As the co-authors clearly aren't the same although the first author is, I guess this shouldn't happen.

My Babel and BibLaTeX settings are as follows:

\usepackage[american,ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage[
    style=apa,
    sortcites=true,
    sorting=nyt,
    backend=biber,
    autolang=other
    ]{biblatex}
\DeclareLanguageMapping{ngerman}{ngerman-apa} % for language switching
\DeclareLanguageMapping{american}{american-apa} % for language switching

I also suppress some fields like url and redefine some bibliography strings, but I assume that this shouldn't be the root of the reported problem.

Also, if I inverse the citation…

\parencite{john_paradigm_2008, john_big_1991}

…and deactivate sorting, my output will be:

(John, Naumann & Soto, 2008, 1991)

Is there any BibLaTeX setting I've missed that fixes this problem or is this the expected behavior?

EDIT: I'd expect the first multiple citation to look like this:

(John, Donahue & Kentle, 1991; John, Naumann & Soto, 2008)

I really got no idea of how potential subsequent multiple citations with the same references should look like. The following would at least seem odd, as stated by moewe in his answer below:

(John et al., 1991; John et al., 2008)

Best Answer

As explained in my comments above, this has to do with the way biblatex-apa has to handle subsequent citations.

In APA style, the first citation has to contain a full list of authors while subsequent citations have only a very short truncated label of usually the first author plus "et al.". This is implemented in apa.cbx by a very special labelname format, that labelname is however not printed at the first occurrence. This behaviour causes the displayed name and the namehash (which is based on labelname) to diverge in certain situations.

A fix is to change all the namehashes in apa.cbx to fullhash like so.

\makeatletter
\def\cbx@apa@ifnamesaved{%
  \xifinlist{\thefield{fullhash}}{\cbx@apa@names}
    {\@firstoftwo}
    {\@secondoftwo}}

\newbibmacro*{cite:author}{%
  \iffieldequals{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}
% Multiple cites in one command
   {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
    \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}}%
% Single cite
   {\ifthenelse{\ifnameundef{labelname}\OR\iffieldequalstr{entrytype}{patent}}
% No author/editor
     {\usebibmacro{cite:noname}%
       \savefield{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}}
% Normal cite
     {\ifnameundef{shortauthor}
        {\printnames[labelname][-\value{listtotal}]{labelname}}%
        {\cbx@apa@ifnamesaved
          {\printnames{shortauthor}}
          {\printnames[labelname][-\value{listtotal}]{author}\addspace\printnames[sabrackets]{shortauthor}}}%
      \savefield{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}}}%
   \setunit{\multicitedelim}}

\newbibmacro*{cite}{%
  \iffieldequals{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}
% Multiple cites in one command
   {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
    \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}}%
% Single cite
   {\ifthenelse{\ifnameundef{labelname}\OR\iffieldequalstr{entrytype}{patent}}
% No author/editor
     {\usebibmacro{cite:noname}%
       \setunit{\nameyeardelim}%
       \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}%
       \savefield{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}}
% Normal cite
     {\ifnameundef{shortauthor}
        {\printnames[labelname][-\value{listtotal}]{labelname}}%
        {\cbx@apa@ifnamesaved
          {\printnames{shortauthor}}
          {\printnames[labelname][-\value{listtotal}]{author}\addspace\printnames[sabrackets]{shortauthor}}}%
      \setunit{\nameyeardelim}%
      \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}%
      \savefield{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}}}%
   \setunit{\multicitedelim}}

\newbibmacro*{textcite}{%
  \iffieldequals{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}
% Compact cite - more than one thing for same author
    {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
     \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}}
% New cite
    {%
    \ifbool{cbx:parens}
      {\bibcloseparen\global\boolfalse{cbx:parens}}
      {}%
      \setunit{\compcitedelim}%
      \ifthenelse{\ifnameundef{labelname}\OR\iffieldequalstr{entrytype}{patent}}
  % No author/editor or patent
       {\iffieldundef{shorthand}%
    % Cite using title
         {\usebibmacro{cite:noname}%
          \setunit{\ifbool{cbx:np}%
                   {\nameyeardelim}%
                   {\global\booltrue{cbx:parens}\addspace\bibopenparen}}%
          \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}}
    % Cite using shorthand
         {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}}}
  % Normal cite with author/editor
  % Normal full cite
       {\ifnameundef{shortauthor}%
    % Normal full cite
         {\printnames[labelname][-\value{listtotal}]{labelname}}
    % Cite using short author
         {\cbx@apa@ifnamesaved
           {\printnames{shortauthor}}
           {\printnames[labelname][-\value{listtotal}]{author}}}%
  % Year
        \setunit{\ifbool{cbx:np}
                  {\nameyeardelim}
                  {\global\booltrue{cbx:parens}\addspace\bibopenparen}}%
  % Put the shortauthor inside the year brackets if necessary
        \ifnameundef{shortauthor}
         {}
         {\cbx@apa@ifnamesaved
           {}
           {\printnames{shortauthor}\setunit{\nameyeardelim}}}%
  % Actual year printing
        \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}%
  % Save name hash for checks later
        \savefield{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}}}}

\newbibmacro*{citeyear}{%
  \iffieldundef{labelyear}
    {\usebibmacro{cite:init}}
    {\iffieldequals{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}
       {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
        \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}}
       {\usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}%
        \savefield{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}}}%
  \setunit{\multicitedelim}}

\newbibmacro*{cite:post}{%
  \xifinlist{\thefield{fullhash}}{\cbx@apa@names}
    {}
    {\listxadd{\cbx@apa@names}{\thefield{fullhash}}}}
\makeatother

The MWE

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel} 
\usepackage[style=apa, backend=biber]{biblatex}
\DeclareLanguageMapping{ngerman}{ngerman-apa} % for language switching
\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.bib}
@MISC{john_big_1991,
  author = {John, Oliver P. and Donahue, E. M. and Kentle, R. L.},
  title = {The Big Five Inventory--Versions 4a and 54},
  date = {1991},
  langid = {american},
  publisher = {Berkeley, {CA:} University of California, Berkeley, Institute of
    Personality and Social Research}
}
@MISC{john_big_1992,
  author = {John, Oliver P. and Donahue, E. M. and Kentle, R. L.},
  title = {The Big Five Inventory--Versions 4b and 5},
  date = {1992},
  langid = {american},
  publisher = {Berkeley, {CA:} University of California, Berkeley, Institute of
    Personality and Social Research}
}

@INCOLLECTION{john_paradigm_2008,
  author = {John, Oliver P. and Naumann, Laura P. and Soto, Christopher J.},
  editor = {John, Oliver P. and Robins, Richard W. and Pervin, Lawrence A.},
  title = {Paradigm Shift to the Integrative Big Five Trait Taxonomy: History,
    Measurement, and Conceptual Issues},
  booktitle = {Handbook of personality: theory and research},
  date = {2008},
  edition = {3},
  publisher = {Guilford Press},
  location = {New York},
  isbn = {9781593858360},
  pages = {114-158},
  langid = {american}
}
\end{filecontents*}

\bibliography{\jobname.bib}

\makeatletter
\def\cbx@apa@ifnamesaved{%
  \xifinlist{\thefield{fullhash}}{\cbx@apa@names}
    {\@firstoftwo}
    {\@secondoftwo}}

\newbibmacro*{cite:author}{%
  \iffieldequals{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}
% Multiple cites in one command
   {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
    \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}}%
% Single cite
   {\ifthenelse{\ifnameundef{labelname}\OR\iffieldequalstr{entrytype}{patent}}
% No author/editor
     {\usebibmacro{cite:noname}%
       \savefield{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}}
% Normal cite
     {\ifnameundef{shortauthor}
        {\printnames[labelname][-\value{listtotal}]{labelname}}%
        {\cbx@apa@ifnamesaved
          {\printnames{shortauthor}}
          {\printnames[labelname][-\value{listtotal}]{author}\addspace\printnames[sabrackets]{shortauthor}}}%
      \savefield{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}}}%
   \setunit{\multicitedelim}}

\newbibmacro*{cite}{%
  \iffieldequals{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}
% Multiple cites in one command
   {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
    \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}}%
% Single cite
   {\ifthenelse{\ifnameundef{labelname}\OR\iffieldequalstr{entrytype}{patent}}
% No author/editor
     {\usebibmacro{cite:noname}%
       \setunit{\nameyeardelim}%
       \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}%
       \savefield{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}}
% Normal cite
     {\ifnameundef{shortauthor}
        {\printnames[labelname][-\value{listtotal}]{labelname}}%
        {\cbx@apa@ifnamesaved
          {\printnames{shortauthor}}
          {\printnames[labelname][-\value{listtotal}]{author}\addspace\printnames[sabrackets]{shortauthor}}}%
      \setunit{\nameyeardelim}%
      \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}%
      \savefield{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}}}%
   \setunit{\multicitedelim}}

\newbibmacro*{textcite}{%
  \iffieldequals{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}
% Compact cite - more than one thing for same author
    {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
     \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}}
% New cite
    {%
    \ifbool{cbx:parens}
      {\bibcloseparen\global\boolfalse{cbx:parens}}
      {}%
      \setunit{\compcitedelim}%
      \ifthenelse{\ifnameundef{labelname}\OR\iffieldequalstr{entrytype}{patent}}
  % No author/editor or patent
       {\iffieldundef{shorthand}%
    % Cite using title
         {\usebibmacro{cite:noname}%
          \setunit{\ifbool{cbx:np}%
                   {\nameyeardelim}%
                   {\global\booltrue{cbx:parens}\addspace\bibopenparen}}%
          \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}}
    % Cite using shorthand
         {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}}}
  % Normal cite with author/editor
  % Normal full cite
       {\ifnameundef{shortauthor}%
    % Normal full cite
         {\printnames[labelname][-\value{listtotal}]{labelname}}
    % Cite using short author
         {\cbx@apa@ifnamesaved
           {\printnames{shortauthor}}
           {\printnames[labelname][-\value{listtotal}]{author}}}%
  % Year
        \setunit{\ifbool{cbx:np}
                  {\nameyeardelim}
                  {\global\booltrue{cbx:parens}\addspace\bibopenparen}}%
  % Put the shortauthor inside the year brackets if necessary
        \ifnameundef{shortauthor}
         {}
         {\cbx@apa@ifnamesaved
           {}
           {\printnames{shortauthor}\setunit{\nameyeardelim}}}%
  % Actual year printing
        \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}%
  % Save name hash for checks later
        \savefield{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}}}}

\newbibmacro*{citeyear}{%
  \iffieldundef{labelyear}
    {\usebibmacro{cite:init}}
    {\iffieldequals{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}
       {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
        \usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}}
       {\usebibmacro{cite:plabelyear+extrayear}%
        \savefield{fullhash}{\cbx@lasthash}}}%
  \setunit{\multicitedelim}}

\newbibmacro*{cite:post}{%
  \xifinlist{\thefield{fullhash}}{\cbx@apa@names}
    {}
    {\listxadd{\cbx@apa@names}{\thefield{fullhash}}}}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\parencite{john_big_1991}
\parencite{john_big_1992}

\parencite{john_big_1991,john_big_1992}
\parencite{john_big_1991,john_paradigm_2008}

\parencite{john_big_1991}

\parencite{john_big_1991}

\parencite{john_paradigm_2008}
\parencite{john_big_1991,john_paradigm_2008}

\printbibliography
\end{document}

gives the (arguably) expected result of

enter image description here

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Biblatex: Have only one author in citation — multiple articles with same first author, different year

The observed behaviour is indeed an effect of the full name (and name list) disambiguation introduced in biblatex v1.4. In your example, you partially disabled name disambiguation with the package option uniquename=init, but name list disambiguation is still in effect. To achieve the desired behaviour, add the option uniquelist=false. See the release notes of biblatex for details and instructive examples.

[Tex/LaTex] Mimic BibTeX “apalike” with BibLaTeX – (biblatex-apa broken?)

I've been able to answer my own question using various hacks I found on tex.sx. As @PLK pointed out, there appears to be a compatibility issue with polyglossia and Biblatex, but among all the styles I tried this issue is only visible with the APA style. So I am using authoryear-comp instead that suits the requirements I stated. This might be useful for anyone wanting a simple, apalike style, particularly when using Mendeley.

Citations: cite: year in parentheses or citep: Author-Year separated by coma) -> \let\citealp\cite \let\cite\textcite
If using hyperlink, creating link for the full citation and not just the year. -> Answer from @Audrey, see MWE below.
Use of et al. when more than 2 authors. -> maxcitenames=2
Bibliography: Only initials for first/middle name. -> giveninits=true, uniquename=init
Last name, First name -> \DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{family-given}
Never use et al. -> maxbibnames=99
Only show year, even when month is specified -> \AtEveryBibitem{% \clearfield{month}{}% \clearlist{language}{}% } (also omits the language field)
Never show URL (retrieved from...) -> url=false, doi=false, isbn=false, eprint=false
Issue in parentheses, next to volume -> see MWE below.

There are also some other tweaks in the MWE below, such as using "cited" instead of "cit." for backrefs, removing "in:" for articles, increasing vertical space for bib items.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\hypersetup{%
    colorlinks=true, 
    citecolor=blue} 

\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setmainlanguage[variant=british]{english}

\usepackage{csquotes}

\PassOptionsToPackage{
        natbib=true,
        style=authoryear-comp,
        hyperref=true,
        backend=biber,
        maxbibnames=99,
        giveninits=true,
        uniquename=init,
        maxcitenames=2,
        parentracker=true,
        url=false,
        doi=false,
        isbn=false,
        eprint=false,
        backref=true,
            }   {biblatex}
\usepackage{biblatex}
\DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{family-given} 

% remove "in:" from articles. Thanks to Herbert.
\renewbibmacro{in:}{%
  \ifentrytype{article}{}{%
  \printtext{\bibstring{in}\intitlepunct}}}

% mit "month" and "language" from Bibliography
\AtEveryBibitem{%
  \clearfield{month}{}%
  \clearlist{language}{}%
  }

% some natbib backwards compatibility 
\let\citealp\cite
\let\cite\textcite

% increase vertical space between bibliography items.
\setlength\bibitemsep{0.5ex}
\setlength\bibnamesep{1.2ex}

% Comma before and after journal volume. Thanks to lockstep.
\renewbibmacro*{volume+number+eid}{%
  \setunit*{\addcomma\space}% NEW
  \printfield{volume}%
  \printfield{number}%
  \printfield{eid}}
  \DeclareFieldFormat[article]{number}{(#1)}% number of a journal

% Citation Hyperlinks (not just years), thanks to Audrey.
\makeatletter
\renewbibmacro*{cite}{% Based on cite bib macro from authoryear-comp.cbx
  \iffieldundef{shorthand}
    {\ifthenelse{\ifnameundef{labelname}\OR\iffieldundef{labelyear}}
       {\printtext[bibhyperref]{% Include labelname in hyperlink
          \DeclareFieldAlias{bibhyperref}{default}% Prevent nested hyperlinks
          \usebibmacro{cite:label}%
          \setunit{\addspace}%
          \usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}}%
          \usebibmacro{cite:reinit}}
       {\iffieldequals{namehash}{\cbx@lasthash}
          {\ifthenelse{\iffieldequals{labelyear}{\cbx@lastyear}\AND
                       \(\value{multicitecount}=0\OR\iffieldundef{postnote}\)}
             {\setunit{\addcomma}%
              \usebibmacro{cite:extrayear}}
             {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
              \usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}%
              \savefield{labelyear}{\cbx@lastyear}}}
          {\printtext[bibhyperref]{% Include labelname in hyperlink
             \DeclareFieldAlias{bibhyperref}{default}% Prevent nested hyperlinks
             \printnames{labelname}%
             \setunit{\nameyeardelim}%
             \usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}}%
             \savefield{namehash}{\cbx@lasthash}%
             \savefield{labelyear}{\cbx@lastyear}}}}
    {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}%
     \usebibmacro{cite:reinit}}%
  \setunit{\multicitedelim}}

\renewbibmacro*{textcite}{% Based on textcite bib macro from authoryear-comp.cbx
  \iffieldequals{namehash}{\cbx@lasthash}
    {\iffieldundef{shorthand}
       {\ifthenelse{\iffieldequals{labelyear}{\cbx@lastyear}\AND
                    \(\value{multicitecount}=0\OR\iffieldundef{postnote}\)}
          {\setunit{\addcomma}%
           \usebibmacro{cite:extrayear}}
          {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
           \usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}%
           \savefield{labelyear}{\cbx@lastyear}}}
       {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
        \usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}%
        \global\undef\cbx@lastyear}}
    {\ifnameundef{labelname}
       {\printtext[bibhyperref]{% Include labelname in hyperlink
          \DeclareFieldAlias{bibhyperref}{default}% Prevent nested hyperlinks
          \iffieldundef{shorthand}
            {\usebibmacro{cite:label}%
             \setunit{%
               \global\booltrue{cbx:parens}%
               \addspace\bibopenparen}%
             \ifnumequal{\value{citecount}}{1}
               {\usebibmacro{prenote}}
               {}%
             \usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}}
            {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}}%
          \ifthenelse{\iffieldundef{postnote}\AND
                      \(\value{multicitetotal}=0\AND\value{citetotal}=1\)}
            {\bibcloseparen% Include closing parenthesis in hyperlink
             \global\boolfalse{cbx:parens}}
            {}}}
       {\printtext[bibhyperref]{% Include labelname in hyperlink
          \DeclareFieldAlias{bibhyperref}{default}% Prevent nested hyperlinks
          \printnames{labelname}%
          \setunit{%
            \global\booltrue{cbx:parens}%
            \addspace\bibopenparen}%
          \ifnumequal{\value{citecount}}{1}
            {\usebibmacro{prenote}}
            {}%
          \iffieldundef{shorthand}
            {\iffieldundef{labelyear}
               {\usebibmacro{cite:label}}
               {\usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}}%
             \savefield{labelyear}{\cbx@lastyear}}
            {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}%
             \global\undef\cbx@lastyear}%
          \ifthenelse{\iffieldundef{postnote}\AND
                      \(\value{multicitetotal}=0\AND\value{citetotal}=1\)}
            {\bibcloseparen% Include closing parenthesis in hyperlink
             \global\boolfalse{cbx:parens}}
            {}}%
          \savefield{namehash}{\cbx@lasthash}}}%
  \setunit{%
    \ifbool{cbx:parens}
      {\bibcloseparen\global\boolfalse{cbx:parens}}
      {}%
    \multicitedelim}}

\makeatother

% Backrefs "cited" instead of "cit"
\DefineBibliographyStrings{english}{%
backrefpage={cited on p\adddot},
backrefpages={cited on pp\adddot}
}

\addbibresource{bib.bib}

\begin{document}
Finally, as written by \cite{Attanasio2010}, my Bibliography is cool \citep{Galindo2002}. Furthermore (see, for example, \citealp{Attanasio2010}) there are some cool tweaks.

\printbibliography

\end{document}

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Biblatex: Have only one author in citation — multiple articles with same first author, different year

[Tex/LaTex] Mimic BibTeX “apalike” with BibLaTeX – (biblatex-apa broken?)

Related Question