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yahapj.bst: yet another hacked ApJ bibtex style

This Git repository contains yahapj.bst, a BibTeX style file for creating bibliographies in the format used by the Astrophysical Journal. It largely operates like apj.bst, in that your bibliography will closely resemble what is required for articles in the Astrophysical Journal. However it has a few nice new features:

  • ArXiV identifiers and links are included for those entries that don't contain any more formal reference information.
  • DOI links are embedded if available.
  • Trailing plus signs in page numbers are removed.
  • Automatic compatibility with the jabbrv journal name abbreviation package.
  • Maintenance in Git makes it easy to stay updated.

How to Use It

  1. Use BibTeX for your bibliography. Help with this is beyond the scope of this file.

  2. Download yahapj.bst and save it in the directory containing your LaTeX file.

  3. Make sure your LaTeX file uses the hyperref package. For attractive links, we suggest:

    \usepackage[breaklinks,colorlinks,
   urlcolor=blue,citecolor=blue,linkcolor=blue]{hyperref}

  4. For your \bibliographystyle{} command, put:

    \bibliographystyle{yahapj}

That’s all there is to it! If you're really adventurous, see below about optionally tweaking link formatting with deep LaTeX magic.

Making & Sharing Improvements

The style file is derived from the venerable apj.bst and adds some features which are mostly cribbed from other hacked versions of this file, especially the hapj.bst provided by ArXiv. We hope that by importing a version of this file into Git, improvements can be shared more easily.

If you make changes to this file that you'd like to share, just clone the Git repository and commit away! At least one incarnation of the Git repository is accessible on GitHub, with all of the social coding features that that entails, at https://github.com/pkgw/yahapj/.

If you'd like to make changes to the style file, you may run into the minor problem that BibTeX style files are implemented in a bizarre nonce language. The best reference I've been able to find is “Tame the BeaST,” by Nicolas Markey.

Provenance

The history of recent changes to the style file should be discovered by consulting the Git history.

The seed file for the Git repository is based upon revision 1.7 of apj.bst from the astronat package provided by the NASA Astrophysics Data System. That file was originally generated from merlin.mbs, which was written by Patrick W. Daly. Subsequent changes were contributed by Jonathan E. Baker, Tim Robishaw, Craig Wiegert, Andrew R. Marble, Stephan Fegan, and Alberto Accomazzi.

The seed file adds in the changes in hapj.bst provided by arxiv.org, which were added by Varendra (Alvin) Das. The version of the file provided by arxiv.org is based on what is effectively revision 1.5 of the ADS apj.bst.

It also incorporates new-style arxiv identifiers from Jacques Distler's utphys.bst.

These changes were collected and some further cleanups were made by Peter K. G. Williams.

Year-Only Links

Because this style requires hyperref, your manuscript will be filled with active links from your \cite command to the references. If you compare with the actual published ApJ, however, you'll note that in your PDF the entire reference (e.g., “Jones et al. 2013”) is a link, whereas in ApJ only the year is.

If you want to get really hard-core — or if the full-reference links give too much blue text on each page for your tastes — here is some magic LaTeX code to hack the \cite commands to look like ApJ. This is blindly copied off of this StackExchange answer by "Audrey", and I have no freaking idea how it works. But it works for me.

% In preamble:
\usepackage{etoolbox}

\makeatletter

% Patch case where name and year are separated by aysep
\patchcmd{\NAT@citex}
  {\@citea\NAT@hyper@{%
     \NAT@nmfmt{\NAT@nm}%
     \hyper@natlinkbreak{\NAT@aysep\NAT@spacechar}{\@citeb\@extra@b@citeb}%
     \NAT@date}}
  {\@citea\NAT@nmfmt{\NAT@nm}%
   \NAT@aysep\NAT@spacechar\NAT@hyper@{\NAT@date}}{}{}

% Patch case where name and year are separated by opening bracket
\patchcmd{\NAT@citex}
  {\@citea\NAT@hyper@{%
     \NAT@nmfmt{\NAT@nm}%
     \hyper@natlinkbreak{\NAT@spacechar\NAT@@open\if*#1*\else#1\NAT@spacechar\fi}%
       {\@citeb\@extra@b@citeb}%
     \NAT@date}}
  {\@citea\NAT@nmfmt{\NAT@nm}%
   \NAT@spacechar\NAT@@open\if*#1*\else#1\NAT@spacechar\fi\NAT@hyper@{\NAT@date}}
  {}{}

\makeatother

I presume that if you include this kind of code in the LaTeX files you actually send to the journal, they'll freak out at you. But you can put it in your Arxiv submissions to make them look classy.

Alternatively, it appears that biblatex has built-in support for this, but then you wouldn't be using this package!

Copyright Status of yahapj.bst

The original merlin.mbs claimed copyright from 1994-1998 for Patrick W. Daly. Subsequent files have been copied and modified by numerous parties all over the Internet. In assembling this repository, I have deemed it fair to dedicate the style file to the public domain.

Note that the original file did come with the following notice from within merlin.mbs:

This file may be used for non-profit purposes. It may not be distributed in exchange for money, other than distribution costs. The author provides it “as is” and does not guarantee it in any way.

It is not clear to me (Peter Williams) if this clause applies to the generated BibTeX style file, or only the source merlin.mbs file. If the notice does not apply to yahapj.bst, or yahapj.bst is treated as being in the public domain, the “non-profit” clause is inoperative, and you may attempt to distribute it in exchange for money. Have fun with that.

Copyright Status of This File

This README file is also dedicated to the public domain. You have unlimited permission to copy, distribute, and modify it.

Contributors