natbib-compatible BibTeX style (BST) file for Springer LNCS publications

UPDATE: Additionally, if you prefer "References" instead of "Bibliography", you have to re-define the \bibname macro in your document (e.g., just after you include natbib). Just add a

\rewewcommand\bibname{\refname}

or a

\renewcommand\bibname{References}

and you should be up and running with your desired bibliography name.

For some reason, the folks over at Springer do not like to make their BibTeX style (BST) files natbib compatible. This omission seems egregious when considering the kind of authors that would submit to journals and conferences that use LNCS-style formatting. Springer does provide LaTeX support files for LNCS, but the included BST file is not natbib compatible (because it was not built with natbib and author–year extensions turned on, which are needed in natbib even when numbered references are used). What makes things more difficult is that it is produced by hacking another BST (titto.bst) that was originally generated properly using makebst, and many of the hacks were already implemented natively in merlin.mbs. So much more of the postfix BST language was hacked directly rather than would have been necessary if the correct docstrip driver options were picked in the first place. So that makes it more challenging to reproduce a refactored version with additional natbib functionality without worrying about introducing regressions.

Nevertheless, I've done my best, and I've made the the natbib-compatible result splncsnat.bst available for download. I was able to remove the need for some of the manual editing by a smarter choice of docstrip options, but I still ended up having to create a patch on top of a stock docstrip-generated BST (the docstrip driver splncsnat-unpatched.dbj and patch splncsnat.patch are also available). Hopefully that helps someone out there.

• splncsnat.bst: natbib-compatible BST file for Springer LNCS-type publications

  Download and place splncsnat.bst in same directory as document's TeX source code. In the TeX preamble of the document, use

  \usepackage[numbers]{natbib}
  \bibliographystyle{splncsnat}

  and then in the text use macros like

  \cite{smith77}       % to get a "[1]" in the text
  \citep{smith77}      % to get a "[1]" in the text
  \citet{smith77}      % to get a "Smith [1]" in the text
  \citeauthor{smith77} % to get a "Smith" in the text

  The normal \bibliography{FILENAME} can be used at the end of the text where the BBL will be inserted by BibTeX.

• splncsnat-unpatched.dbj: docstrip driver used to generate splncsnat-unpatched.bst
• splncsnat.patch: patch used to generate splncsnat.bst from splncsnat-unpatched.bst (assuming version 4.20 [2007/04/24 (PWD, AO, DPC)] of merlin.mbs)

Of course, you need only splncsnat.bst to get up and running.

Two small bugs in merlin.mbs

UPDATE: I've posted a patch file as well as a patched merlin.mbs that fixes this problem. If you prefer the patch option, execute

patch < merlin-fix-nm-rvvc.patch

in the same directory as your old merlin.mbs file. Be sure you're using the 4.20 (2007/04/24) version of merlin.mbs to start with (search through the file for the ProvidesFile line.

I just sent this to Patrick W. Daly. I think I've found two small bugs in merlin.mbs (from custom-bib), the master bibliography style used to generate many common BST files. They both involve adding an nm-rvvc near some existing nm-rvv lines.

I am referring to the 4.20 version of merlin.mbs. I think this is the latest version of the MBS file.

% \ProvidesFile{merlin.mbs}[2007/04/24 4.20 (PWD, AO, DPC)]

The bugs:

• In FUNCTION {sort.format.names} (lines 8394--8401)

  %<*!nm-init&!nm-rev&!nm-rev1&!nm-rv&!nm-rvx&!nm-rvcx&!nm-rvv>
  %<!vonx>      "{vv{ } }{ll{ }}{  ff{ }}{  jj{ }}"
  %<vonx>      "{ll{ }}{  ff{ }}{  jj{ }}"
  %</!nm-init&!nm-rev&!nm-rev1&!nm-rv&!nm-rvx&!nm-rvcx&!nm-rvv>
  %<*nm-init|nm-rev|nm-rev1|nm-rv|nm-rvx|nm-rvcx|nm-rvv>
  %<!vonx>      "{vv{ } }{ll{ }}{  f{ }}{  jj{ }}"
  %<vonx>      "{ll{ }}{  f{ }}{  jj{ }}"
  %</nm-init|nm-rev|nm-rev1|nm-rv|nm-rvx|nm-rvcx|nm-rvv>

  I think this should be:

  %<*!nm-init&!nm-rev&!nm-rev1&!nm-rv&!nm-rvx&!nm-rvcx&!nm-rvv&!nm-rvvc>
  %<!vonx>      "{vv{ } }{ll{ }}{  ff{ }}{  jj{ }}"
  %<vonx>      "{ll{ }}{  ff{ }}{  jj{ }}"
  %</!nm-init&!nm-rev&!nm-rev1&!nm-rv&!nm-rvx&!nm-rvcx&!nm-rvv&!nm-rvvc>
  %<*nm-init|nm-rev|nm-rev1|nm-rv|nm-rvx|nm-rvcx|nm-rvv|nm-rvvc>
  %<!vonx>      "{vv{ } }{ll{ }}{  f{ }}{  jj{ }}"
  %<vonx>      "{ll{ }}{  f{ }}{  jj{ }}"
  %</nm-init|nm-rev|nm-rev1|nm-rv|nm-rvx|nm-rvcx|nm-rvv|nm-rvvc>

  Otherwise, I think this would cause problems sorting when authors might share last names and first initial.
• In FUNCTION {format.names.ed} (lines 4908--4929)

  %<*nm-rvv>
        "{f{.}.}" format.name$ duplicate$ empty$ 'skip$
          { tie.or.space.prefix bib.fname.font swap$ * }
        if$
        s nameptr
        "{vv~}{ll}" format.name$ bib.name.font *
        s nameptr
        "{jj}" format.name$ duplicate$ empty$ 'skip$
          { bib.fname.font " " swap$ * }
        if$
  %</nm-rvv>
  %<*!nm-rvv>
        "{ff}" format.name$ duplicate$ empty$ 'skip$
          { tie.or.space.prefix bib.fname.font swap$ * }
        if$
        s nameptr
        "{vv~}{ll}" format.name$ bib.name.font *
        s nameptr
        "{jj}" format.name$ duplicate$ empty$ 'skip$
          { bib.fname.font ", " swap$ * }
        if$
  %</!nm-rvv>

  I think this should be:

  %<*nm-rvv|nm-rvvc>
        "{f{.}.}" format.name$ duplicate$ empty$ 'skip$
          { tie.or.space.prefix bib.fname.font swap$ * }
        if$
        s nameptr
        "{vv~}{ll}" format.name$ bib.name.font *
        s nameptr
        "{jj}" format.name$ duplicate$ empty$ 'skip$
          { bib.fname.font " " swap$ * }
        if$
  %</nm-rvv|nm-rvvc>
  %<*!nm-rvv&!nm-rvvc>
        "{ff}" format.name$ duplicate$ empty$ 'skip$
          { tie.or.space.prefix bib.fname.font swap$ * }
        if$
        s nameptr
        "{vv~}{ll}" format.name$ bib.name.font *
        s nameptr
        "{jj}" format.name$ duplicate$ empty$ 'skip$
          { bib.fname.font ", " swap$ * }
        if$
  %</!nm-rvv&!nm-rvvc>

  That actually looks like it will give a formatting error on output!

So hopefully those'll get fixed, right? Am I missing something? Am I wrong?

A reflection on (Springer) bibliographies (junior-part commas)...

In my previous post about Springer journal typesetting, I present the BiBTeX bibliography style files spmpsci.bst and spmpscinat.bst that were mostly generated by the docstrip driver files spmpsci.dbj and spmpscinat.dbj, respectively. I say mostly because I discovered that the original bibliography style files distributed by Springer were generated by docstrip but then manually hacked to remove the comma before the junior part (e.g., "Joe Public, Jr.") of the author and editor names.

You see, there is no way to use docstrip drivers based on merlin.mbs (from custom-bib) to have commas between author names and yet no commas before junior parts. Springer actually used the merlin.mbs option nm-rvv to get rid of commas and then hacked in between-author commas. I used the nm-rvvc option to include between-author commas and then hacked out the junior-part commas. The result is the same.

I have no problem listing author names without junior parts. As I mention in a Google groups thread, on page 3 of The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, it is stated that the "Jr." after a last name should not have a comma before it (e.g., William Strunk Jr.). A number of journals agree with this, including The Journal of Mathematical Biology (i.e., a Springer journal using the Springer spmpscinat BiBTeX bibliography style).

At first I completely agreed with Springer and thought that merlin.mbs needed to be updated so that it had a junior part comma option. However, I gave it more thought and now I think that Springer should cease and desist. For one, this makes it difficult to regenerate the BST file from the DBJ driver options. The BST file distributed by Springer doesn't even mention that some manual editing has gone on, so anyone trying to generate their BST file will probably miss this hack. Second, while I think that authors who insert commas in their names need to stop this practice, if an author chooses to make his or her professional name comma-delimited, then journals should respect that author's wishes. Finally, if the BST junior-part comma is left in, commas can still be omitted by surrounding the junior (e.g., "Jr.") and the last name (e.g., "Smith") with curly braces (e.g., "{Smith Jr.}") in the BIB file. I haven't tested this, but I think that if this is done the Jr. becomes part of the BiBTeX last name (e.g., "{ll}") and thus there will be no comma before the junior in the resulting bibliography.

I'm sure Springer would tell me that they just want the bibliography entries to be consistent. However, names are messy things to mess with. Plus, modern-day BST files really should be specified entirely by a set of standard docstrip options (i.e., docstrip options and an MBS file). If non-standard options are really needed, a new MBS file should be distributed and the BST file should be spcified by options for that new MBS file. Would that be so hard to do for a publisher?

So that's my thought... Hey, publishers! Leave them BST files alone!