What is BibTeX?

BibTeX is a widely used reference management software, which use a flat-file to store research paper citations, referred as BibTeX file.

Specifications of BibTeX files can be summarized as:

• .bib should be used the file name extension.
• Each entry in a BibTeX file represents a single citation.
• Each entry is specified in the "@cite_type{cite_key, field=value, ...}" format.
• "cite_type" is one of pre-defined values: article, book, ....
• "cite_key" is a unique identifier of the citation entry. It usually consists of the last name of the first author and the publication year like Carberry_2008.
• The "field=value, ..." list provides detailed information of the citation entry.
• Field names are case insensitive like title, author, year, journal, etc..
• Field value should be enclosed in {...} or "...".
• Numeric field value can be specified as is, like year=2026.

Here is an example of BibTeX citation entry:

@book{Hawking_1996,
  title     = "The Nature of Space and Time",
  author    = "Hawking, Stephen and Roger Penrose",
  year      = 1996,
  publisher = "Princeton University Press"
}

For more information, visit the "CTAN Comprehensive TeX Archive Network" Website.

⇒ BibTeX Format for Multiple Authors

⇐ BibTeX - Reference Management

⇑ BibTeX - Reference Management

⇑⇑ Citations for Research Papers