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Bibliographies

TeXlyre supports both traditional BibTeX workflows and BibLaTeX with Biber. Bibliography processing runs in the browser as part of the compilation pipeline.

BibTeX​

BibTeX is suitable for documents using packages such as natbib:

\usepackage{natbib}
\bibliographystyle{plain}
\bibliography{references}

Store the entries in a project file such as references.bib.

BibLaTeX and Biber​

Use backend=biber with biblatex as in a regular TeX Live installation. In addition to the usual citation and bibliography styles, Biber supports Unicode-aware data processing, configurable sorting, data transformations, and more advanced bibliography layouts.

Basic usage​

Create a bibliography file named references.bib:

references.bib
@book{knuth1984,
  author    = {Donald E. Knuth},
  title     = {The TeXbook},
  year      = {1984},
  publisher = {Addison-Wesley}
}

Then reference it from the LaTeX document:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{references.bib}

\begin{document}
TeX was created by \textcite{knuth1984}.

\printbibliography
\end{document}

In a normal project, keep the .bib file separately and reference it with \addbibresource{references.bib}.

Unicode names and sorting​

Biber can process UTF-8 bibliography data directly and sort names using Unicode-aware collation. This is useful for bibliographies containing names and titles with characters outside plain ASCII.

unicode-references.bib
@book{chatelet1759,
  author   = {du Châtelet, Émilie},
  title    = {Principes mathématiques de la philosophie naturelle},
  date     = {1759},
  location = {Paris}
}

@book{kierkegaard1843,
  author   = {Kierkegaard, Søren},
  title    = {Frygt og Bæven},
  date     = {1843},
  location = {Copenhagen}
}

@book{mahfouz1959,
  author   = {نجيب محفوظ},
  title    = {أولاد حارتنا},
  date     = {1959},
  location = {القاهرة},
  langid   = {arabic}
}

Arabic text can stay in the bibliography file as Unicode. The sorting=nyt option sorts the multilingual bibliography by name, year, and title. LuaLaTeX only needs an Arabic-capable font and language setup to render it correctly:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setdefaultlanguage{english}
\setotherlanguage{arabic}
\newfontfamily\arabicfont[Script=Arabic]{Amiri}
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=authoryear,sorting=nyt,autolang=other]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{unicode-references.bib}

\providecommand{\LRE}[1]{\mbox{\textdir TLT #1}}

\DeclareFieldFormat*{date}{\LRE{#1}}
\DeclareFieldFormat*{labeldate}{\LRE{#1}}
\DeclareFieldFormat*{year}{\LRE{#1}}
\DeclareFieldFormat*{volume}{\LRE{#1}}
\DeclareFieldFormat*{number}{\LRE{#1}}
\DeclareFieldFormat*{pages}{\LRE{#1}}
\DeclareFieldFormat*{edition}{\LRE{#1}}
\DeclareFieldFormat*{isbn}{\LRE{#1}}
\DeclareFieldFormat*{doi}{\LRE{#1}}
\DeclareFieldFormat*{url}{\LRE{#1}}

\begin{document}
\nocite{*}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

Reusing fields with xdata​

Biber can store shared fields in @xdata entries and inherit them in several bibliography entries. This is useful when a group of references shares the same language, institution, publisher, or location.

xdata-references.bib
@xdata{english,
  langid = {english}
}

@xdata{uni-hamburg,
  institution = {Universität Hamburg},
  location    = {Hamburg}
}

@report{sample2023,
  title  = {Sample Research Report},
  author = {Author, John and Writer, Jane},
  type   = {Research report},
  date   = {2023-05},
  xdata  = {english,uni-hamburg}
}

@thesis{example2022,
  title  = {Example Thesis on Documentation},
  author = {Editor, Alice},
  type   = {Master's thesis},
  date   = {2022},
  xdata  = {english,uni-hamburg}
}

The @xdata entries are not printed themselves. Their fields are inherited by the entries that reference them:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{xdata-references.bib}

\begin{document}
\nocite{sample2023,example2022}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

Transforming bibliography data​

Biber source maps can adjust bibliography data while it is processed, without changing the original .bib file. For example, a long journal title can be abbreviated before it reaches the bibliography style:

sourcemap-references.bib
@article{example2026,
  author       = {Ada Example and Benoît Sample},
  title        = {A Demonstration of Bibliography Data Mapping},
  journaltitle = {Journal of Very Long Example Names},
  date         = {2026},
  volume       = {12},
  number       = {3},
  pages        = {1--10}
}
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=numeric]{biblatex}

\DeclareSourcemap{
  \maps[datatype=bibtex]{
    \map{
      \step[
        fieldsource=journaltitle,
        match=\regexp{Journal\s+of\s+Very\s+Long\s+Example\s+Names},
        replace={J. Long Example Names}
      ]
    }
  }
}

\addbibresource{sourcemap-references.bib}

\begin{document}
\nocite{example2026}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

Source maps can also rename fields, remove unwanted data, or apply transformations selectively to particular entry types.

Multiple bibliography views​

The same bibliography data can be printed more than once with different sorting rules. This can be useful for publication lists, reading lists, or documents that need several views of the same references.

views-references.bib
@book{knuth1984views,
  author    = {Donald E. Knuth},
  title     = {The TeXbook},
  date      = {1984},
  publisher = {Addison-Wesley}
}

@book{lamport1994,
  author    = {Leslie Lamport},
  title     = {LaTeX: A Document Preparation System},
  date      = {1994},
  publisher = {Addison-Wesley}
}

@book{mittelbach2004,
  author    = {Frank Mittelbach and Michel Goossens},
  title     = {The LaTeX Companion},
  date      = {2004},
  publisher = {Addison-Wesley}
}

Here the first bibliography is sorted by author, while the second shows the newest entries first:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{views-references.bib}

\begin{document}
\nocite{*}

\begin{refcontext}[sorting=nyt]
\printbibliography[title={By author}]
\end{refcontext}

\begin{refcontext}[sorting=ydnt]
\printbibliography[title={Newest first}]
\end{refcontext}
\end{document}