Killing the \@lbibitem Error in REVTeX and Auto‑Truncating Huge Author Lists from Zotero (Better BibTeX)

This note documents the exact fixes I used when REVTeX + APS style blew up on a long collaboration paper (Abbott et al. 2016, LIGO/Virgo), and how I automated Better BibTeX (Zotero) to truncate 100+ authors at export and/or prefer the Collaboration name.

TL;DR

  • If you see ! File ended while scanning use of \@lbibitem., your .bbl is malformed/truncated. Rebuild cleanly with BibTeX (not biber) and fix author-name parsing glitches (multi‑word surnames, corporate authors).
  • For REVTeX: use \documentclass{revtex4-2} + \bibliographystyle{apsrev4-2} and run BibTeX.
  • In Zotero (Better BibTeX), add a tiny Postscript so items with >100 authors export as first 100 + “others” (= et al.), or export just the Collaboration if present.
  • Fix “duplicate destination figure.X” warnings by giving unique \labels, placed after each \caption.

1) Symptom

LaTeX dies in the bibliography:

! File ended while scanning use of \@lbibitem.
... {\citenamefont {Abbott}\ \emph {et~al.}(2016)\citenamefont {Abbott}, \ETC.
l.567 \bibliography{mlpaper}

You’re on revtex4-2 + apsrev4-2, so macros like \citenamefont and \ETC. are valid. The failure is usually a half‑written optional argument of a \bibitem in the generated .bbl (i.e. the .bbl is truncated or has unbalanced braces from name parsing).

Typical root causes (in my case it was one odd surname):

  • Multi‑word surnames unbraced: e.g., Canton, T. Dal vs {{Dal Canton}, T.}
  • Corporate/collaboration author improperly represented.
  • A previous partial build picked the wrong tool chain and left a corrupted .bbl.

2) Minimal working REVTeX pipeline (force BibTeX)

Use BibTeX with REVTeX/APS styles; do a clean rebuild:

latexmk -C
rm -f *.bbl *.blg *.bcf *.run.xml
pdflatex main
bibtex   main     # <- BibTeX, not biber
pdflatex main
pdflatex main
# or: latexmk -pdf -bibtex main.tex

If you ever switch to a non‑REVTeX class (e.g. article), use natbib with unsrtnat/abbrvnat instead of apsrev4-2:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[numbers,sort&compress]{natbib}
\bibliographystyle{unsrtnat}

3) Fixing tricky names in the .bib (Zotero export hygiene)

  • Multi‑word surnames: brace the full family name
    author = {{Dal Canton}, T.},
author = {{Cerboni Baiardi}, L.},
  • Particles (van, de, von): either keep as “van den Brand, J. F. J.” or brace: {{van den Brand}, J. F. J.}
  • Collaboration: prefer a corporate author
    author = {{LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration}},
  • Accents are fine as TeX macros: Maga{\~n}a, Zadro{\.z}ny.

Debug quickly:

grep -iE "error|warn|comma|brace|couldn.?t" main.blg || true

If the error disappears when you temporarily shorten the author list to:

author = {Abbott, B. P. and others},

then the original list had a parsing glitch—brace the offending names.

4) Zotero → Better BibTeX: auto‑truncate 100+ authors or prefer Collaboration

Goal

  • If an item has >100 authors, export the first 100 and then “others” (a special BibTeX name that renders as et al. in most styles including APS).
  • If a Collaboration appears in the author list, export just the collaboration as the (corporate) author.

Setup (Zotero → Preferences → Better BibTeX → Export → Postscript):

// Truncate long author lists and prefer Collaboration for BibTeX/REVTeX
if (Translator.BetterBibTeX) {
  const LIMIT = 100; // change to taste

  const creators = (zotero.creators || []).slice();
  const authors = creators.filter(c => c.creatorType === 'author');

  // Detect a corporate/collaboration author
  const collabIndex = authors.findIndex(a => {
    const name = (a.name || a.lastName || '').toLowerCase();
    return /collaboration/.test(name);
  });

  let newAuthors = authors;

  if (collabIndex >= 0) {
    // Prefer the collaboration as the sole author (single-field corporate)
    const collab = authors[collabIndex];
    newAuthors = [collab];
  } else if (authors.length > LIMIT) {
    // Keep first LIMIT, then append 'others' -> renders as "et al."
    newAuthors = authors.slice(0, LIMIT);
    newAuthors.push({ creatorType: 'author', name: 'others' });
  }

  if (newAuthors !== authors) {
    const nonAuthors = creators.filter(c => c.creatorType !== 'author');
    zotero.creators = [...newAuthors, ...nonAuthors];
    // Rebuild author/editor for export
    tex.remove('author');
    tex.remove('editor');
    tex.addCreators();
  }
}

Export tips

  • Use Better BibTeX (not Better BibLaTeX) for REVTeX/BibTeX workflows.
  • Enable “Keep updated” on your .bib if you want auto‑refresh.

5) Duplicate figure destination warning

If you see:

pdfTeX warning (ext4): destination with the same identifier (name{figure.10}) ...

you have duplicate labels/anchors. Give unique \labels and place them after each \caption:

\begin{figure}
  \includegraphics{...}
  \caption{UQ test}
  \label{fig:uq-test-20251030-1}
\end{figure}

6) Quick checklist

  • Clean rebuild: latexmk -C && latexmk -pdf -bibtex main.tex
  • REVTeX + APS style: revtex4-2 + apsrev4-2
  • Brace multi‑word surnames & collaboration as corporate author
  • Add BBT Postscript to truncate 100+ authors (or prefer Collaboration)
  • Unique \labels (after \caption)

7) Appendix: forcing latexmk to always use BibTeX with REVTeX

Put a latexmkrc next to your main.tex:

$bibtex_use = 2;   # force BibTeX

This avoids accidental biber runs that can leave a half‑baked .bbl.

Done. Future me: if \@lbibitem shows up again, check the .bbl first, then the names in the .bib, then re‑export from Zotero with the Postscript above. Keep calm and latexmk on. 🚀