Another option (especially if you don't like having the key field displayed at the beginning of your entry (or at all) or have to customize each bibliographic entry to use key instead of publisher) is to customize the BST file. Since your provided code has natbib using plainnat, you can find plainnat.bst in your TeX repository and place a local copy with a different name (like plainnat-copy.bst) into your working directory. There are four steps in modifying your local copy of plainnat-copy.bst: First, update the misc function to account for your usage of publisher instead of howpublished. Second, update the presort function to sort by publisher when there is no author. Third, write the rule for how to sort by publisher. Fourth, have your TeX file use your newly customized BST file.
Note: I am using the 2007 version of plainnat.bst, which is the latest as of this posting in 2022.
- In your local copy of
plainnat-copy.bst, search for the misc function and replace all instances of howpublished with publisher. I show the new version here:
FUNCTION {misc}
{ output.bibitem
format.authors output
author format.key output
title publisher new.block.checkb
format.title output
publisher new.block.checka
publisher output
format.date output
format.issn output
format.url output
new.block
note output
fin.entry
empty.misc.check
}
- Search for the
presort function (starts with FUNCTION {presort}). As you work here, note that the language in the BST file implements a postfix notation. We'll focus just on this portion from the middle of the function:
{ type$ "manual" =
'author.organization.sort
'author.sort
if$
}
Perhaps you'll recognize that this is the innermost of a set of nested if statements that apply different sorting rules to different bibliographic entry types and that there is not yet a branch for the misc type. By default, when the algorithm gets to this innermost if, the test type$ "manual" = returns false (because your entry is a misc not a manual) so the algorithm skips the next (first) option and applies the author.sort rule to all misc entries. We'll modify this second option to insert the next deeper level in these nested if statements to establish a branch specific to misc entries.
{ type$ "manual" =
'author.organization.sort
{ type$ "misc" =
author empty$
and
'publisher.sort
'author.sort
if$
}
if$
}
For anchoring, take note that the first two lines and the last two lines are the same in the original version and this modified version; I replaced only the middle line with the new code for the misc type. The new logic is as follows: If the entry is not a manual type, then the algorithm proceeds to the second line following, which is the next deeper level in the nested if statements. Then it tests whether the type is misc and has no author; if both of these are true, then it will apply the publisher.sort rule (which we'll write in step 3 below); else it will apply the author.sort rule, so that all other entries are not affected by this change.
- For the
publisher.sort function, paste the following code into your plainnat-copy.bst right above the presort function that you just modified so that this publisher.sort function is between editor.organization.sort and presort functions:
FUNCTION {publisher.sort}
{ publisher empty$
{ key empty$
{ "to sort, need author, publisher, or key in " cite$ * warning$
""
}
{ key sortify }
if$
}
{ "The " #4 publisher chop.word sortify }
if$
}
- In your TeX file, you'll need to change this line to account for your newly customized file:
\bibliographystyle{plainnat-copy}. Here's the MWE:
\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.bib}
@misc{Madlena11,
Author={Chavala Madlena},
Publisher={Guardian},
Title = {Telecomix: tech support for the {Arab} spring},
url = {http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jul/07/telecomix-arab-spring}
}
@misc{RT12,
Publisher={RT TV Network},
Title = {{Anti}-{ACTA} day: {Angry} crowds take action},
url = {http://rt.com/news/acta-protests-rallies-europe-089/}
}
\end{filecontents*}
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[numbers]{natbib}
\usepackage{url}
\begin{document}
\cite{Madlena11}, \cite{RT12}
\bibliographystyle{plainnat-copy}
\bibliography{\jobname}
\end{document}
Here's the output:
