read_refs: Import bibliographic data files

In synthesisr: Import, Assemble, and Deduplicate Bibliographic Datasets

Import bibliographic data files

Description

Import common bibliographic reference formats such as .bib, .ris, or .txt.

Usage

read_refs(
  filename,
  tag_naming = "best_guess",
  return_df = TRUE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  locale = vroom::default_locale(),
  ...
)

Arguments

filename	A path to a filename or vector of filenames containing search results to import.
tag_naming	Either a length-1 character stating how should ris tags be replaced (see details for a list of options), or an object inheriting from class tibble containing user-defined replacement tags.
return_df	If TRUE (default), returns a tibble; if FALSE, returns a list.
verbose	If TRUE, prints status updates (defaults to FALSE).
locale	passed to vroom::vroom_lines()
...	Additional arguments, passed to vroom::vroom() or vroom::vroom_lines()

Details

Accepted values for tag_naming are: '

• "best_guess": estimate which database has been used for ris tag replacement, then fill any gaps with generic tags. Any tags missing from code_lookup are passed unchanged.

• "wos" Web of Science tags

• "scopus" Scopus tags

• "ovid" OVID tags

• "asp" Academic Search Premier tags

• "none" Do not rename tags

• A tibble with the following columns:

  • "code" listing the original tags in the source document

  • "field" listing the replacement column/tag names

  • "order" (optional) listing the order of columns in the resulting tibble

Value

Returns a tibble unless return_df is set to FALSE, when it returns a list.

Examples

litsearchr <- c(
  "@article{grames2019,
  title={An automated approach to identifying search terms for
  systematic reviews using keyword co-occurrence networks},
  author={Grames, Eliza M and Stillman, Andrew N and Tingley, Morgan W and Elphick, Chris S},
  journal={Methods in Ecology and Evolution},
  volume={10},
  number={10},
  pages={1645--1654},
  year={2019},
  publisher={Wiley Online Library}
}")

tmp <- tempfile()
writeLines(litsearchr, tmp)
df <- read_refs(tmp, return_df = TRUE, verbose = TRUE)

synthesisr documentation built on March 26, 2026, 5:09 p.m.