References

Cross-checking online

Automatic corrections

Merops can use data retrieved online to alert discrepancies or automatically correct, e.g.:

Automatic retrieval of missing details

Merops can use the data retrieved online to insert missing details, like a page range or volume number.

Hyperlinks

Merops can find your references online and insert hyperlinks to:

• Crossref
• PubMed

Merops can style the links to suit your house style, e.g.:

• [doi:12.7626/0307-4859-141-11-201405580-00306]
• [Pubmed: 19128993]

These links can enhance the quality and consistency of references, and can add value to the published product.

Example

1.    Li, R, et al. (2000) Estrogen enhances uptake of amyloid β-protein by microglia derived from the human cortex. J. Neurochem. 75, 1447–54. [Crossref] [PubMed]

Cross-checking within document

Merops automatically cross-checks citations with bibliographic lists, and can alert:

• citations with no matching reference
• uncited references
• out of sequence numerical citations

Merops identifies and can correct discrepancies between a reference and its citation, including:

Citations

Merops can identify and standardize reference citations to produce a consistent document that conforms to your preferred style.

Merops can now apply different preferences for citations in brackets and at first mention.

Name–date system

Merops can standardize the sequence, punctuation, and formatting of author-date citations. Examples:

• sort by date or by name, e.g. (Chopra, 2010; Malik, 1984) ↔ (Malik, 1984; Chopra, 2010)
• use of 'et al.', e.g. Zhōu, et al., 2014 ↔ Zhōu, Xiè, and Shěn, 2014
• Corrections from PubMed/Crossref, e.g. Shmit, 2011 → Schmidt, 2011

Numerical system

Merops can standardize the formatting, position and punctuation of numerical citations:

• Smith [23, 24, 25, 30]. ↔ Smith.^23–25,30

Merops uses intelligent pattern recognition to ensure expressions like He²⁺, 10 m², and χ² are not misidentified as citations.

Reference lists

Merops uses massive dictionaries of surnames, organizations, publishers, journals, etc. in combination with intelligent pattern recognition to identify all components of a reference.

Merops can then standardize every aspect of these components, including formatting, punctuation and sequence.

Merops can also alert missing or unidentified reference parts.

Some advanced features include:

• identify and remove paragraph breaks within entries
• standardize use of et al., e.g. Zhōu, et al., 2014 ↔ Zhōu, Xiè, and Shěn, 2014
• expand/abbreviate journal, e.g. (Br Med J  ↔  British Medical Journal)
• elide or expand page ranges, e.g. (123–126  ↔  123–6)
• different style preferences for references in footnotes
• apply or remove dash for repeated names, e.g. ——— (2012)… ↔ Fox (2012)…
• alert publishers with the wrong city as their address

Merops can standardize all kinds of references, including journal, book, thesis, and online references.

Legal references

Merops applies national standard conventions for the presentation of legal citations.

Standards covered:

• The Bluebook
• AALL Universal Citation Guide
• ALWD Guide to Legal Citation
• OSCOLA

Example

Before

[1] YANG, L.R. JNR. , Y. SHEN, R.B. LI, L. F. LUE, C. FINCH, & J. ROGERS. “Estrogen Enhances Uptake of Amyloid ß-Protein by Microglia Derived from the Human Cortex”. Journal of Neurochemistry 2000:75;1447-1454

After

1.    Yang, LR, Jr, et al. (2000) Estrogen enhances uptake of amyloid β-protein by microglia derived from the human cortex. J. Neurochem. 75, 1447–54.

Here, amendments, based around a style template, have been made to every part of this reference automatically, potentially saving hours of work on lengthy texts.