Abbreviating text within a reference

Question

IEEE conferences want references which abbreviate certain words, like:

• International -> Int.
• Conference -> Conf.
• etc...

I realize that IEEEabrv.bib provides similar functionality, but that requires changing the booktitle/journal entry in the bibtex file, something Mendeley (my reference manager) cannot do.

Is there a way to do string replacement in a bibliography through bibtex? I could write a script which has the same effect, but I would rather specify things internally (so they can be changed for different publications).

Answer 1

I do this a lot. In the .bst file, I create a bunch of macros, like

MACRO {jap} {"J.~Appl.\ Phys."}
MACRO {sep} {"September"}

I also have auxilliary bib files set up with definitions like statesfull.bib

@STRING{ut.us = "Utah"}

or statespostal.bib

@STRING{ut.us = "UT"}

Then, in my bib files, entries would appear as

@ARTICLE{segl94,
    AUTHOR  = "Segletes, S. B.",
    TITLE   = {Further Examinations on the Thermodynamic Stability of the
            {M}ie-{G}r\"uneisen Equation of State},
    JOURNAL = jap,
    YEAR    = "1994",
    VOLUME  = "76",
    NUMBER  = "8",
    PAGES   = "4560--4566",
    MONTH   = "15~" # oct                   }

or

@TECHREPORT{grin10a,
    AUTHOR  = "Grinfeld, M. A. and Segletes, S. B.",
    TITLE = "Towards Mechanochemistry of Fracture and Cohesion:
            General Introduction and the Simplest Model of Velcro",
    NUMBER  = "ARL-TR-5309",
    INSTITUTION = "U.S. Army Research Laboratory",
    ADDRESS = "Aberdeen Proving Ground, " # md.us,
    YEAR    = "2010",
    MONTH   = sep                           }

By calling on bibliography with the right file options, I can make the bibliography either print out full journal names, or abbreviated names, without changing the use of the shorthand like 'jap' in my bib file. Likewise for state: either full names or abbreviated postal names