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I'm writing a paper using R Markdown for the first time. Here are my YAML options

---
title: "My path to the Nobel"
author: "J.E. Alcalá"
lang: english
bibliography: data_analysis.bib
csl: apa.csl
output:
  word_document:
    reference_docx: apa_template.docx
---

When I cite a paper for the firs time it doesn't show all authors. For example [e.g., @maei2009] should display (e.g., Maei, Zaslavsky, & Wang 2009) the first time I cite that paper, but instead I get (e.g., Maei et al. 2009). Probably is something stupid but I'm really new on R Markdown, so I don't even know where to look for an answer (despite I have tried).

An answer or a reference to how fix this will be very useful.

Thank you!

jealcalat
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  • You need to xhange citation style for that to change. – Dror Bogin Feb 11 '18 at 08:04
  • @DrorBogin I'm using the apa.csl, do you mean I need to do _something else_ to change that? – jealcalat Feb 11 '18 at 08:24
  • The apa citation style uses **et al** when there are more than two authors. You could use a different citation style if you want to keep all the author names. – Dror Bogin Feb 11 '18 at 08:53
  • @DrorBogin It's a clear instruction in the APA Publications Manual (6° ed) to use all the authors surnames (>3) in the first citation and just the first author in subsequent citations (p. 175). Hence my question says "the first..." – jealcalat Feb 11 '18 at 09:17
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    `apa.csl` is not necessarily `apa.csl`, try different ones till it fits to your needs, or consult [citation styles editor](http://editor.citationstyles.org/about/) – jay.sf Feb 17 '18 at 22:42

1 Answers1

3

The CSL style for APA 6th edition follows the APA guidelines for et-al abbreviation (which are discussed here and here), and only uses "et al." for first citations when there are more than 6 authors.

I tried to locate the article for "Maei, Zaslavsky, & Wang 2009" in your example, and the only 2009 article with these three initial authors seems to be "Development and validation of a sensitive entropy-based measure for the water maze" (https://doi.org/10.3389/neuro.07.033.2009), by Maei HR, Zaslavsky K, Wang AH, Yiu AP, Teixeira CM, Josselyn SA, and Frankland PW. That's 7 authors, in which case APA requires et-al abbreviation with just the first author shown. Could this explain the unexpected result?

Rintze Zelle
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