BibTeX Generator

How it works

Choose the entry type, and the form shows the fields that type has: the required ones first, the optional ones below. The entry is written while you type. Required fields that are still empty are listed above the result; BibTeX would print a warning for each of them. Add another entry starts the next one, and Download .bib saves all of them as references.bib.

If the publication has a DOI, an arXiv ID, an ISBN or a PubMed ID, the DOI to BibTeX converter is faster: it fetches the entry and you type nothing.

Which entry type to choose

The first column opens the form with that type selected; the second explains the type, its fields and how it is typeset. For other degrees and for the remaining types, such as @manual or @unpublished, see entry types.

What happens to your input

• Special characters. &, %, # and _ are written as \&, \%, \# and \_, because LaTeX stops at them otherwise. An underscore in a value that contains math ($) is left alone.
• LaTeX you type is kept. Braces, commands such as \emph{…} or \"o and math stay as they are. Braces have to match: an entry with an unmatched brace would break the whole file, so it is left out until you fix it.
• Names. Enter one name per line; the generator joins them with and. Both “Alan M. Turing” and “Turing, Alan M.” work. See names for particles such as “van” and suffixes such as “Jr.”
• Capital letters. Many styles convert titles to sentence case. Put braces around acronyms and proper nouns, as in The {UNIX} Time-Sharing System; see protecting capital letters.
• Month and pages. The month is written as a macro without braces (month = jul), so that the style decides how it is printed. A page range such as 365-375 becomes 365--375.
• Accents. Letters such as ä or é are written as typed. Tick Accents as LaTeX commands if your set-up needs {\"a} instead; see accents and umlauts.

Websites

BibTeX has no entry type for web pages. The generator writes the form that works with every style: a @misc entry with the address in howpublished and the day you opened the page in note.

@misc{norvig2001teach,
  author       = {Norvig, Peter},
  title        = {Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years},
  year         = {2001},
  howpublished = {\url{https://norvig.com/21-days.html}},
  note         = {Accessed: 2026-10-01}
}

\url needs \usepackage{url} or hyperref in your document. With biblatex, @online is the cleaner choice; the website page shows that entry.

What it does not do

The generator looks nothing up; that is what the converter is for. It does not read or check an existing .bib file. And it does not keep what you type: when you close or reload the page, the entries are gone, so copy or download them first.

Check the result

Run BibTeX on the file once and read its warnings; a missing field or a misspelled key shows up there. Then compare the typeset reference with your source. Using BibTeX explains the steps.

Questions

How do I create a BibTeX entry for a website?

Choose Website and enter the title, the address and the day you opened the page. The generator writes a @misc entry with the address in howpublished and the access date in note, which every BibTeX style prints. Your document has to load the url or hyperref package.

Which fields are required?

That depends on the entry type, and the form lists them first. An @article needs author, title, journal and year; @misc needs nothing. If a required field is missing, BibTeX prints a warning and typesets the reference without it.

Can I create several entries at once?

Yes. Add another entry starts the next one, and all of them appear in one result that you can copy or download as references.bib. If two entries would get the same citation key, the later one gets a letter appended.

What is the citation key?

The name by which you cite the entry in your document: \cite{turing1950computing}. It has to be unique within the file. The generator builds it from the first author, the year and the first word of the title, or you type your own.

Does the generator work with biblatex?

Yes. biblatex reads the classic entry types and fields that the generator writes. It does not write the types and fields that only biblatex has, such as @online, urldate or date; see BibTeX and biblatex.

Is what I type sent anywhere?

No. The entries are built in your browser, and nothing you type is sent to bibtex.org or anyone else. The site only counts which entry types are created and whether the result is copied or downloaded; see the privacy policy.