# "issue", "number" and bibtex

**URL:** <https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072>\
**Category:** CSL Development\
**Created:** [February 14, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072 "2012-02-14T21:33:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![andrea\_rossato2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e99b99/32.png) [@andrea\_rossato2](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/andrea_rossato2)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072/1 "2012-02-14T21:33:39Z")

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I received a bug report because APA uses the variable “issue” for volume  
numbers, whereas bibtex would use “number”. And so, when mapping bibtex  
to CSL, the APA style is not working properly.

See the relevant discussion here:  
[http://code.google.com/p/citeproc-hs/issues/detail?id=26&can=1](http://code.google.com/p/citeproc-hs/issues/detail?id=26&can=1)

Any suggestion on how to treat issues like this?

Thanks,  
Andrea

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**Author:** ![Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Bruce_D_Arcus1)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072/2 "2012-02-14T21:55:49Z")

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Per off-list message I just sent to you and Chris, two things:

1. bibtex “number” is definitely supposed to map to CSL “issue”, but …

2. bibutils deals with this issue inconsistently, so I tend to think  
the problem should be solved there

If he doesn’t solve it there, then you should map  
mods:part/mods:detail[type=‘number’]/mods:number to CSL ‘issue’.

CSL ‘number’ is for document numbers.

Bruce

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**Author:** ![johanneswilm](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.citationstyles.org/johanneswilm/32/205_2.png) [@johanneswilm](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/johanneswilm)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072/3 "2019-11-12T13:06:24Z")

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Hey,  
I just came across the same issue. Both biblatex and csl have “number” and “issue” fields, but their meanings seem to be quite different. Do I understand correctly that biblatex’s “number” (string) should always be mapped to CSL’s “issue” (number) and biblatex’s “issue” (string) should also be converted to CSL’s “issue” whereas there is no biblatex equivalent of CSL’s “number” (number)?

Can CSL deal with the issue being a string like “Summer” or should one always make sure it is converted to a number?

The biblatex manual says this about the difference between the two fields in biblatex:

> 2.3.11 Journal Numbers and Issues  
> The words ‘number’ and ‘issue’ are often used synonymously by journals to refer  
> to the subdvision of a volume. The fact that biblatex’s data model has fields  
> of both names can sometimes lead to confusion about which field should be used.  
> First and foremost the word that the journal uses for the subdivsion of a volume  
> should be of minor importance, what matters is the role in the data model. As a rule  
> of thumb number is the right field in most circumstances. In the standard styles  
> number modifies volume, whereas issue modifies the date (year) of the entry.  
> Numeric identifiers and short designators that are not necessarily (entirely) numeric  
> such as ‘A’, ‘S1’, ‘C2’, ‘Suppl. 3’, ‘4es’ would go into the number field, because  
> they usually modify the volume. The output of—especially longer—non-numeric  
> input for number should be checked since it could potentially look odd with some  
> styles. The field issue can be used for designations such as ‘Spring’, ‘Winter’ or  
> ‘Michaelmas term’ if that is commonly used to refer to the journal.

> **[biblatex.pdf](https://mirrors.ibiblio.org/CTAN/macros/latex/contrib/biblatex/doc/biblatex.pdf)**
>
> 1603.43 KB

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**Author:** ![larsgw](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.citationstyles.org/larsgw/32/187_2.png) [@larsgw](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/larsgw)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072/4 "2019-11-12T17:19:58Z")

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> [@johanneswilm](#):
>
> Do I understand correctly that biblatex’s “number” (string) should always be mapped to CSL’s “issue” (number)

For entries that are not journal articles the biblatex `number` field should rather be mapped to CSL variables `collection-number` or `number` (for patents).

> The number of a journal or the volume/number of a book in a series. See also  
> issue as well as §§ 2.3.7, 2.3.10, 2.3.11. With @patent entries, this is the number or  
> record token of a patent or patent request. Normally this field will be an integer or an  
> integer range, but it may also be a short designator that is not entirely numeric such  
> as “S1”, “Suppl. 2”, “3es”. In these cases the output should be scrutinised carefully.
> 
> Since number is—maybe counterintuitively given its name—a literal field, sorting  
> templates will not treat its contents as integers, but as literal strings, which means  
> that “11” may sort between “1” and “2”. If integer sorting is desired, the field can be  
> declared an integer field in a custom data model (see § 4.5.4). But then the sorting of  
> non-integer values is not well defined.

See page 23 of the same manual.

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**Author:** ![larsgw](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.citationstyles.org/larsgw/32/187_2.png) [@larsgw](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/larsgw)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072/5 "2019-11-12T17:21:59Z")

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Also, biblatex has ISWC, ISRN, ISAN and ISMN fields which could also map to CSL’s `number`, I think.

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**Author:** ![johanneswilm](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.citationstyles.org/johanneswilm/32/205_2.png) [@johanneswilm](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/johanneswilm)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072/6 "2019-11-12T18:01:41Z")

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Thanks!

And then there is the question of field type.

As far as what I can tell both fields are numeric in CSL, right? [1] And they are both strings in biblatex. So when converting, if I get a string in biblatex (such as “Summer” or “1st” or “3”), should I try to convert that to an integer, or should I just leave it as a string and assume that CSL will be able to handle that in some way even though it expects a number?

[1] [https://aurimasv.github.io/z2csl/typeMap.xml#cslVar-issue](https://aurimasv.github.io/z2csl/typeMap.xml#cslVar-issue)

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**Author:** ![larsgw](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.citationstyles.org/larsgw/32/187_2.png) [@larsgw](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/larsgw)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072/7 "2019-11-12T21:06:47Z")

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> [@johanneswilm](#):
>
> As far as what I can tell both fields are numeric in CSL, right? And they are both strings in biblatex. So when converting, if I get a string in biblatex (such as “Summer” or “1st” or “3”), should I try to convert that to an integer, or should I just leave it as a string and assume that CSL will be able to handle that in some way even though it expects a number?

Sorry, I missed that on the first go. I don’t really know what to do about that, although citeproc-js seems to treat it [okay](https://runkit.com/larsgw/csl-issue-string-test). It probably conflicts with a number of style guides though.

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**Author:** ![cormacrelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@cormacrelf](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/cormacrelf)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2019, 3:23am UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072/8 "2019-11-13T03:23:34Z")

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(Except “Summer”, which should probably end up as a season on the `issued` date (using month \> 13) so that it can be localised. But this also depends on style guides which might want that formatted as a number, but the numeric form of month for seasons is undefined behaviour. Which brings us to hemispheres, as well. Currently there isn’t hemisphere support anywhere, which is one good motivation for EDTF Level 2.)

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**Author:** ![johanneswilm](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.citationstyles.org/johanneswilm/32/205_2.png) [@johanneswilm](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/johanneswilm)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2019, 11:47am UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072/9 "2019-11-13T11:47:16Z")

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Yeah, I see how that could make sense if it’s really just a reference to the season. I was trying to find examples of “issue” referencing something related to the publication year as the biblatex spec seems to request. “Summer” could be interpreted. But how about “July/August edition”, “early Summer”, “Spring/Autumn edition”. “Autumn Colour issue” (not sure what that would be), “Indian Summer edition” (meaning: September/October), “Forever Winter issue” (April/May issue of a journal published during a year with a particularly long winter)? I can see how the issue string almost becomes part of the title in a sense and in that case it probably shouldn’t be translated.

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**Author:** ![cormacrelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@cormacrelf](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/cormacrelf)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072/10 "2019-11-13T13:31:06Z")

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Yep. EDTF can actually represent some of those, but if they’re titles, then they’re titles.

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**Author:** ![bwiernik](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.citationstyles.org/bwiernik/32/438_2.png) [@bwiernik](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/bwiernik)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 6:27am UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072/11 "2019-11-19T06:27:15Z")

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I would represent all of those examples as CSL `issue`. `issue` can be a numeric value, but a string is acceptable if that is how the issue is labeled. The `cs:number` function exists to being able to format numbers (e.g., as ordinal), but it can also render fields literally if presented with a string.

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**Author:** ![Denis\_Maier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@Denis\_Maier](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Denis_Maier)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/issue-number-and-bibtex/1072/12 "2019-11-20T22:09:35Z")

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Another related question: what shall we do when we have biblatex `number` and `issue`, which could be absolutely possible. Going from 2 fields \> 1 field isn’t ideal.