BibTeX & LaTeX

What is BibTeX?

BibTeX is a LaTeX auxiliary tool for:

• Managing references and bibliographic databases:
  • Inserting references from one or more bibliographic databases;
  • Citing references in documents;
  • Creating bibliographies or reference lists;
• Entering manually or automatically importing references from databases such as Compendex, Web of Science, Google Scholar, etc.;
• Importing from other bibliographic management software, such as EndNote and Zotero;
• Separating content (the bibliographic references) from presentation (the bibliographic style);
• Producing bibliographies according to different citation styles.

Why BibTeX? Click here.

BibTeX provides a set of predefined entries. Other types can be added depending on the bibliographic style. The following table shows the supported entry types of IEEEtran.bst (* = additional entry for this style). For more information, consult How to Use the IEEEtran BibTeX Style.

The general form of an entry in a .bib file is:

               @type_of_entry{BibTeX_key, required_fields[, optional_fields]}

The entry types are: @article, @book, @booklet, @electronic, @inbook, @incollection, @inproceedings, @proceedings, @manual, @mastersthesis, @patent, @periodical, @phdthesis, @standard, @techreport, @unpublished, and @misc.

Other entry types:

- Private communications: use @misc with the note private communication, personal communication or private correspondence;

- Software: use @electronic or cite the software manual;

- Laws and regulations: use @misc.

Click here for IEEEtran entry types

Most databases allow the exporting references in .bib format.

We strongly recommend that you check the quality of the exported references and make any necessary corrections. When exporting references from more than one database, be sure to eliminate duplicates.

In Compendex:

1. Perform your search and select relevant references.
2. Click on the arrow  and then choose Location: My PC, Format: BibTeX. Download this .bib file by clicking Download record(s).
3. Open the file with a TeX editor and correct the references.
4. Often, exported references have numerical BibTeX keys. Rename the BibTeX keys, for example in the format AuthorYear, to be able to distinguish the references. For example, replace @inproceedings{20210409828055 , with @inproceedings{li2020 ,.
5. It is possible to use this .bib file directly with a LaTeX document or to copy-paste these references into your master .bib file.

In IEEE Xplore:

1. Perform your search and select relevant references.
2. Click Export ➞ Citation ➞ Format: BibTeX, Include: Citation & Abstract ➞ Export.
3. Open the file with a TeX editor and correct the references.
4. Often, exported references have numerical BibTeX keys. Rename the BibTeX keys, for example in the format AuthorYear, to be able to distinguish the references. For example, replace @inproceedings{20210409828055 , with @inproceedings{li2020 ,.
5. It is possible to use this .bib file directly with a LaTeX document or to copy-paste these references into your master .bib file.

The IEEEtran style files are maintained by par Michael Shell. This guide is based, inter alia, on his articles:

• How to Use the IEEEtran BibTeX Style

• How to Use the IEEEtran LaTeX Class

IEEEtran style in French @ Polytechnique: IEEEtran_francais.bst.

The references in the .bib files should include as much information as possible. 

At present, the DOI is not supported by the IEEEtran style, but it will probably be in the future. If your document has a DOI, include it in the reference. In the examples below, the DOI field was added in all the references that have a DOI.

Click here to see examples of entries for several types of documents (in English)

See other types of documents in the file MyReferences.bib (more under LaTeX → How to create a bibliography).

For other examples, consult the file IEEEexample.bib of IEEEtran style.

NOTE: Since there are no official IEEE abbreviations for other publishers' journals and conferences and since the ISO abbreviations are not the same as the IEEE abbreviations, we recommend that you use the full names of journals and conferences for your dissertation or thesis:

journal = {Artificial Intelligence Review},
booktitle = {14th European Conference on Software Maintenance and Reengineering ({CSMR})},

Conversely, use the IEEE abbreviations if you would like to publish with IEEE.

The files IEEEabrv.bib and IEEEfull.bib are included in the IEEEtran package.

They make possible to enter in the field journal of a reference a certain string and obtain the abbreviated or the full title of the respective IEEE journal in the reference. For example, for journal = IEEE_J_SPL, the title will be displayed:

• With IEEEabrv: IEEE Signal Process. Lett.

• With IEEEfull: IEEE Signal Processing Letters

Both files should be in the same folder as the document .tex in which they are used.

Select the references in EndNote (with CTRL+clic and/or SHIFT+clic) → File → Export... → Type : Rich Text Format (.rtf) → Output style : Select Another Style... → BibTeX Export → Choose → Save.

Correct these references and copy-paste them in your .bib file.