Sorting references with special characters alphabetically

Question

I have a problem within the reference list. Namely I have some references where the authors first surname letter is Š (\v{S}) and when listing them in the references they appear amid those authors whose surname starts with V instead after those whose surname starts with S and those whose starts with T (it should list R, S, Š, T... and not R, S, T, U, V with Š in between)

Here is my minimal working example:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents}{AA.bib}

@article{simovic13, Author = {\v{S}imovi\'{c}, H. and Deskar-\v{S}krbi\'{c}, M.}, Journal = {Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci}, Number = {1}, Pages = {55--78}, Title = {Dynamic effects of fiscal policy and fiscal multipliers in {Croatia}}, Volume = {31}, Year = {2013}}

@misc{tenhofen07, Author = {Tenhofen, J. and Wolff, G. B.}, Note = {Deutsche Bundesbank Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies No. 14. Frankfurt am Main: Deutsche Bundesbank}, Title = {Does anticipation of government spending matter? Evidence from an expectation augmented {VAR}}, Year = {2007}}

@misc{spilimbergo09, Author = {Spilimbergo, A. and Symansky, S. and Schindler, M.}, Note = {IMF Staff Position Note No. 11. Washington: International Monetary Fund}, Title = {Fiscal multipliers}, Year = {2009}}

@misc{ver11, Author = {Verhelst, S.}, Note = {Egmont Paper, No. 47, Brussels: Egmont Institute}, Title = {The Reform of European Economic Governance: Towards a Sustainable Monetary Union?}, Year = {2011}}

@article{vuckovic10, Author = {Vu\v{c}kovi\'{c}, V.}, Journal = {Privredna kretanja i ekonomska politika}, Number = {125}, Pages = {61--88}, Title = {Political Business Cycles: Do They Exist in {Croatia?}}, Volume = {20}, Year = {2010}}

\end{filecontents}


\begin{document}
\nocite{*}


\bibliographystyle{plain} % works
% \bibliographystyle{alpha} % works ...
% \bibliographystyle{apalike} % works
\bibliography{AA}
\end{document}

I am thankful for any help!!!

Ana

Answer 1

The correct way to input accented letters in .bib files is with an outer pair of braces:

{\v{S}}imovi{\'{c}}

rather than

\v{S]imovi\'{c}

In this way, BibTeX will know that the relevant character for collation is S and not v.

\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.bib}
@article{simovic13,
 Author = {{\v{S}}imovi{\'{c}}, H. and Deskar-{\v{S}}krbi{\'{c}}, M.},
 Journal = {Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci},
 Number = {1},
 Pages = {55--78},
 Title = {Dynamic effects of fiscal policy and fiscal multipliers in {Croatia}},
 Volume = {31},
 Year = {2013},
}

@misc{tenhofen07,
 Author = {Tenhofen, J. and Wolff, G. B.},
 Note = {Deutsche Bundesbank Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 
         No. 14. Frankfurt am Main: Deutsche Bundesbank},
 Title = {Does anticipation of government spending matter? Evidence from
           an expectation augmented {VAR}},
 Year = {2007},
}

@misc{spilimbergo09,
 Author = {Spilimbergo, A. and Symansky, S. and Schindler, M.},
 Note = {IMF Staff Position Note No. 11. Washington: International Monetary Fund},
 Title = {Fiscal multipliers},
 Year = {2009},
}

@misc{ver11,
 Author = {Verhelst, S.},
 Note = {Egmont Paper, No. 47, Brussels: Egmont Institute},
 Title = {The Reform of European Economic Governance:
          Towards a Sustainable Monetary Union?},
 Year = {2011},
}

@article{vuckovic10,
 Author = {Vu{\v{c}}kovi{\'{c}}, V.},
 Journal = {Privredna kretanja i ekonomska politika},
 Number = {125},
 Pages = {61--88},
 Title = {Political Business Cycles: Do They Exist in {Croatia}?},
 Volume = {20},
 Year = {2010},
}
\end{filecontents*}

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
\nocite{*}


\bibliographystyle{plain} % works
% \bibliographystyle{alpha} % works ...
% \bibliographystyle{apalike} % works
\bibliography{\jobname}
\end{document}

See “Tame the BeaST” (texdoc tamethebeast on your system, or online) end of section 10, which applies also to the author field.

---

For the sorting problem, BibTeX knows only ASCII, so it needs help for different collation orders. The \NOOPSORT trick is what's used:

\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.bib}
@preamble{"\providecommand{\NOOPSORT}[1]{}"}
@article{simovic13,
 Author = {{\NOOPSORT{Szzimoviczz}}\v{S}imovi\'{c}, H. and Deskar-\v{S}krbi\'{c}, M.},
 Journal = {Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci},
 Number = {1},
 Pages = {55--78},
 Title = {Dynamic effects of fiscal policy and fiscal multipliers in {Croatia}},
 Volume = {31},
 Year = {2013},
}

@misc{tenhofen07,
 Author = {Tenhofen, J. and Wolff, G. B.},
 Note = {Deutsche Bundesbank Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 
         No. 14. Frankfurt am Main: Deutsche Bundesbank},
 Title = {Does anticipation of government spending matter? Evidence from
           an expectation augmented {VAR}},
 Year = {2007},
}

@misc{spilimbergo09,
 Author = {Spilimbergo, A. and Symansky, S. and Schindler, M.},
 Note = {IMF Staff Position Note No. 11. Washington: International Monetary Fund},
 Title = {Fiscal multipliers},
 Year = {2009},
}

@misc{ver11,
 Author = {Verhelst, S.},
 Note = {Egmont Paper, No. 47, Brussels: Egmont Institute},
 Title = {The Reform of European Economic Governance:
          Towards a Sustainable Monetary Union?},
 Year = {2011},
}

@article{vuckovic10,
 Author = {{\NOOPSORT{Vuczzkovic}}Vu\v{c}kovi\'{c}, V.},
 Journal = {Privredna kretanja i ekonomska politika},
 Number = {125},
 Pages = {61--88},
 Title = {Political Business Cycles: Do They Exist in {Croatia}?},
 Volume = {20},
 Year = {2010},
}
\end{filecontents*}

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
xxx

\nocite{*}


\bibliographystyle{plain} % works
% \bibliographystyle{alpha} % works ...
% \bibliographystyle{apalike} % works
\bibliography{\jobname}
\end{document}

Writing {\NOOPSORT{Szzimoviczz}} you're sure this entry will be sorted with respect to “Szzimoviczz", so it won't be mixed with entries starting with “S”.