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Requesting Styles

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adam3smith edited this page Sep 15, 2012 · 24 revisions

Requesting Styles

A few members of the Zotero user community donate time to create and update CSL styles in response to user requests. Their time is limited, so please follow the instructions below to make the process of requesting styles as efficient as possible. Your request is more likely to be fulfilled if your style is widely used (e.g., we don't have the time to create custom styles some professors require their students to use). Alternatively, you can also try editing CSL styles yourself.

New Styles

  1. Make sure that the style you're requesting isn't already available in the style repository. If you're looking for a journal style, also check whether there is a style for the journal's publisher (as journals by the same publisher often share the same style), or for another journal by the same publisher. If you find the style your looking for, but under a different name, request a dependent style (see below).
  2. Search the Zotero forums to see if there is already a forum thread about the style you want to request. If there is a thread, you may be able to contribute crucial information that allows one of the community members to create it, or learn the (technical) reasons why the style cannot currently be supported.
  3. If you can't find an existing thread, create one in the Citation Styles section of the forums. Use "Style Request: [name of style]" for the title of your starting post. You post should include the following information:
  • Mention which existing CSL style is closest to the style you need. You can use the "Search by Example" function of the tool provided here. We recommend using a book chapter reference as example, since those tend to be most complex and distinctive. You can also take a look at the styles in the style repository after checking the "Show only unique styles" check box to remove duplicates (hovering your mouse over a style link will show a preview).
  • Provide a list of the precise differences between the style you found and the style you need. This is typically the most time-consuming part of style creation. Make sure to pay attention to the main item types (e.g., books, chapters, journal articles, and websites). Pay close attention to the use of punctuation, the use of abbreviations (such as "pp.", "eds.", journal abbreviations), formatting (italics, bold), the use of "et al." in in-text citations and in bibliographic entries (after how many authors, how many authors are displayed), the way URLs are cited, etc.
  • If possible, include a link to online style documentation (e.g., the link to the "Instructions to Authors" section of a journal's website). It's also very useful to provide a link to a freely available paper formatted with the style you're requesting, as this often clarifies issues not discussed in the style guide (many closed access journals provide a free sample issue; you may also be able to find a freely available PDF of a recent journal paper (e.g., hosted on an author's homepage) by searching Google Scholar).
  1. Subscribe to (email) notifications for your thread. A community member might ask you for additional information, and this way you'll get notified when your style is done.

Dependent Styles

Publications by the same publisher (e.g. "Nature" and "Nature Biotechnology") often share the same style. To avoid having to maintain exact duplicates in the style repository, CSL supports dependent styles. A dependent CSL style (e.g. "Nature Biotechnology") simply points to the more generic independent CSL style with the same style formatting ("Nature"). Creating dependent styles is much faster than creating independent styles, so please mention in your style request whether the requested style is already present in the style repository under another name.

Changes to Existing Styles

Making requests for changes to existing CSL styles is very similar to requesting new styles. In many cases, there already will be a Zotero forum thread for your style of interest. Always make sure you have the most recent version of the style installed. Provide clear documentation for how the existing CSL style should be improved.

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