Sonny Software

I'm a long-standing user of Sente and, since the software appeared to reach the end of the line, I've begun looking at replacement programs. Bookends currently looks to be one of the most suitable and I've downloaded it for testing. When testing the import of PDFs and then examining the results, I've noticed a few issues and have some questions.

Observations
a) Where an ampersand is present in the journal title, the imported journal title in Bookends includes "&" and this carries through to the formatted reference, which is obviously not correct.

b) The volume and issue information appear to be one entry and there is no space between them (e.g. "20(2)" instead of "20 (2)" or using completely separate fields of "20" and "2").

c) When importing data from different journals from the same publisher, varying amounts of information is imported. For example, for some journals the abstract is imported, for others it is not.


Questions
1) Is it possible to filter/correct metadata as it is imported, in a similar way to using glossaries to auto-replace typed text? Or is it only possible to manually use a global Find/Replace afterwards to make corrections?

2) Is there a reason for the differences in amounts of imported metadata, even from the same publisher, and can this can addressed by the user?

3) Is there an ability to customize the metadata import process? Can the user select which sources to use (e.g. Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, etc.), what data is imported, and so on?


Many thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

a) Bookends imports the text as offered. It looks like you have a source in which the & is encoded as an HTML entity, so that's what's imported. You should send the details (the search and the search source) to tech support and I'll take a look (support@sonnysoftware.com). Note that import from a regular offender (Google Scholar) was improved in the 13.0.2 release.

b) That's right, that's the way they're cited in much of the scientific literature. You can put a space between them if you want in the library, but it makes no difference. In a format you can have Bookends output them independently and you can put whatever you want between them.

c) Again, send examples to tech support. Bookends imports what it is offered or can find online.

1) You can filter individual characters (in the import filter), but not words. Note that one of the most common issues is journal names -- Bookends offers a journal glossary that can automatically correct output from the abbreviated to the full name if you want.

2) Without more information (searches, sites, results) I can't answer that.

3) Yes. See the Online Search window and File -> Import Filter Manager. Each filter you use has it's own import tags that you can add/remove to tell Bookends where the information goes.

Jon
Sonny Software

Hello Jon,

Thanks for the quick response, very much appreciated! I've been away from my keyboard recently and wanted to get back to you.

a) I've just downloaded the latest version (13.0.3) and found this still happens, unfortunately. An example of a paper/journal for your testing could be: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b01766

b) I'm actually used to seeing a space between the volume and the issue, but it may depend upon the individual journal or site formats. I've looked into "Formats manager..." as you suggested. It looks as though the lack of a space only appears in Bookends' library, but the space can easily be added in a bibliography format. Thanks!

c), OK, that's fine. If you want a comparison, try an Analytical Chemistry paper such as: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.6b00706 and compare with an Energy & Fuels paper, such as the one above (http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b01766). Both are ACS publications, but they are treated differently. I'm happy to talk to Support offline if it would help.


1) Thank you, I'll double-check the journal glossary, as that could help. I thought I had tried that already, but I should give it another look because it's very possible I wasn't using it correctly!

2) That's fine, I can understand. The comparison in c), above, could be a good starting place.

3) I'll take another look at the Import Filter Manager. It looks comprehensive and may take me some time to get to grips with it.

Thank you again for your help, I appreciate it. If you would prefer to continue any discussions offline, let me know and I'll write to Support.

You should contact support with screen snaps about how you're doing the importing. And know that two journals from the same publisher can be very differnt.

Jon
Sonny Software

Thanks, Jon.

I've just sent Support an E-Mail, attaching a PDF where I show each step of importing two journal articles. In one case, the abstract was imported; in the other case, it was not. I was using Bookends version 13.0.4, which I forgot to mention in the E-Mail. The PDF also shows the "&" issue, by the way.

I hope this helps get to the bottom of it! Thanks for your help.