Key generator for the [authorsAlpha][year] style

Help
1

Dear friends,

Please, could you check if JabRef version 5.3 is now working properly to key generate for

I am using:
[authorsAlpha][year]

The result should be MBG+2016 but the system gives me MBG2016

@Article{MBG2016,
author = {Moujahdi, C.; Bebis, G.; Ghouzali, S.; Mikram, M.; Rziza, M.},
journal = {International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools},
title = {Biometric Template Protection Using Spiral Cube: Performance and Security Analysis},
year = {2016},
number = {1},
volume = {25},
doi = {10.1142/S021821301550027X},
}

2

Hello @Erivelton_Nepomuceno

The character + is removed by default in citation keys. Can you check if + is in this list and if removing it fixes your issue?

3

In fact, I was expecting the + as described in the Jabref help:

[authorsAlpha] : Corresponds to the BibTeX style “alpha”,

  • One author: First three letters of the last name

  • Two to four authors: First letters of last names concatenated

  • More than four authors: First letters of last names of first three authors concatenated with + at the end

4

I think it is a collision between old and new functionality, part of the problem is that the patterns are used for other things than citation keys. If you were to use [authorsAlpha] for something different than citation keys, the + would probably show up by default. I don’t remember why + was added to “unwanted characters” for citation keys, but I’d guess it caused incompatibility with some setups and is therefore removed by default from all citation keys.

As is, I expect that you have to change your preferences according to Customize the citation key generator - JabRef and remove the + from the list, and it should work as you expect afterward.

Perhaps the documentation for authorsAlpha would benefit from a link to the section of unwanted characters.

5

Solved. Many thanks.

6

Thank you for bringing it up! Hopefully, it will prevent others from having the same issue.

If you are interested and have a GitHub account, the proposed changes are in user-documentation/citationkeypatterns.md at k3KAW8Pnf7mkmdSMPHz27-patch-1 ¡ JabRef/user-documentation ¡ GitHub

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