Logos BibTeX export data seems faulty

Hi all!

I'm using a third party referencing/bibliography program, and when I export citation data from Logos 5, in BibTeX format (or any other useable format), the data that is exported contains errors.

Most notably, those titles which Logos identifies as type Encyclopedia, Lexicon, or Journal, incorrectly have "misc" as the resource type. Also, various bits of data appear in the wrong fields.

This same problem is addressed in M G Smith's post in this thread.

Smith's solution is to manually edit the exported text file, in order correct all the errors in the data - a very time-consuming process!

Is there a way to export these resources so that the data is correct?

Does anyone know why Logos 5 exports the data in this unhelpful manner?

I really don't want to have to manually edit all the citation data that Logos exports - it really defeats the purpose of using referencing software!

Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help!

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Dave Hooton

Is there a way to export these resources so that the data is correct?

No. Logos 6 produces the same output. The only fix appear to be manual e.g. see https://community.logos.com/forums/p/94424/656301.aspx#656301

GregW

I don't know what referencing software you're using. I use Zotero, and never export/import reference information. I simply copy the ISBN number from the front matter into the resource finder on zotero, which populates all the data in Zotero. For citations, I then simply have to enter the page number into Zotero (which is free, open-source software).

Brett Austin

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/713519#Comment_713519

Thanks Dave and Greg!

Dave, thanks for the link to that discussion. It seems that you are right - the citation data that Logos exports is of poor quality and needs to manually corrected. Well, I'm glad to hear it's not just me. Seems a shame though, that Logos can't export quality referencing data as BibTeX or another format! Oh well

Greg, thanks for the tip! I am using zotero too. I tried using an ISBN to get one of my Logos books into zotero and it worked very well. Much easier and more straightforward than exporting citation data as BibTeX or RIS and then having to correct it manually. Thanks heaps for the workaround!

Tim Taylor

I'm using a third party referencing/bibliography program, and when I export citation data from Logos 5, in BibTeX format (or any other useable format), the data that is exported contains errors.

...

Is there a way to export these resources so that the data is correct?

Brett, have you tried exporting a bibliography as RIS format instead of BibTeX? I tried both and found that RIS imports much nicer into Zotero.

The resource type seems to be accurate too. Let me know if this fixes your problem.

Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/738061#Comment_738061

I have always found bibliographic information to be full of errors whatever the source or the software, even commercial ones. I have resigned myself to correcting manually any source I use bibliographically.

Greg, do you find that using the ISBN number results in generally more accurate population in Zotero?

Tim Taylor

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/738064#Comment_738064

I am new to Zotero, how do you look up via ISBN? Through Amazon or a website? I have the browser plugin that adds books from websites like Amazon, but is there another way to import via ISBN easily? From what I've found, when you use the web browser tool, the data being imported is only as accurate as the website being pulled from. That data can vary from site to site. That's why I am more comfortable importing directly from Logos since I feel that data is more dependable than a random website.

Tim Taylor

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/738069#Comment_738069

Ok so I just imported my entire Logos Library of 6,000+ resources into Zotero, which is awesome!! I used the RIS format and that seems to work perfectly. There's only one note to make that I think will clear up a lot of confusion gong on here.

I've noticed that the Item Types of Book, Book Section, and Manuscript load just fine into Zotero, but the Item Types of Journal Articles, Dictionary Entry, Encyclopedia Article, Journal Article, and Magazine Article all import missing the Title and possibly other information. But this is to be expected and there's a way to fix this.

For these Item Types with missing import information, if you are adding the books themselves to your Logos Bibliography (what you export from), then of course the titles will be blank because you haven't told Logos what article or entry you are wanting to quote from inside that book. If you select the selection you are wanting to cite in Logos, and then add that to your bibliography, then all the information exports and imports perfectly. Here let me provide some examples. Essentially what I'm saying is that this is not a flaw with Logos but this is a user error that can easily be corrected.

I did a test with the Lexham Bible Dictionary. I added the book itself to a new bibliography document by just dragging it over from my library, and then I added another entry to the same bibliography document by adding from selected text (see screenshot). Notice the difference in how these two entries imported into Zotero. Notice when I added from a selected text of a specific article in the Lexham Bible dictionary, the title and author fields carry over just perfectly to Zotero using the RIS method. I hope this helps clarify a lot. Again, this is not a flaw with Logos but this is a user error that can easily be corrected.

GregW

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/738064#Comment_738064

Greg, do you find that using the ISBN number results in generally more accurate population in Zotero?

Sorry Francis - I haven't been back for a few days. I generally find it gives a more complete record - I've often found that the Logos citation format is incomplete (place, publisher, year, etc missing). I don't think I've ever had a problem with accuracy that way.

I generally populate the Edition field with "Logos" so that my citations and bibliography make it clear where I am using a Logos edition on the basis that most people marking my work use Accordance so they won't know if I've got it wrong, and it's clear that I've not used a dead-tree edition.