Sub EtAlCitationElision()
' Paul Beverley - Version 04.10.23
' 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

wdsMax = 10
For i = 1 To wdsMax
  Debug.Print Selection.Words(i)
  If InStr("12", Selection.Words(i).Characters(1)) > 0 Then Exit For
Next i
If i = wdsMax + 1 Then
  WordBasic.EditUndo
  Beep
  MsgBox ("Can't find a date (year)")
  Exit Sub
End If
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
End Sub