Customizing the bst file - making the volume number bold

Question

In a series of posts (see [1] and [2]) I asked how one can make one's own bibliography style.

Now, I would like to make the volume number bold, which is quite usual in many journals. What can I change in order to achieve this?

Answer 1

Let's assume that the bibliography style (bst) file you've been modifying is called alpha-mod.bst. I suggest you proceed as follows.

• First, locate the BibTeX function called emphasize. (This function may have been reduced to a stub in an earlier modification round.) Below this function, insert the following code block:

   FUNCTION {embolden}
   { duplicate$ empty$
       { pop$ "" }
       { "{\bfseries " swap$ * "}" * }
     if$
   }
  

• Second, locate the following line

   FUNCTION {format.vol.num.pages}
  

  which denotes the start of the definition of, you guessed it, the format.vol.num.pages BibTeX function.

  The immediate next line in the bst file should be

  { volume field.or.null
  

  Change it to

   { volume embolden field.or.null
  

That's it. Don't forget to save the bst file.