Is there a way to make omit repeating authors work when the co-authors are not identical (which is probably the case in any single case!).
I have 2 references with the same first author (but differing et al.), in different years which will result in this in-line citation:
Smith et al. 2012, Smith et al. 2023
What I want though, is: Smith et al. 2012, 2023
I can see this issue dates back to 2009. 2009!!! So, how can I make this work?? Many ecology journals need manuscripts formatted this way, and sometimes it is necessary to stay within a certain word limit. Btw, Zotero, Mendeley can do it, so can’t be rocket science in 2025.
I’m using Endnote 20, APA 7th citation style, reference ordering: First Author, Year
I don’t think it is “fixed” in endnote21 either. To be honest, I have never cared and submitted papers and never got any pushback from editors. If necessary, they fix it in the copy editing.
But they aren’t hidden from the reference list, – You can edit the pair of citations. Look at which one is second in the formatted citation (usually the most recent as in APA, but some other styles go alphabetical by 2nd author). Right click in the citation select edit citation>select more (so you can choose which citation you want to exclude author from). The look at the formatting option dropdown in the edit citation tabl, which says “default” and change to “exclude author”.
