Biblatex changes my citation keys. Can I reverse that?

Question

I have a number of articles wit same author and year. In my latex document, some citation keys are changed from the original ones in Zotero. This is quite annoying, since the article then are presented in the wrong order in the bibliography. For example:

Zotero: 1. article = bahn2017a 2. article = bahn2017b 3. article = bahn2017c 4. article = bahn2017d

Latex: 1. article = bahn2017a 2. article = bahn2017d 3. article = bahn2017b 4. article = bahn2017c

What is really strange is that when I make a citation in the text with e.g. textcite, the list of entries in my .bib-file has the articles in the right order and with the correct citation keys from Zotero. So, I guess it must be biblatex which changes the citation keys. But why would it do that, and more importantly: how do I force biblatex to use the original order?

 \documentclass{report}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setdefaultlanguage[variant=british]{english}

\usepackage[backend=biber,maxbibnames=99,urldate=short,sortlocale=danish,firstinits=true,style=authoryear-icomp,dashed=false,doi=false,isbn=false,url=true,]{biblatex}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@article{bahn2017c,
    title = {Evolution of Teachers' Anticipation of Didactical Situations in the Course of Three Lesson Studies},
    journaltitle = {Annales de Didactique et de Sciences Cognitives},
    date = {2017},
    author = {Bahn, Jacob},
    file = {/home/jb/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/zotero/storage/Y3G88PIA/Bahn - 2017 - Evolution of teachers' anticipation of didactical .pdf},
    pubstate = {submitted}
}
@inproceedings{bahn2017d,
    location = {{Nagoya, Japan}},
    title = {How Infrastructures of Lesson Studies Impact on Teachers' Learning},
    eventtitle = {{{WALS International Conference}}, {{November}} 24-26, 2017},
    date = {2017},
    author = {Bahn, Jacob},
    file = {/home/jb/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/zotero/storage/MVURD5TC/wals-pres.pdf},
    pubstate = {submitted}
}
@article{bahn2017a,
    title = {An Experiment with {{Open}}-Ended {{Approach}} in Grade Four Probability Teaching},
    journaltitle = {Recherches en Didactique des Mathématiques},
    date = {2017},
    author = {Bahn, Jacob},
    file = {/home/jb/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/zotero/storage/LN55IYG2/Bahn - 2017 - An experiment with Open-ended Approach in grade fo.pdf},
    pubstate = {submitted}
}
@article{bahn2017b,
    title = {Teachers Learning from Their First Lesson Study},
    journaltitle = {Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education},
    date = {2017},
    author = {Bahn, Jacob},
    file = {/home/jb/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/zotero/storage/3H3WVRMA/Bahn - 2017 - Teachers learning from their first lesson study.pdf},
    pubstate = {submitted}
}

\end{filecontents}

\begin{document}
\chapter{List of papers and abstracts}
\noindent \fullcite{bahn2017a}.\\

\bigskip \noindent \fullcite{bahn2017b}.\\

\bigskip \noindent \fullcite{bahn2017c}.\\

\bigskip \noindent \fullcite{bahn2017d}.\\

\section{References}
\sloppy
\printbibliography[heading=none]
\end{document}

Answer 1

My impression is that the first of David's advices -- that is, to use sortyear -- is the soundest. But your requirement of not being able to add custom fields due to the use of Zotero indeed complicates things. Btw, you might want to consider a more flexible alternative, such as JabRef (see LaTeX and bibliography management tools).

Still, there is a way to change your data dynamically, with biblatex's DeclareSourcemap. In your case, you could use:

\DeclareSourcemap{
    \maps[datatype=bibtex]{
        \map{
            \step[fieldsource=entrykey, match=bahn2017a, fieldset=sortyear, fieldvalue=2017a]
            \step[fieldsource=entrykey, match=bahn2017b, fieldset=sortyear, fieldvalue=2017b]
            \step[fieldsource=entrykey, match=bahn2017c, fieldset=sortyear, fieldvalue=2017c]
            \step[fieldsource=entrykey, match=bahn2017d, fieldset=sortyear, fieldvalue=2017d]
        }
    }
}

Essentially, this implements the first of David's alternatives, without directly editing your bib file.

A MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setdefaultlanguage[variant=british]{english}

\usepackage[backend=biber,maxbibnames=99,urldate=short,sortlocale=danish,giveninits=true,style=authoryear-icomp,dashed=false,doi=false,isbn=false,url=true,]{biblatex}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@article{bahn2017c,
    title = {Evolution of Teachers' Anticipation of Didactical Situations in the Course of Three Lesson Studies},
    journaltitle = {Annales de Didactique et de Sciences Cognitives},
    date = {2017},
    author = {Bahn, Jacob},
    file = {/home/jb/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/zotero/storage/Y3G88PIA/Bahn - 2017 - Evolution of teachers' anticipation of didactical .pdf},
    pubstate = {submitted}
}
@inproceedings{bahn2017d,
    location = {{Nagoya, Japan}},
    title = {How Infrastructures of Lesson Studies Impact on Teachers' Learning},
    eventtitle = {{{WALS International Conference}}, {{November}} 24-26, 2017},
    date = {2017},
    author = {Bahn, Jacob},
    file = {/home/jb/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/zotero/storage/MVURD5TC/wals-pres.pdf},
    pubstate = {submitted}
}
@article{bahn2017a,
    title = {An Experiment with {{Open}}-Ended {{Approach}} in Grade Four Probability Teaching},
    journaltitle = {Recherches en Didactique des Mathématiques},
    date = {2017},
    author = {Bahn, Jacob},
    file = {/home/jb/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/zotero/storage/LN55IYG2/Bahn - 2017 - An experiment with Open-ended Approach in grade fo.pdf},
    pubstate = {submitted}
}
@article{bahn2017b,
    title = {Teachers Learning from Their First Lesson Study},
    journaltitle = {Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education},
    date = {2017},
    author = {Bahn, Jacob},
    file = {/home/jb/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/zotero/storage/3H3WVRMA/Bahn - 2017 - Teachers learning from their first lesson study.pdf},
    pubstate = {submitted}
}

\end{filecontents}

\DeclareSourcemap{
    \maps[datatype=bibtex]{
        \map{
            \step[fieldsource=entrykey, match=bahn2017a, fieldset=sortyear, fieldvalue=2017a]
            \step[fieldsource=entrykey, match=bahn2017b, fieldset=sortyear, fieldvalue=2017b]
            \step[fieldsource=entrykey, match=bahn2017c, fieldset=sortyear, fieldvalue=2017c]
            \step[fieldsource=entrykey, match=bahn2017d, fieldset=sortyear, fieldvalue=2017d]
        }
    }
}


\begin{document}
\noindent \fullcite{bahn2017a}.\\

\bigskip \noindent \fullcite{bahn2017b}.\\

\bigskip \noindent \fullcite{bahn2017c}.\\

\bigskip \noindent \fullcite{bahn2017d}.\\

\section{References}
\sloppy
\printbibliography[heading=none]
\end{document}

Answer 2

I suggest you add a sortyear field to your entries.

Something like this (BTW, you should use giveninits not firstinits:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setdefaultlanguage[variant=british]{english}

\usepackage[backend=biber,maxbibnames=99,urldate=short,sortlocale=danish,giveninits=true,style=authoryear-icomp,dashed=false,doi=false,isbn=false,url=true,]{biblatex}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@article{bahn2017c,
    title = {Evolution of Teachers' Anticipation of Didactical Situations in the Course of Three Lesson Studies},
    journaltitle = {Annales de Didactique et de Sciences Cognitives},
    date = {2017},
    sortyear = {2017c},
    author = {Bahn, Jacob},
    file = {/home/jb/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/zotero/storage/Y3G88PIA/Bahn - 2017 - Evolution of teachers' anticipation of didactical .pdf},
    pubstate = {submitted}
}
@inproceedings{bahn2017d,
    location = {{Nagoya, Japan}},
    title = {How Infrastructures of Lesson Studies Impact on Teachers' Learning},
    eventtitle = {{{WALS International Conference}}, {{November}} 24-26, 2017},
    date = {2017},
    sortyear = {2017d},
    author = {Bahn, Jacob},
    file = {/home/jb/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/zotero/storage/MVURD5TC/wals-pres.pdf},
    pubstate = {submitted}
}
@article{bahn2017a,
    title = {An Experiment with {{Open}}-Ended {{Approach}} in Grade Four Probability Teaching},
    journaltitle = {Recherches en Didactique des Mathématiques},
    date = {2017},
    sortyear = {2017a},
    author = {Bahn, Jacob},
    file = {/home/jb/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/zotero/storage/LN55IYG2/Bahn - 2017 - An experiment with Open-ended Approach in grade fo.pdf},
    pubstate = {submitted}
}
@article{bahn2017b,
    title = {Teachers Learning from Their First Lesson Study},
    journaltitle = {Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education},
    date = {2017},
    sortyear = {2017b},
    author = {Bahn, Jacob},
    file = {/home/jb/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/zotero/storage/3H3WVRMA/Bahn - 2017 - Teachers learning from their first lesson study.pdf},
    pubstate = {submitted}
}

\end{filecontents}

\begin{document}
\noindent \fullcite{bahn2017a}.\\

\bigskip \noindent \fullcite{bahn2017b}.\\

\bigskip \noindent \fullcite{bahn2017c}.\\

\bigskip \noindent \fullcite{bahn2017d}.\\

\section{References}
\sloppy
\printbibliography[heading=none]
\end{document}

---

Second Way

If you want to sort using your entry key (which I don't recommend), you need to add a couple of blocks.

Add this just before \begin{document}:

\DeclareSortingTemplate{nkyt}{
  \sort{
    \field{presort}
  }
  \sort[final]{
    \field{sortkey}
  }
  \sort{
    \field{sortname}
    \field{author}
    \field{editor}
    \field{translator}
    \field{sorttitle}
    \field{title}
  }
  \sort{
    \field{entrykey}
  }
  \sort{
    \field{sortyear}
    \field{year}
  }
  \sort{
    \field{sorttitle}
    \field{title}
  }
  \sort{
    \field{volume}
    \literal{0}
  }
}

And add this just after \begin{document}

\newrefcontext[sorting=nkyt]

Output is the same as above and you don't need the sortyear fields.

---

Third Way

Add the option date=year to your biblatex options.

Supply full dates for your articles in the format date = {yyyy-mm-dd}.

Add this just before \begin{document}:

\DeclareSortingTemplate{nyt}{
  \sort{
    \field{presort}
  }
  \sort[final]{
    \field{sortkey}
  }
  \sort{
    \field{sortname}
    \field{author}
    \field{editor}
    \field{translator}
    \field{sorttitle}
    \field{title}
  }
  \sort{
    \field{sortyear}
    \field{year}
  }
  \sort{
    \field{month}
  }
  \sort{
    \field{sorttitle}
    \field{title}
  }
  \sort{
    \field{volume}
    \literal{0}
  }
}

This is probably the best solution I think actually.

Answer 3

This is possible to do without leaving Zotero. Mind that the following will affect all your BBT-driven biblatex exports from Zotero, so I wouldn't recommend keeping this in place. But if this is what you want to do:

1. Install the BBT plugin in Zotero (full disclosure: I am the author of the plugin) if you don't have it already; if you use Zotero and your keys look like "bahn2017b", you are most likely already using it

2. Go into the BBT preferences and install the following postscript

   if (Translator.BetterBibLaTeX) this.add({name: 'sortname', value: item.date, enc: 'date' })

This will set add a field called "sortname" to every reference but with the value set to the full date of the reference. Since the default sort is "nyt", this will sort your references by the full date to any precision you've specified in the date field in Zotero.