With the latest version of org-ref, I can automate export from org
through markdown to docx via pandoc like this:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(defun ox-export-to-docx-and-open ()
 "Export the current org file as a docx via markdown."
 (interactive)
(let* ((bibfile (expand-file-name (car (org-ref-find-bibliography))))
       ;; this is probably a full path
       (current-file (buffer-file-name))
       (basename (file-name-sans-extension current-file))
       (md-file (concat basename ".md"))
       (docx-file (concat basename ".docx")))

  (when (file-exists-p docx-file) (delete-file docx-file))
  (org-export-to-file 'md md-file)
  (shell-command (format
                  "pandoc -s -S --bibliography=%s %s -o %s"
                  bibfile md-file docx-file))
  (org-open-file docx-file '(16))))
#+END_SRC


this works because i defined a markdown format function that converts
the cite link to pandoc format on export. I could avoid the markdown
translation if I could do an org to org export that would do that. With
a little work we could define file tags like:

#+PANDOC_CSL: some-csl-file

that would also get passed to the pandoc command to determine the style
of the citation and bibliography.

Matt Price writes:

> i think I may have seen it these on the list at one point, but it's very
> helpful to be reminded.
>
> I do think that the default fonts, etc., are a bit of an acquired taste for
> humanists; and I've gotten used to using custom styles in html & odt for
> size & placing of images; but even without following the instructions
> carefully, export seems to work, which is pretyt amazing!
>
> Vikas recommends involving pandoc manually, as Erik H. has also suggested
> to me; I would like to aovid doing that if possible, but if it has to be
> done i guess I can find some way of automating it.
>
> There are clearly a lot of options in this space; I am still interested in
> using Zotero if I can, so will continue working with zotxt, but hopefully
> in a way that gets me closer to other people's usage patterns.
>
> thanks,
> Matt
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 28, 2015 at 3:31 PM, Vicente Vera <vicentemvp@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hello. Interesting thread!
>> Matt, have you read Vikas guide to writing papers with Org?
>> https://github.com/vikasrawal/orgpaper
>> From my point of view, using LaTeX through Org isn't difficult at all.
>> You'll need to tweak a few things (packages, figures, etc.), but it's
>> definitely easier for a beginner that starting a LaTeX document from
>> scratch.
>> Here's another article about writing LaTeX (social science) papers:
>> https://github.com/kjhealy/workflow-paper
>>

--
Professor John Kitchin
Doherty Hall A207F
Department of Chemical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-268-7803
@johnkitchin
http://kitchingroup.cheme.cmu.edu