Order references alphabetically with "elsarticle-num-names.bst"

Question

How Can I order my references alphabetically using the bibliographystyle "elsarticle-num-names.bst"?

Here is a MWE, copied from the elsarticle template folder itself:

elsarticle-template.tex:

\documentclass[preprint]{elsarticle}

\journal{Journal of \LaTeX\ Templates}
\bibliographystyle{elsarticle-num-names}

\begin{document}

\begin{frontmatter}
\end{frontmatter}

Here are two sample references: \cite{Feynman1963118,Dirac1953888}.

\section*{References}
\bibliography{mybibfile}
\end{document}

mybibfile.bib:

@article{Dirac1953888,
  title   = "The lorentz transformation and absolute time",
  journal = "Physica ",
  volume  = "19",
  number  = "1-–12",
  pages   = "888--896",
  year    = "1953",
  doi     = "10.1016/S0031-8914(53)80099-6",
  author  = "P.A.M. Dirac"
}

@article{Feynman1963118,
  title   = "The theory of a general quantum system interacting with a linear dissipative system",
  journal = "Annals of Physics ",
  volume  = "24",
  pages   = "118--173",
  year    = "1963",
  doi     = "10.1016/0003-4916(63)90068-X",
  author  = "R.P Feynman and F.L {Vernon Jr.}"
}

Welcome to TeX.SX! Usually, we don't put a greeting or a “thank you” in our posts. While this might seem strange at first, it is not a sign of lack of politeness, but rather part of our trying to keep everything very concise. Accepting and upvoting answers is the preferred way here to say “thank you” to users who helped you. — Seamus, Mar 04 '16 at 11:29
No. The order by default is the order of appearance in the text. I need that order alphabetically by author lastname. — Juan, Mar 04 '16 at 11:48
Can you please give us a minimal working example with bibliography (MWEB)? — samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz, May 04 '16 at 15:55

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

4

This style already uses the sorting function. You can edit sort function bib.sort.order in your .bst file. It is very good described on Bibtex .bst file modification to include alphabetical ordering. I hope it will help you.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

Community

1

answered May 07 '16 at 23:46

RStaniucha

91

1

Finally I managed to do this! I had to copy, from the link you mentioned, only the functions "FUNCTION {author.organization.sort}" and "FUNCTION {editor.organization.sort}", and then copy the contents of "FUNCTION {presort}" into "FUNCTION {bib.sort.order}". This solved the problem! – Erel Segal-Halevi May 08 '16 at 12:15
2

For reference: here is the modified file that works for me: https://github.com/erelsgl/erelsgl.github.io/blob/master/papers/elsarticle-num-names-alpha.bst – Erel Segal-Halevi May 10 '16 at 05:59

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 05 '19 at 15:47

The way references are ordered is controlled by the .bst file. If you want to change the ordering, then you need to modify that file.

Here is how you can modify your elsarticle-num-names.bst file in order to have your references sorted alphabetically. I suggest creating a copy of that file and name it elsarticle-names.bst before modifying it.

First, locate the presort function in that .bst file. It may look like this:

FUNCTION {presort}
{ calc.label
 label sortify
 "    "
 *
 seq.num #1 + 'seq.num :=
 seq.num  int.to.fix
 'sort.label :=
 sort.label
 *
 "    "
 *
 title field.or.null
 sort.format.title
 *
 #1 entry.max$ substring$
 'sort.key$ :=
}

Then, replace it with the following:

FUNCTION {presort}
{ calc.label
  label sortify
  "    "
  *
  type$ "book" =
  type$ "inbook" =
  or
    'author.editor.sort
    { type$ "proceedings" =
        'editor.sort
        'author.sort
      if$
    }
  if$
  #1 entry.max$ substring$
  'sort.label :=
  sort.label
  *
  "    "
  *
  title field.or.null
  sort.format.title
  *
  #1 entry.max$ substring$
  'sort.key$ :=
}

There are also several alternate .bst files provided by Elsevier (with or without alphabetical sorting) in the sample manuscript available here. It should be reminded however that, if you intend to submit an article to a scientific journal, you should use the .bst file provided by the editor for that specific journal without modification. There are indeed strict guidelines that you must comply with regarding formatting of the bibliography.

Order references alphabetically with "elsarticle-num-names.bst"

2 Answers2