Latex referencing report without [tech.rep] in reference list

Question

I have a similar question as: Remove "Tech. Rep." Output from SIAM bibtex style

In my document I reference different reports in APA style. However, in my reference list they include [tech.rep] which is not something that is normally used in APA style. How can I delete this?

\documentclass[12pt]{report}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.5}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[backend=biber, maxcitenames=2, style=apa, sorting=anyt]{biblatex}
\DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{family-given}
\addbibresource{bibliography.bib}
\usepackage[autostyle, english = british]{csquotes}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]
\parencite{b20_taskforce_open_2017}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

and the following bib entry:

@techreport{b20_taskforce_open_2017,
title = {Open, dynamic and inclusive labor markets: {Harnessing} the potential of technological change and creating a global level playing field},
url = {https://www.uscib.org/uscib-content/uploads/2017/05/B20-Policy-Paper-EE_final.pdf},
urldate = {2020-06-07},
author = {{B20 Taskforce}},
year = {2017},
file = {B20-Policy-Paper-EE_final.pdf:C\:\\Users\\eszti\\Zotero\\storage\\XDQIBP4B\\B20-Policy-Paper-EE_final.pdf:application/pdf}
}

Which gives the following output in the reference list:

Completely unrelated to your question, but with a current version of biblatex-apa, maxcitenames=2, is already the default and with an older version of biblatex-apa or with biblatex-apa6 maxcitenames=2 famously didn't work as expected (https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/452032/35864). I also wouldn't set sorting=anyt,. biblatex-apa comes with its own (APA compliant) sorting scheme and in any case anyt makes little sense with an author-year style since it would sort after the alphabetic labels that styles like alphabetic produce. — moewe, Jul 20 '20 at 15:22
Thank you for the explanation. How do I change that in my file? — es_dutch, Jul 20 '20 at 15:36
Just don't use maxcitenames=2, and sorting=anyt, i.e. shorten \usepackage[backend=biber, maxcitenames=2, style=apa, sorting=anyt]{biblatex} to \usepackage[backend=biber, style=apa,]{biblatex}. (Generally, I'd say unless you know exactly what and option does and why you need it, chances are you don't actually want it and it should be dropped). — moewe, Jul 20 '20 at 15:51
Thank you, it works :) I deleted those lines and the format did not change so this is better. — es_dutch, Jul 20 '20 at 16:29

moewe · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-20T15:26:19.963

The easiest way to get rid of the "tech. rep." is to make your entry of type @report instead of @techreport.

In biblatex @techreport is only a (BibTeX) compatibility alias that is resolved to a @report entry with added type = {techreport} (only if type is not already set).

If you use @report directly, you are free not to include the type = {techreport}, that @techreport would add automatically.

\documentclass[12pt]{report}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[autostyle, english = british]{csquotes}
\usepackage[backend=biber, style=apa]{biblatex}
\DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{family-given}
\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@report{b20_taskforce_open_2017,
  title   = {Open, Dynamic and Inclusive Labor Markets:
             {Harnessing} the Potential of Technological Change
             and Creating a Global Level Playing Field},
  url     = {https://www.uscib.org/uscib-content/uploads/2017/05/B20-Policy-Paper-EE_final.pdf},
  urldate = {2020-06-07},
  author  = {{B20 Taskforce}},
  year    = {2017},
}
\end{filecontents}
\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}
\begin{document}
\autocite{b20_taskforce_open_2017}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

In case you must stick with @techreport you can use the following \DeclareSourcemap to get in with a mapping from @techreport to @report before biblatex's standard type mapping kicks in. That way can we avoid type = {techreport}, being added to the entry.

\documentclass[12pt]{report}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[autostyle, english = british]{csquotes}
\usepackage[backend=biber, style=apa]{biblatex}
\DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{family-given}
\DeclareSourcemap{
  \maps[datatype=bibtex]{
    \map{
      \step[typesource=techreport, typetarget=report]
    }
  }
}
\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@techreport{b20_taskforce_open_2017,
  title   = {Open, Dynamic and Inclusive Labor Markets:
             {Harnessing} the Potential of Technological Change
             and Creating a Global Level Playing Field},
  url     = {https://www.uscib.org/uscib-content/uploads/2017/05/B20-Policy-Paper-EE_final.pdf},
  urldate = {2020-06-07},
  author  = {{B20 Taskforce}},
  year    = {2017},
}
\end{filecontents}
\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}
\begin{document}
\autocite{b20_taskforce_open_2017}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

That is really easy, thank you! I use zotero to get my reference in bibtex. He must change it automatically to tech report, dont know why though. — es_dutch, Jul 20 '20 at 15:17
@es_dutch See the update, please. It is probably possible to tell Zotero to export to @report with the BetterBibTeX plugin, but I wouldn't know how. — moewe, Jul 20 '20 at 15:19
Thank you, but that is okay, there are only a few cases so I can change them manually for now. — es_dutch, Jul 20 '20 at 15:43
When exporting as "Better BibLaTeX", BBT exports as @techreport if the type field says exactly techreport, otherwise it exports as @report. With Better BibTeX export it is always @techreport, but I can change that if desired (please open an issue on GH) or you can add tex.referencetype: report to the extra field. — retorquere, Jul 24 '20 at 09:52
@es_dutch See the comment of the BetterBibTeX developer above. — moewe, Jul 24 '20 at 09:53

Latex referencing report without [tech.rep] in reference list

1 Answers1