Feature idea: "working bibliography"

[mgttlinger]

Usually when I write papers I have a local bibliography for this specific paper in the repository of the paper while I also have (multiple) global bibliographies. When I reference something in the paper I add the entry from the global bibliography to the local one.

The workflow I would wish for:

• Entries from the local bibliography are prioritized in search (as they might have been adapted slightly from the global ones e.g. shortening of journal names) with the global entries acting as fallback
• The entries from the global bibliography are visually distinguished in the UI
• When I cite an entry from the global bibliography it is automatically inserted into the local bibliography

The new feature supporting local bibliographies in org files makes me hopeful that this envisioned workflow could be at reach. What do you think or how do you handle this workflow?

[tmalsburg]

Entries from the local bibliography are prioritized in search (as they might have been adapted slightly from the global ones e.g. shortening of journal names) with the global entries acting as fallback

I think you might be able to construct this yourself: Create a command that combines two helm sources, one for global, one for local. Helm makes it easy to combine sources that are searched simultaneously. Anyway, that's what I would try.

The entries from the global bibliography are visually distinguished in the UI

You get this for free with the solution proposed above. Global and local entries would appear in separate lists.

When I cite an entry from the global bibliography it is automatically inserted into the local bibliography

Actions can be customized. You could create an adapted version of helm-bibtex-insert-citation that copies the entry if needed. Not sure how straightforward it is but it's worth trying.