I'm trying to edit an existing citation style to suit my needs (Journal of Tropical Ecology). I edited it so the inline citations go from newest to oldest reference (Smith et al 2019, Jones et al 2017, Doe 2000). The thing is, when there are multiple papers by the same author it still arranges it from older to newer (Smith et al 2019, Jones et al 2006, 2010, 2017, Doe 2000), but I want to change that like: (Smith et al 2019, Jones et al 2017, 2010, 206 , Doe 2000)
Hope someone can help
Eduardo Chávez-Sahagún, I think the problem might be that you want to do something that runs counter to convention. For identical authors, in-text citations and entries in an alphabetically ordered reference list are conventionally sequenced from earliest to most recent.
There are more than 6,000 referencing systems in the world, many, I daresay, because individual people or little groups of people, decide to do things according to their own preferences.
If I were you, I would abide by convention. It could save you (and perhaps others) a lot of hassles.
All the best!
Eduardo Chávez-Sahagún, please accept my apologies. Although what I wrote above is accurate, on your behalf I should, perhaps, have consulted the author instructions in your target journal.
I've done that now, and, although that journal's instructions about referencing are slightly different from many of the 3,000 or so systems within the Harvard (or author-date) style of referencing, it seems you are trying to go against what the journal has asked for. Here are some of that journal's instructions about in-text citations:
"If a number of references are cited at one place in the text, they should not be be [sic] arranged chronologically, but alphabetically by first author, with single-author references before those with two authors, which in turn come before those with three or more authors, e.g. (Chan 2008, Dubois & Blanc 1999, Silva & Almeida 2011, Silva et al. 2009, Williams 2003)."
and about entries in the reference list:
"In the reference list citations should take the forms given below. References with two or more authors should be arranged first alphabetically then chronologically."
Even if the journal's requirements don't suit your fancy, it might be advisable to march to its drum.
Robert Trevethan thanks, no offence taken. The ting is its not for the journal. its for my institution, they have this little specific custom citation guidelines for dissertations, so i took the style of the Journal of Tropical Ecology as a base and re-create the particular style I need. I hear what you say and I think my institution are the ones who need to adopt a standard style, but right now i just wanna get over with it.
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