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BibTeX

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The BibTeX logo

BibTeX is a tool for formatting lists of references. The BibTeX tool is typically used together with the LaTeX document preparation system. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as <math>{\mathrm{B{\scriptstyle{IB}} \! T\!_{\displaystyle E} \! X}}</math>. BibTeX was created by Oren Patashnik and Leslie Lamport in 1985. BibTeX makes it easy to cite sources in a consistent manner, by separating bibliographic information from the presentation of this information. This same principle of separation of content and presentation/style is used by LaTeX itself.

1 Syntax
2 Bibliographic information file
- 2.1 Entry Types
3 Style files
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Syntax

In order to make use of BibTeX, a LaTeX file must contain the following:

The \bibliography{} command
The \bibliographystyle{} command

The \bibliography{} command tells LaTeX which file or files to use as its source for bibliography entries. \bibliography{linguistics} will cause LaTeX to look for a file named linguistics.bib. \bibliography{linguistics,math} will cause LaTeX to look for the two files linguistics.bib and math.bib.

Bibliographic information file

BibTeX uses a style-independent text-based file format for lists of bibliography items, such as articles, books, theses. BibTeX bibliography files usually end in .bib. Bibliography entries each contain some subset of standard data entries:

address: Publisher's address (usually just the city, but can be the full address for lesser-known publishers)
annote: An annotation for annotated bibliography styles (not typical)
author: The name(s) of the author(s) (in the case of more than one author, separated by and)
booktitle: The title of the book, if only part of it is being cited
chapter: The chapter number
crossref: The key of the cross-referenced entry
edition: The edition of a book, long form (such as "first" or "second")
editor: The name(s) of the editor(s)
eprint: A specification of an electronic publication, often a preprint or a technical report
howpublished: How it was published, if the publishing method is nonstandard
institution: The institution that was involved in the publishing, but not necessarily the publisher
journal: The journal or magazine the work was published in
key: A hidden field used for specifying or overriding the alphabetical order of entries (when the "author" and "editor" fields are missing). Note that this is very different from the key (mentioned just after this list) that is used to cite or cross-reference the entry.
month: The month of publication (or, if unpublished, the month of creation)
note: Miscellaneous extra information
number: The "number" of a journal, magazine, or tech-report, if applicable. (Most publications have a "volume", but no "number" field.)
organization: The conference sponsor
pages: Page numbers, separated either by commas or double-hyphens
publisher: The publisher's name
school: The school where the thesis was written
series: The series of books the book was published in (e.g. "The Hardy Boys")
title: The title of the work
type: The type of tech-report, for example, "Research Note"
url: The WWW address
volume: The volume of a journal or multi-volume book
year: The year of publication (or, if unpublished, the year of creation)

In addition, each entry contains a key that is used to cite or cross-reference the entry. This key is the first item in a BibTeX entry, and is not part of any field.

Entry Types

Bibliography entries included in a .bib are split by types. The following types are understood by virtually all BibTeX styles:

article: An article from a journal or magazine.
Required fields: author, title, journal, year
Optional fields: volume, number, pages, month, note, key
book: A book with an explicit publisher.
Required fields: author/editor, title, publisher, year
Optional fields: volume, series, address, edition, month, note, key
booklet: A work that is printed and bound, but without a named publisher or sponsoring institution.
Required fields: title
Optional fields: author, howpublished, address, month, year, note, key
conference: The same as inproceedings, included for Scribe (markup language) compatibility.
Required fields: author, title, booktitle, year
Optional fields: editor, pages, organization, publisher, address, month, note, key
inbook: A part of a book, which may be a chapter (or section or whatever) and/or a range of pages.
Required fields: author/editor, title, chapter/pages, publisher, year
Optional fields: volume, series, address, edition, month, note, key
incollection: A part of a book having its own title.
Required fields: author, title, booktitle, year
Optional fields: editor, pages, organization, publisher, address, month, note, key
inproceedings: An article in a conference proceedings.
Required fields: author, title, booktitle, year
Optional fields: editor, pages, organization, publisher, address, month, note, key
manual: Technical documentation.
Required fields: title
Optional fields: author, organization, address, edition, month, year, note, key
mastersthesis: A Master's thesis.
Required fields: author, title, school, year
Optional fields: address, month, note, key
misc: For use when nothing else fits.
Required fields: none
Optional fields: author, title, howpublished, month, year, note, key
phdthesis: A Ph.D. thesis.
Required fields: author, title, school, year
Optional fields: address, month, note, key
proceedings: The proceedings of a conference.
Required fields: title, year
Optional fields: editor, publisher, organization, address, month, note, key
techreport: A report published by a school or other institution, usually numbered within a series.
Required fields: author, title, institution, year
Optional fields: type, number, address, month, note, key
unpublished: A document having an author and title, but not formally published.
Required fields: author, title, note
Optional fields: month, year, key

Style files

BibTeX formats bibliographic items according to a style file, typically by generating TeX or LaTeX formatting commands. However, style files for generating HTML output also exist. BibTeX style files, for which the suffix .bst is common, are written in a simple, stack-based programming language that describes how bibliography items should be formatted. Most journals or publishers that support LaTeX often have a customized bibliographic style file for the convenience of the authors. This ensures that the bibliographic style meets the guidelines of the publisher with minimal effort.