Documentation Publicon User Guide Advanced Features Handling References The Reference Database

The Reference Database

Importing a Database

To import a reference database, choose File References Database Load.... You'll be given the option to open it as a new database (changes to the old database are automatically saved), or to append the data to the current database.

Although Publicon interacts directly only with reference data in its native format, it can import from a host of other formats:

• Publicon XML

• BibTeX

• EndNote

• PubMed (XML)

• Reference Manager (RIS)

The Load... action automatically detects the format from the file's content and/or filename extension. If necessary, a Publicon native format version of the data is generated and stored in the same directory as the original file, under the same name but with file extension ".m" (or ".1.m", ".2.m", etc., if such a filename is already in use). For example, loading foo.bib will generate the file foo.m. Note that changes to the database made within Publicon will be reflected in the latter file, not in the original source file.

Currently, Publicon only exports to its native format, or an XML version thereof.

Notes on Importing EndNote-generated BibTeX

You can import BibTeX files that are generated by EndNote, an application for managing references and creating bibliographies. EndNote allows two types of database entries.

Entries with a key, for example,

article{allen88, Author = {Allen, J.R.L.}

Entries without a key, for example,

article{Author = {Argus, Michele V. and Matthews, Edward K.}.

Publicon can handle both types of entries. For entries without a key, Publicon invents a new key of the form "AbsentKey-n-AuthYYYY" (n is the position of the reference in the database, Auth is the first four letters of the Author field setting, and YYYY is the Year field setting, if present).

Publicon includes support for formatting list values from any bib field (except ID, URL, Pages, Author, and Editor). The main change in behavior is that a style box from a list is formatted as an inline cell to prevent the user's formatting styles from mingling with the bibliography's structural markup.