BibTeX

A plain-text format for lists of references, used with LaTeX and many citation managers. Files usually end in .bib.

BibTeX is a way of storing references in a plain-text file, usually with the ending .bib, that LaTeX can read to build a bibliography. Many citation managers can import and export it.

Each entry starts with an @ and a type, then a unique citation key, then fields in braces:

@article{okafor2023sleep,
  author  = {Okafor, Ngozi and Lindqvist, Sven},
  title   = {Sleep timing and exam performance},
  journal = {Journal of Student Learning},
  year    = {2023},
  volume  = {14},
  pages   = {112--128}
}

Entry types. Common ones are @article for journal articles, @book for books and @inproceedings for conference papers. The required fields depend on the type: for an article they include the author, title, journal and year.

Citing from LaTeX. In your document you cite an entry by its key, using \cite{key}. Each key must be unique.

Author names. In the author field, several names are separated by the word and.

Where PaperCitation fits. Every result list and every “My list” can be downloaded as a BibTeX file, which you can add to a .bib file or import into a citation manager. Check the entries first, since a database record can contain mistakes.