Sub EtAlCitationElision()
' Paul Beverley - Version 09.09.20
' Crops multi-author citation to single name + 'et al'

isItalic = False
etAlText = " et al. "

Selection.Expand wdWord
Selection.Collapse wdCollapseEnd
Selection.MoveEnd , 1
If Selection = "," Then Selection.Delete
Selection.MoveEnd Unit:=wdWord, Count:=10

myStart = Selection.Start

For i = 1 To 10
  Debug.Print Selection.Words(i)
  If InStr("12", Selection.Words(i).Characters(1)) > 0 Then Exit For
Next i
Selection.Words(i).Select
Selection.Collapse wdCollapseStart
Selection.Start = myStart
Selection.TypeText Text:=etAlText
If isItalic Then
  Selection.Start = Selection.Start - 8
  Selection.End = Selection.End - 2
  Selection.Font.Italic = True
  Selection.Collapse wdCollapseEnd
End If

Exit Sub

Selection.MoveStartUntil cset:="(;", Count:=wdBackward
Selection.Collapse wdCollapseStart
Selection.MoveEndUntil cset:=",", Count:=wdForward

myStart = Selection.End
Selection.Collapse wdCollapseEnd
With Selection.Find
  .ClearFormatting
  .Replacement.ClearFormatting
  .Text = "^#^#^#^#"
  .Replacement.Text = ""
  .MatchWildcards = False
  .Execute
End With

Selection.Collapse wdCollapseStart
Selection.Start = myStart
Selection.TypeText " et al. "
End Sub