Dear Syndicate, The current bibliography handler uses the following for authors: \type{\author[junior]{firstnames}[inits]{von}{surname}} Now in Arabic we have something similar to the 'von' field: the definite article 'al-', 'ibn', etc. Just as with 'von' we want to ignore them in the alphabetical sorting. [On the other hand, ConTeXt cannot currently sort its own bbl files alphabetically]. See the linked picture for a real-life example (the top-right of the page contains both Dutch and Arabic examples): https://www.dropbox.com/s/rnimlactrlqz6ak/arabic-dutch-bib.jpg?dl=0 Now the {von} field works for these Arabic prefixes, but there is an issue: There can be no space between 'al-' and what follows (e.g. 'al-Haq'). But the {von} field by default adds a space (von Corbin). So what to do? One solution is to use \setuppublicationlist[vonsep=] (see also attached): ========== \starttext \setuppublications[alternative=apa] \setuppublicationlist[vonsep=] \startpublication[k=corbin81, t=book, a=Corbin, y=1981, s=Corbin81] \author[]{Henry}[H.]{von }{Corbin} \title{The Concept of Comparative Philosophy} \pubname{Golgonooza Press} \city{Ipswich, United Kingdom} \pubyear{1981} \stoppublication \startpublication[k=haq, t=book, a=Haq, y=1994, s=Haq94] \author[]{Syed Nomanul}[S.]{al-}{Haq} \title{Names, Natures, and Things} \pubname{Kluwer} \city{Dordrecht} \pubyear{1994} \stoppublication \startpublication[k=ragep93, t=book, a={Ragep}, y=1993, s=FJRg93] \author[]{F.~J.}[F.~J.]{ibn al-}{Ragep} \title{Memoir on Astronomy} \pubname{Springer Verlag} \city{New York} \pubyear{1993} \stoppublication \placepublications [criterium=all] % inherits from \setuppublications % \completepublications[criterium=cite] % only works with criterium=all \stoptext ========== \setuppublicationlist[vonsep=] kills the space after the prefix, but that means that for every 'von', 'van', 'abu', and the like we have to add the space manually in the {von} field (as in the above example). If we don't want to use \setuppublicationlist[vonsep=] then we have to define a command for 'al-' that gobbles the space: % \define \GobbleSpace{\ignorespaces} % \define \Al{al-\GobbleSpace} If one is using lots of Arabic names and few, e.g., Dutch names, then using the [vonsep=] approach seems better. But in the upcoming bib module we may want a better solution so that bbl files can be more consistent and portable. Any thoughts are appreciated, and Best wishes Idris -- Idris Samawi Hamid Professor of Philosophy Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523