# Semicolon rather than comma separates works by same author in chicago author date (page numbers not used)

**URL:** <https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/semicolon-rather-than-comma-separates-works-by-same-author-in-chicago-author-date-page-numbers-not-used/1704>\
**Category:** CSL Usage\
**Created:** [December 30, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/semicolon-rather-than-comma-separates-works-by-same-author-in-chicago-author-date-page-numbers-not-used/1704 "2020-12-30T18:23:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![willmhorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@willmhorne](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/willmhorne)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/semicolon-rather-than-comma-separates-works-by-same-author-in-chicago-author-date-page-numbers-not-used/1704/1 "2020-12-30T18:23:55Z")

</div>

Hello,

I recently encountered some behavior with the chicago-author-date csl that surprised me, and I’m wondering if anyone can provide any insight.

According to [15.30 in the Chicago Manual of Style](https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/book/ed17/part3/ch15/psec030.html), two works by the same author cited in succession _without page numbers_ should be separated by a comma:

> Additional works by the same author(s) are cited by date only, separated by commas except where page numbers are required.
> 
> (Whittaker 1967, 1975; Wiens 1989a, 1989b)  
> (Wong 1999, 328; 2000, 475; García 1998, 67)

The relevant example is `Whittaker 1967, 1975`, where a comma is used to separate the two works of the same author (when no page numbers are used).

Given that, I was surprised to see the following results while using Zotero to preview citations for works by the same author, using Chicago’s author-date style (17th edition):

 ![Screen Shot 2020-12-30 at 12.04.54 PM](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/citationstyles/original/1X/a31827cec27629e13252ecf2e56c286ea176a051.png)

In the Single Citation, the years are separated by a semicolon rather than a comma. Compared to the example in the manual, this behavior seems incorrect—given that no page numbers are present.

Likewise, I am seeing the same behavior in Microsoft Word while using the Zotero plugin with the csl set to chicago-author-date (17th edition):

> This is a sentence (McDaniel 2005; 2009; 2012).

If anyone has any pointers that might help, please let me know. If not, I wonder if this behavior might stem from the chicago-author-date csl itself?

Thank you!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![willmhorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@willmhorne](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/willmhorne)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/semicolon-rather-than-comma-separates-works-by-same-author-in-chicago-author-date-page-numbers-not-used/1704/2 "2020-12-30T19:55:35Z")

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Using Zotero 5.0.94.

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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:** [January 3, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/semicolon-rather-than-comma-separates-works-by-same-author-in-chicago-author-date-page-numbers-not-used/1704/3 "2021-01-03T14:30:52Z")

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Anyone know anything about this?

@Sebastian_Karcher @Denis_Maier @bwiernik @Rintze_Zelle

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [January 4, 2021, 6:16am UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/semicolon-rather-than-comma-separates-works-by-same-author-in-chicago-author-date-page-numbers-not-used/1704/4 "2021-01-04T06:16:16Z")

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Looks like [this issue](https://github.com/citation-style-language/test-suite/issues/36), right? My understanding was that this should basically work currenly, but that we’ll need to make the behaviour more transparant. @Frank_Bennett?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![willmhorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@willmhorne](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/willmhorne)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/semicolon-rather-than-comma-separates-works-by-same-author-in-chicago-author-date-page-numbers-not-used/1704/5 "2021-01-06T20:31:23Z")

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The issue you’ve linked to looks similar, but from what I can tell, not identical.

In that issue, I don’t see any direct mention that the current behavior for citing two works by the same author in succession (without page numbers) is not producing output in line with the Chicago Manual of Style.

What should look like

```auto
(Smith 2017, 2018)

```

is currently looking like

```auto
(Smith 2017; 2018)

```

—at least in Zotero.

Can anyone confirm that the current behavior for `chicago-author-date` is or is not aligning with CMoS’s 15.30 with respect to citing two works by the same author in succession (without page numbers)?

15.30 reads as follows:

 ![Screen Shot 2021-01-06 at 2.35.24 PM](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/citationstyles/original/1X/c7b9662fe0d7d634808dd9160163784a5abdb6f6.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![willmhorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@willmhorne](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/willmhorne)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2021, 8:38pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/semicolon-rather-than-comma-separates-works-by-same-author-in-chicago-author-date-page-numbers-not-used/1704/6 "2021-01-06T20:38:48Z")

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I’m not seeing a comma between two years. I’m seeing a semicolon:

 ![Screen Shot 2021-01-06 at 2.58.04 PM](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/citationstyles/original/1X/3b65e3f7567e868c3b1ebc1c29e31ec2e12eb803.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [January 7, 2021, 6:24am UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/semicolon-rather-than-comma-separates-works-by-same-author-in-chicago-author-date-page-numbers-not-used/1704/7 "2021-01-07T06:24:09Z")

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> [@willmhorne](#):
>
> The issue you’ve linked to looks similar, but from what I can tell, not identical.

Well, the issue was opened by @John_MacFarlane who was confused about a particular test in the test suite that illustrates exactly the behaviour requested by the CMoS.

Anyway, with Juris-M I’m getting the same, incorrect, formatting. Maybe that’s a regression in citeproc-js? @Frank_Bennett ?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [January 7, 2021, 6:28am UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/semicolon-rather-than-comma-separates-works-by-same-author-in-chicago-author-date-page-numbers-not-used/1704/8 "2021-01-07T06:28:52Z")

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I’ve opened [an issue](https://github.com/Juris-M/citeproc-js/issues/175).