How to set the title of a book in the References in an upright font shape

Question

I am trying to set the book title style to plain in namedplus.bst but don't seem to be able to. Currently this is what I have

FUNCTION {format.btitle}
{ title emphasize
}

and replacing it with the following code from another style file that gives plain text format for the title gives me error messages

FUNCTION {format.btitle}
{ title "title" bibinfo.check
  duplicate$ empty$ 'skip$
    {
    }
  if$
}

error message: the literal stack isn't empty for entry

could you please help me with this?

Answer 1

Simply remove the emphasize:

FUNCTION {format.btitle}
{ title
}

The checks you copied are unnecessary, as the formatted title is checked in different places.

Answer 2

The function emphasize in the file namedplus.bst is defined as follows:

FUNCTION {emphasize}
{ duplicate$ empty$
    { pop$ "" }
    { "{\em " swap$ * "}" * }
  if$
}

• I recommend you first create a function called, say, plain, to be placed right after the emphasize function, which mimics all aspects of the emphasize function except that it skips the \em directive:

  FUNCTION {plain}
  { duplicate$ empty$
      { pop$ "" }
      { "{" swap$ * "}" * }
    if$
  }
  

  Upon reflection, the line { "{" swap$ * "}" * } doesn't do anything at all, and hence the function plain may be simplified to:

  FUNCTION {plain}
  { duplicate$ empty$
      { pop$ "" }
      { }
    if$
  }
  

• Second, replace the instruction title emphasize in the format.btitle function with

  title plain
  

• Finally, be sure to save the file under a new name, e.g., mynamedplus.bst and to provide the instruction

  \bibliographystyle{mynamedplus}
  

  in your TeX document to start using the modified bibliography style.