A PDF renamer for linguistics

This python script renames PDFs from a few linguistics journals (so far Glossa, Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, Syntax, and Linguistic Inquiry) based on information gathered from the PDF's metadata and the document's first page.

Many papers from the following journals are recognised automatically:

• Behavioral and Brain Sciences
• Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive Science
• Glossa
• Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics
• Journal of Germanic Linguistics
• Journal of Language Modelling
• Journal of Linguistics
• Language (with a Project Muse titlepage)
• Language and Linguistics Compass
• Language Sciences
• Lingua (not very old volumes)
• Linguistic Inquiry
• Linguistic Typology
• Linguistic Vanguard
• Natural Language & Linguistic Theory
• Natural Language Semantics
• Syntax
• The Linguistic Review
• Theoretical Linguistics
• Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft

In addition to renaming files, the script can also output a biblatex entry for the file.

The format of the renamed files is Author [and Author [and Author]] (Year) - Title.pdf. The script now handles more than two authors consistently. The bibliography entry is using biblatex fields (e.g. journaltitle) but can be adapted easily. The script also recognises subtitles when introduced by ‘:’.

Help

> python pdf-rename.py --help
usage: pdf-rename.py [-h] [--biblatex] [--copy] [--rename] filename

Rename PDFs automatically to include author(s), year, and title.

positional arguments:
  filename    PDF to rename

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  --biblatex  create biblatex entry
  --copy      rename PDF file and keep original
  --rename    rename PDF file and delete original

Examples