Template talk:Cite arXiv

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Documentation

[edit] Usage

*{{cite arXiv
| author =
| title =
| year =
| version =
| eprint =
}}

[edit] Example

*{{cite arXiv
| author = Roberts, M. D.
| title = Spacetime Exterior to a Star: Against Asymptotic Flatness
| year = 1998
| version = May 16, 2002 
| eprint = qr-qc/9811093
}}

[edit] Discussion

[edit] Merge with Template:Cite journal?

I'm a bit confused as to why this template exists - is it not better to use Template:Cite journal, with Template:Arxiv in the ID field? Mike Peel 12:10, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

I imagine so that one can cite papers that exist on the arxiv but have not (yet) appeared in journals. —David Eppstein 06:48, 16 September 2006 (UTC)
My point was that it is easy to do something like:
  • Marathe, Madhav V.; Breu, Heinz, Hunt, Harry B., III, Ravi, S. S., and Rosenkrantz, Daniel J. (1994). "Geometry based heuristics for unit disk graphs". arXiv:math.CO/9409226.
... which cites arXiv on its own, with no reference to a journal location, while leaving the option open to add in a full journal reference in later. I've agreed with User:Hillman (the creator of this template) to not do anything with this for at least a few months, so that he can sort through other problems he's having with Wikipedia first. Mike Peel 07:55, 16 September 2006 (UTC)
That does look better. I didn't know about that id trick — maybe it deserves more prominent mention earlier on this talk page? —David Eppstein 14:57, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Show as arxiv cite; no version?

I'd like it if the cite arxiv template looked something like

  • Marathe, Madhav V., Breu, Heinz, Hunt, Harry B., III, Ravi, S. S., and Rosenkrantz, Daniel J. (1994). "Geometry based heuristics for unit disk graphs". arXiv:math.CO/9409226.

instead of

For one thing, the doubled period looks bad. For a second, unless I hover over the link I can't tell the first kind of cite apart from a random web page anywhere else. We include publishers of other kinds of sources; why should we slight the arxiv in this way?

On an unrelated issue, it's not obvious how or why to fill in the "version =" part of the template for a paper that doesn't have multiple versions. Omitting it doesn't work correctly. The cite above was generated with a blank version. The examples on this page seem to indicate that the version should be filled in with the upload date, but arxiv uses a different numbering scheme in which versions are like "v1", "v2", etc. The year is already visible elsewhere, but if you want a date as well, why not call it a date? And why not allow the "16 Dec 2005" style format appearing on arxiv pages for easier copy and pasting?

David Eppstein 06:48, 16 September 2006 (UTC)