BibTeX overview


BibTeX style files

BibTeX provides formatted reference lists for LaTeX documents. The format of the reference list is determined by a bibliography style file with the extension bst, which typically is specified by the intended publisher of the document.

A hugh advantage of BibTeX is that the same database of references can be formatted by various style files.


BibTeX database files

The information in the reference list is obtained from one or more BibTeX database files, which have the extension bib. BibTeX produces a reference list corresponding to citations made in the LaTeX source file with the \cite{cite_key} command. The cite_key identifies which entry in the bib file to use.

Each entry in a bib file looks similar to the following:

@book{Lamport94,
title = "LaTeX: A Document Preparation System",
author = "Leslie Lamport",
publisher = "Addison-Wesley",
address = "Reading, Mass.",
edition = "second",
year = "1994" }
Here the BibTeX entry type is book and Lamport94 is the cite_key identified in the LaTeX source file with the command \cite{Lamport94}. The words title, author, etc. correspond to fields containing the bibliographic information for the reference.

The standard types of entries and their fields are listed below. If an entry does not include a "required field," BibTex will issue a warning and possibly mis-format the reference. The user should correct the entries to try to eliminate all warnings.

More detailed guidance on using BibTeX, including the rules for formatting text fields in bib files, can be found in books on LaTeX, such as Leslie Lamport's LaTeX: A Document Preparation System.


Entry types

The following entry types are recognized by essentially all BibTeX styles:

article - article from a journal or magazine
Required fields: author, title, journal, year
Optional fields: volume, number, pages, month, note, key
book - book with an explicit publisher
Required fields: author/editor, title, publisher, year
Optional fields: volume/number, series, address, edition, month, note, key
booklet - 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 - same as inproceedings; included for compatibility with earlier versions
inbook - 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/number, series, address, edition, month, note, key
incollection - part of a book having its own title
Required fields: author, title, booktitle, year
Optional fields: editor, volume/number, series, chapter, organization, pages, publisher, address, edition, month, note, key
inproceedings - article in a conference proceedings
Required fields: author, title, booktitle, publisher, year
Optional fields: editor, volume/number, series, pages, organization, address, month, note, key
manual - technical documentation
Required fields: title
Optional fields: author, organization, address, edition, month, year, note, key
mastersthesis - master's thesis
Required fields: author, title, school, year
Optional fields: type, address, month, note, key
misc - for use when nothing else fits
Required fields: none
Optional fields: author, title, howpublished, month, year, note, key
phdthesis - Ph.D. thesis
Required fields: author, title, school, year
Optional fields: type, address, month, note, key
proceedings - proceedings of a conference
Required fields: title, year
Optional fields: editor, volume/number, series, publisher, organization, address, month, note, key
techreport - 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 - document having an author and title, but not formally published
Required fields: author, title, note
Optional fields: month, year, key


Entry fields

Within each database entry, the following fields provide the bibliographic information:

The following fields are recognized in some style files or special-purpose utilities, but are not standard. If these fields are not recognized, the information may be provided in the note field.


This page provided by Ken Hanson, kmh@lanl.gov
Go to my home page - public.lanl.gov/kmh/

Last modified 2 March 2008