References with n.d. (no date) using natbib with apalike

Question

I use natbib with apalike and find that the citation with no date shows (in the text): Ulzheimer (nd) explains why one’s credit scores differ across the three credit bureaus.

But in the reference list, it shows: Ulzheimer, J. (n.d.). Why do my credit scores differ across the credit bureaus? Experian, https://tinyurl.com/h2p9u6ss. Accessed: 2021-3-8.

Is there any way to make it show as Ulzheimer (n.d.) in the text too?

Here's the code:

@misc{experiancs,
Author={Ulzheimer, John},
  title = {Why do my credit scores differ across the credit bureaus?},
  howpublished = {Experian, https://tinyurl.com/h2p9u6ss},
     publisher={Experian},
       year={{n.d.}},
         note = {Accessed: 2021-3-8}
}

I've tried leaving the year empty and for some reason, the author-year citations became numbered citations.

Answer 1

The apalike.bst file strips non-alphanumeric characters from the citation labels. If you want to have n.d. in the citation callout, you need to make a copy of the apalike.bst and modify it in the following way:

On line 896 you should find the function {calc.label}:

FUNCTION {calc.label}
{ type$ "book" =
  type$ "inbook" =
  or
    'author.editor.key.label
    { type$ "proceedings" =
        'editor.key.label                       % apalike ignores organization
        'author.key.label                       % for labeling and sorting
      if$
    }
  if$
  ", "                                                  % these three lines are
  *                                                     % for apalike, which
  year field.or.null purify$ #-1 #4 substring$          % uses all four digits
  *
  'label :=
}

On line 909, remove the purify$ command, which is responsible for removing the non-alphanumeric characters. Your new function should look like this:

FUNCTION {calc.label}
{ type$ "book" =
  type$ "inbook" =
  or
    'author.editor.key.label
    { type$ "proceedings" =
        'editor.key.label                       % apalike ignores organization
        'author.key.label                       % for labeling and sorting
      if$
    }
  if$
  ", "                                                  % these three lines are
  *                                                     % for apalike, which
  year field.or.null #-1 #4 substring$          % uses all four digits
  *
  'label :=
}

Save this copy with a new name, e.g. apalike-impure.bst. Now your citation callouts will show up exactly as they appear in the year field in the .bib file.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{filecontents}[overwrite]{\jobname.bib}
@misc{experiancs,
Author={Ulzheimer, John},
  title = {Why do my credit scores differ across the credit bureaus?},
  howpublished = {Experian, https://tinyurl.com/h2p9u6ss},
     publisher={Experian},
       year={n.d.},
         note = {Accessed: 2021-3-8}
}
\end{filecontents}
\usepackage{natbib}
\bibliographystyle{apalike-impure}
\begin{document}
\citet{experiancs}
\bibliography{\jobname}
\end{document}