BIBTEX
Latex Bibliography
BiBTeX
BibTeX is a tool for formatting lists of references. The BibTeX tool is typically used together with the LaTeX document preparation system. 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.
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 (Only for books and articles): Publisher’s address (usually just the city, but can be the full address for lesser-known publishers)
- 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)
- ISBN: International Standard Book Number (10 Digits)
- 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.
- location (only for inproceedings): city which the conference is held.
- month: The month of publication (or, if unpublished, the month of creation)
- number: The “number” of a journal, magazine, or tech-report, if applicable. (Most publications have a “volume”, but no “number” field.)
- pages: Page numbers, separated either by commas or double-hyphens. For books, the total number of pages.
- publisher: The publisher’s name
- series: The series of books the book was published in (e.g. “The Hardy Boys“)
- title: The title of the work
- 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- year: The year of publication (or, if unpublished, the year of creation)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, pages - 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, usually untitled. 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
Styles
There are different styles to show and point references. A list of standar BiBTex styles are described and rendered in this pdf. Some examples are:
plain [number]
plainyr [number] (IMPORTANT: Sorts by chronological reverse order. The solution for CVs)
abbrv [number]
alpha [XxxYY] (X author first 3 chars, Y year last 2 digits)
apalike [author, year]
My favorite style is apalike.
BiBTeX Bibliography Managers
It is common to use a GUI to manage your bibliographies (“.bib” files). Some of that applications are:
BibTool, Bibi, Aigaion.
My favorite manager is Aigaion (My Aigaion Mod)(AigaionTunned). You can follow this Aigaion Basic Kit.