[Tex/LaTex] Biblatex: no period/dot after initials if bibtex-entry firstname is only one letter

biblatexpunctuation

After several hours on this webpage, I decided to change to biblatex and have already configured according to my preferences. Apart from an easy way to change the order of certain fields of a given citation-style (alphabetic in my case), biblatex does almost everything I need.

However, it won't put a period (or dot or whatever it is called) after the initials of the first names if the bibtex-firstname-entry has only letter. Here is an example of my biblatex-definitions

%
%
\documentclass{article}
%
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
%
%************Bibliography*Definitions*******************************************
\usepackage[style=alphabetic,maxbibnames=99,sorting=anyt,firstinits=true,url=false,doi=false]{biblatex}
\renewcommand*{\newunitpunct}{\addcomma\space}
\renewcommand{\labelalphaothers}{}
\renewcommand{\labelnamepunct}{\addcomma\space}
\renewbibmacro{in:}{}
\DeclareFieldFormat*{journaltitle}{#1}
\DeclareFieldFormat*{title}{\enquote{\textsl{#1}}}
\DeclareFieldFormat*{volume}{\textbf{#1}}
\renewbibmacro*{volume+number+eid}{\printfield{volume}}
\AtEveryBibitem{\clearfield{issn}}
%\DefineBibliographyStrings{english}{references = {testbla}}
\bibliography{test.bib}
%
%
%
\begin{document}

\cite{Engelsman1973}

\printbibliography

\end{document}

with a bibtex-file generated by Mendeley

@article{Engelsman1973,
author = {Engelsman, FMR and Wiegers, GA and Jellinek, F and {Van Laar}, B},
journal = {Journal of Solid State Chemistry},
pages = {574--582},
title = {{Crystal structures and magnetic structures of some metal (I) chromium (III) sulfides and selenides}},
url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022459673800180},
volume = {6},
year = {1973}
}

Biblatex would abbreviate the name of Engelsman (FMR -> F.) and Wiegers (GA -> G.) but for Jellinek and VanLaar, where only one letter is given for the first names, it would let it like this. How can I fix this, without changing each entry in Mendeley. I use bibtex as backend, because I couldn't get biber to work and I haven't found a good documentation in the net for this (passed the whole last weekend on trying to get it work).

Thanks for any suggestions.

Best Answer

As Alan Munn has commented, the punctuation for "abbreviated" single-letter first names is correctly added with biber as backend. That said, here's a hack that adds the punctuation for bibtex8:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[firstinits=true,maxnames=99,backend=bibtex8]{biblatex}

\DeclareNameFormat{first-last}{%
  \iffirstinits
    {\usebibmacro{name:first-last}{#1}{#4\adddot}{#5}{#7}}
    {\usebibmacro{name:first-last}{#1}{#3}{#5}{#7}}%
  \usebibmacro{name:andothers}}

\usepackage{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@article{Engelsman1973,
author = {Engelsman, FMR and Wiegers, GA and Jellinek, F and {Van Laar}, B},
journal = {Journal of Solid State Chemistry},
pages = {574--582},
title = {{Crystal structures and magnetic structures of some metal (I) chromium (III) sulfides and selenides}},
url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022459673800180},
volume = {6},
year = {1973}
}
\end{filecontents}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}

\nocite{*}

\begin{document}

\printbibliography

\end{document}

enter image description here

Related Solutions

[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

[Tex/LaTex] Citing (author, journalabbr., year) needed

First thing to do is to add a field for the journal abbreviation to the article entrytype, journalabbr in the MWE. Therefore you need to declare a datamodel (an extra file; in the MWE I've used filecontents to simulate that) and you have to tell biblatex/biber to use it in the package options.

Then you have to modify the cite command, so it fits your needs. \citep from the authoryear-style (your citestyle) uses the \cite command. There you just have to add a switch, which checks if the field journalabbr is empty or not, and prints it out or not.

Last but not least you have to add the abbreviation fields to the entries.

MWE:

\begin{filecontents}{min.bib}
@article{boisson2003unexpected,
  title={Unexpected protein families including cell defense components feature in the N-myristoylome of a higher eukaryote},
  author={Boisson, B. and Giglione, Carmela and Meinnel, Thierry},
  journal={Journal of Biological Chemistry},
  journalabbr={JBC},
  year={2003},
  publisher={ASBMB}
}
\end{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents}{authorjabbryear.dbx}
\ProvidesFile{authorjabbryear.dbx}
\DeclareDatamodelFields[type=field,datatype=literal]{journalabbr}
\DeclareDatamodelEntryfields[article]{journalabbr}
\end{filecontents}

\documentclass[fontsize=11pt, paper=a4, ngerman, DIV=calc]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[scaled]{helvet}
\renewcommand*\familydefault{\sfdefault}
\usepackage{fixltx2e}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage[german=quotes]{csquotes}
\usepackage[style=authoryear-comp,sortcites=true,sorting=nyt,isbn=false,natbib=true, citestyle=authoryear,bibstyle=authoryear,backend=biber,maxnames=1,maxcitenames=1,
,datamodel=authorjabbryear%added!
] {biblatex}

\DefineBibliographyStrings{ngerman}{ andothers = {{et\,al\adddot}} }

\renewbibmacro*{cite}{%from authoryear.cbx
  \iffieldundef{shorthand}
    {\ifthenelse{\ifnameundef{labelname}\OR\iffieldundef{labelyear}}
       {\usebibmacro{cite:label}%
        \setunit{\addspace}}
       {\printnames{labelname}%
        \setunit{\nameyeardelim}}%
     \iffieldundef{journalabbr}{}{%
        \printfield{journalabbr}%
        \setunit{\nameyeardelim}%
        }%
     \usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}}
    {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}}}

\addbibresource{min.bib}

\begin{document}

\citep{boisson2003unexpected} 

How it should look like: 

(Boisson et al., JBC, 2003)

\printbibliography

\end{document}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

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

[Tex/LaTex] Citing (author, journalabbr., year) needed

Related Question