I’m using Jabref to make my bib file for a paper I’m writing, and I import all references from Inspire-HEP using the built-in jabref importer.
Inspire-HEP has its own system for citation keys, which involves three random letters.
For reasons of collaboration, it’s easiest if the bib file uses the exact citation key from Inspire-HEP.
Is there a setting in the new jabref that keeps the Inspire-HEP keys instead of generating its own?
Not yet. I’ll suggest it on GitHub. Meanwhile, you can temporarily change the citation key in the preferences to [CITATIONKEY] while importing the references
It is added as a bug in the GitHub issue tracking system at
Thanks a lot for adding it as a bug!
The temporary workaround just makes it import with an empty key, but hopefully they’ll get around to fixing this issue soon. (
If you are using an old version it is possible that [BIBTEXKEY] will work instead 
Also remember to remove the : from the list of characters that get removed.
The screenshot is from the latest version in https://builds.jabref.org/master/, just remember to backup your data if you decide to give it a go.
Thanks, that worked!
After that, I ended up updating anyway, and [CITATIONKEY] works there.
