Typst: missing parentheses in year-only citations

[CoryMcCartan]

Explain the problem.
Year-only citations in Typst should be surrounded in parentheses to match other output formats.

test.md:

The Metropolis-Rosenbluth-Teller [-@metropolis1953] algorithm uses a symmetric proposal.

refs.bib:

@article{metropolis1953,
    title={Equation of state calculations by fast computing machines},
    author={Metropolis, Nicholas and Rosenbluth, Arianna W and Rosenbluth, Marshall N and Teller, Augusta H and Teller, Edward},
    journal={The Journal of Chemical Physics},
    volume={21},
    number={6},
    pages={1087--1092},
    year={1953},
    publisher={American Institute of Physics}
}

Citeproc will (correctly) yield output like the following:

> pandoc test.md --bibliography refs.bib --to plain -C

The Metropolis-Rosenbluth-Teller (1953) algorithm uses a symmetric
proposal.

Metropolis, Nicholas, Arianna W Rosenbluth, Marshall N Rosenbluth,
Augusta H Teller, and Edward Teller. 1953. “Equation of State
Calculations by Fast Computing Machines.” The Journal of Chemical
Physics 21 (6): 1087–92.

But with --to typst:

> pandoc test.md --bibliography refs.bib --to typst

The Metropolis-Rosenbluth-Teller #cite(<metropolis1953>, form: "year")
algorithm uses a symmetric proposal.

instead of the expected/consistent:

The Metropolis-Rosenbluth-Teller (#cite(<metropolis1953>, form: "year"))
algorithm uses a symmetric proposal.

Pandoc version?

pandoc 3.6.3
Features: +server +lua
Scripting engine: Lua 5.4

[jgm]

This is tricky. With citeproc/CSL, the parentheses are added not by pandoc but by the style (and not every style uses them; some may use brackets, for example). Here you are not using a CSL style; you're just using citeproc's own citation functions. Shouldn't they be adding the parentheses?

[CoryMcCartan]

Thanks for the very prompt reply. Unfortunately I don't know much about citeproc. My understanding is that citeproc is handling the citation in the 1st example with --to plain. With a different CSL that works fine: brackets, etc.

In the 2nd example with --to typst my understanding is that citeproc is not used and the pandoc writer maps the -@metropolis1953 to #cite(<metropolis1953>, form: "year"). I think the issue is that when form: "year" in #cite, Typst only outputs the year, regardless of the CSL being used.

So it seems like the options are

1. Inquire with Typst as to whether #cite(<metropolis1953>, form: "year") should output brackets/parens consistent with the citation style
2. Change the pandoc writer to use parens or brackets, so that the output is at least consistent cross-format some percentage of the time, rather than 0% as is (unless there are some CSLs which would put no parens or brackets around a year-only cite)

Happy to keep this issue open while I look into (1), if you'd like

[jgm]

I don't know much about the typst citation system. If we put parentheses around year-only citations, is that going to make sense in all the styles typst supports?

[jgm]

Given what I know now, it seems that the best approach is just to add the parens in this case.

[CoryMcCartan]

Thank you! I think that is the best approach for now. If Typst changes their behavior (which would handle the square brackets case) I will follow up here.