Split page ranges for Google Scholar reference tags (#15118)

Bibliography entries in `citation_reference` tags never carried
`citation_firstpage` or `citation_lastpage`. Pandoc's CSL for a
bibliography entry has only `page`, and the split into first and last
page ran only for the document's own citation. One `cslPageRange`
helper now handles both, which also fixes en-dash ranges, page lists
and spaced ranges in the document citation.

- Add `cslPageRange` in core/csl.ts, accepting hyphen, en-dash and
  em-dash separators
- Use it for the document citation, and for bibliography entries that
  lack explicit `page-first`/`page-last`
- Write only the first page for a page list such as `1-3, 7-9`

Author: cderv

news/changelog-1.11.md

@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ All changes included in 1.11:
 - ([#15051](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/pull/15051)): Fix a callout's `title` option also rendering as an HTML `title` attribute in html, revealjs and epub output, which showed the title as a tooltip over the whole callout.
 - ([#15108](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/pull/15108)): Fix Google Scholar metadata showing formatting markup such as `<i>` in `citation_reference` tags for bibliography entries, and `undefined` as the book title of a chapter without one.
 - ([#15115](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/pull/15115)): Fix Google Scholar writing two `citation_reference` tags for a reference defined in two bibliography files. The tag now describes the entry Pandoc renders.
+- ([#15118](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/pull/15118)): Fix Google Scholar metadata missing the first and last page of bibliography entries, and giving wrong pages for a citation `page` written with an en-dash or as a page list.
 
 ### `pdf`
 

src/core/csl.ts

@@ -142,6 +142,16 @@ export function cslTextToPlain(value: string): string {
   return value.replace(cslRichTextTags, "");
 }
 
+// Splits a CSL `page` value ("97-111", "97–111", "42") into its first and
+// last page. A page list ("1-3, 7-9") yields only the first page.
+export function cslPageRange(page: string) {
+  const [range, ...others] = page.split(/[,&]/);
+  const match = range.match(/^\s*(.*?)\s*[-–—]+\s*(.*?)\s*$/);
+  const first = (match ? match[1] : range.trim()) || undefined;
+  const last = (match && others.length === 0 ? match[2] : "") || undefined;
+  return { first, last };
+}
+
 export function suggestId(author: CSLName[], date?: CSLDate) {
   // Try to get the last name
   let citeIdLeading = "";

src/format/html/format-html-meta.ts

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import {
   CSL,
   cslDateToEDTFDate,
   CSLExtras,
+  cslPageRange,
   cslTextToPlain,
   kAbstractUrl,
   kEIssn,
@@ -205,12 +206,16 @@ function googleScholarMeta(
     write("citation_language", csl.language);
   }
 
-  if (csl["page-first"]) {
-    write("citation_firstpage", csl["page-first"]);
+  // Bibliography entries from Pandoc carry only `page`.
+  const pageRange = cslPageRange(`${csl.page ?? ""}`);
+  const firstPage = csl["page-first"] || pageRange.first;
+  if (firstPage) {
+    write("citation_firstpage", firstPage);
   }
 
-  if (csl["page-last"]) {
-    write("citation_lastpage", csl["page-last"]);
+  const lastPage = csl["page-last"] || pageRange.last;
+  if (lastPage) {
+    write("citation_lastpage", lastPage);
   }
 
   const type = csl.type;

src/quarto-core/attribution/document.ts

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import {
   cslDate,
   CSLExtras,
   cslNames,
+  cslPageRange,
   CSLType,
   cslType,
   kAbstractUrl,
@@ -485,23 +486,14 @@ function pages(citationMetadata: Metadata): PageRange {
   let pages = citationMetadata[kPage]
     ? `${citationMetadata[kPage] as string}` // Force pages to string in case user writes `page: 7`
     : undefined;
-  if (pages && pages.includes("-")) {
-    const pagesSplit = pages.split("-");
-    if (!firstPage) {
-      firstPage = pagesSplit[0];
-    }
-
-    if (!lastPage) {
-      lastPage = pagesSplit[1];
-    }
-  } else if (pages && !firstPage) {
-    firstPage = pages;
-  } else if (!pages) {
-    if (firstPage && lastPage) {
-      pages = `${firstPage} - ${lastPage}`;
-    } else if (firstPage) {
-      pages = `${firstPage}`;
-    }
+  if (pages) {
+    const range = cslPageRange(pages);
+    firstPage = firstPage || range.first;
+    lastPage = lastPage || range.last;
+  } else if (firstPage && lastPage) {
+    pages = `${firstPage} - ${lastPage}`;
+  } else if (firstPage) {
+    pages = `${firstPage}`;
   }
   return {
     firstPage: firstPage as string,

tests/docs/smoke-all/2026/10/19/scholar-reference-pages/references.bib

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+@article{ranged,
+  author = {Doe, Jane},
+  title = {Ranged Article},
+  journal = {Journal of Tests},
+  year = {2020},
+  pages = {97--111}
+}

tests/docs/smoke-all/2026/10/19/scholar-reference-pages/scholar-reference-pages.qmd

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+---
+title: Scholar reference metadata splits a page range
+format: html
+google-scholar: true
+bibliography: references.bib
+_quarto:
+  tests:
+    html:
+      ensureHtmlElements:
+        - ['meta[name="citation_reference"][content*="citation_firstpage=97;"]', 'meta[name="citation_reference"][content*="citation_lastpage=111;"]']
+        - []
+---
+
+This article cites a work with a page range [@ranged].

tests/unit/scholar-metadata.test.ts

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 import { assertEquals, assertStringIncludes } from "testing/asserts";
 import { Metadata } from "../../src/config/types.ts";
 import { bibliographyCslJson } from "../../src/core/bibliography.ts";
-import { parseHtml } from "../../src/core/deno-dom.ts";
+import { Element, parseHtml } from "../../src/core/deno-dom.ts";
 import { join } from "../../src/deno_ral/path.ts";
 import { metadataPostProcessor } from "../../src/format/html/format-html-meta.ts";
 import { unitTest } from "../test.ts";
@@ -196,3 +196,65 @@ unitTest(
     });
   },
 );
+
+function metaContent(
+  doc: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof scholarMetadata>>,
+  name: string,
+) {
+  return doc.querySelector(`meta[name="${name}"]`)?.getAttribute("content");
+}
+
+unitTest("Scholar metadata - split the citation page range", async () => {
+  for (
+    const [page, firstPage, lastPage] of [
+      ["97-111", "97", "111"],
+      ["97–111", "97", "111"],
+      ["97 - 111", "97", "111"],
+      ["1-3, 7-9", "1", undefined],
+      ["42", "42", undefined],
+    ]
+  ) {
+    const doc = await scholarMetadata({
+      title: "An article",
+      citation: { page },
+    });
+    assertEquals(metaContent(doc, "citation_firstpage"), firstPage, page);
+    assertEquals(metaContent(doc, "citation_lastpage"), lastPage, page);
+  }
+});
+
+unitTest("Scholar metadata - split reference page ranges", async () => {
+  await withTempDir(async (dir) => {
+    Deno.writeTextFileSync(
+      join(dir, "references.yaml"),
+      `---
+references:
+- {id: endash, type: article-journal, title: En dash, page: "97–111"}
+- {id: single, type: article-journal, title: Single, page: "42"}
+- {id: list, type: article-journal, title: List, page: "1-3, 7-9"}
+---
+`,
+    );
+    const doc = await scholarMetadata(
+      { title: "An article", bibliography: "references.yaml" },
+      join(dir, "test.qmd"),
+      '<span class="citation" data-cites="endash single list"></span>',
+    );
+    const references = Object.fromEntries(
+      [...doc.querySelectorAll('meta[name="citation_reference"]')].map(
+        (element) => {
+          const content = (element as Element).getAttribute("content")!;
+          return [content.match(/citation_title=([^;]+);/)![1], content];
+        },
+      ),
+    );
+    assertStringIncludes(
+      references["En dash"],
+      "citation_firstpage=97; citation_lastpage=111;",
+    );
+    assertStringIncludes(references["Single"], "citation_firstpage=42;");
+    assertEquals(references["Single"].includes("citation_lastpage"), false);
+    assertStringIncludes(references["List"], "citation_firstpage=1;");
+    assertEquals(references["List"].includes("citation_lastpage"), false);
+  });
+});