[Feature request] CSL support for bibliographies and citations

[emmalexandria]

This feature request is a long shot, as it seems rather challenging to implement.
However, it would be great if Sigil had support for CSL (I'm unsure if citeproc-js can be used, but citeproc JSON seems like a good choice for source descriptions). One way I can see this working is by citation IDs inside HTML <cite> tags being used to detect citations. Obviously given the ebook format, footnote based styles would have to be adopted to endnotes which is quite a challenge.

I hope this suggestion isn't ridiculous or impossible. I must admit a lack of familiarity with CSL as well as the codebase of Sigil. I'm just yet to find a good way to manage citations within an epub, and this functionality would be really nice.

[DiapDealer]

This is the first time I've even heard of CSL. The main hurdle I see (after an admittedly very quick glance) is that to be integrated into Sigil, it would require non-epub compliant filetypes to be included to help generate the html. That would be unlikely to happen. I see there's a citeproc-py generator though. Since Sigil comes with the ability to run Python plugins, it would be technically possible for someone to create a CSL input plugin that could be used to generate an epub. It might prove difficult, however, to enlist a plugin developer to create a complex plugin that utilizes technology they are neither familiar with, nor have a personal need to use.

[KevinH]

As far as I can tell. It is meant to be a preprocessor that is useful for citation focused management software. Its *output* is useful for finished papers and journals to match styling requirements so all citations are identically formatted for journal standards.

It is meant to by used for formatting citations from various sources *before* submittal to a journal.

I really do not see it as being apart of the epub creation process outside a plugin that would request the citations in csl format and generating a final styled xhtml file for the epub.

So I really only see this as an input plugin and possibly an output plugin to generate the CSL from an existing set of endnotes. Not as a new non-compliant file type in an epub.

[Doitsu]

It's highly unlikely that someone is going to write a full citation manager plugin for Sigil.

Assuming that CSL files that the OP works with look like my simple json sample, it would theoretically be possible to create a simple plugin that converts the CSL .json content to an .xhtml file with citeproc-py and adds it as an endnotes section to the current epub.

JSON:

Spoiler:

[
    {
        "id": "cite1",
        "type": "book",
        "author": [
            {
                "family": "Smith",
                "given": "John"
            }
        ],
        "issued": {
            "date-parts": [[2020]]
        },
        "title": "Understanding Complex Systems",
        "publisher": "Academic Press"
    },
    {
        "id": "cite2",
        "type": "article-journal",
        "author": [
            {
                "family": "Jones",
                "given": "Alice"
            },
            {
                "family": "Brown",
                "given": "Thomas"
            }
        ],
        "issued": {
            "date-parts": [[2018]]
        },
        "title": "Advances in Research Methods",
        "container-title": "Journal of Science",
        "volume": "45",
        "issue": "3",
        "page": "123-145"
    }
]

HTML:

Spoiler:

<section epub:type="backmatter" id="endnotes">
	<h2>Endnotes</h2>
	<ol>
		<li id="endnote1">
			<p>Smith, J. (2020). <em>Understanding Complex Systems</em>. Academic Press. <a href="#cite1">↩</a></p>
		</li>
		<li id="endnote2">
			<p>Jones, A., & Brown, T. (2018). <em>Advances in Research Methods</em>. Journal of Science, 45(3), 123–145. <a href="#cite2">↩</a></p>
		</li>
	</ol>
</section>

[KevinH]

Yes, citeproc.py look like the right approach for a plugin as it requires lxml which is already part of Sigil.