BibTeX Bibliography Database

LaTeX is a typesetting system commonly utilized in academia to prepare documents with content that is formatted separately before it is published. This system is beneficial for publishing documents in fields such as engineering, economics, mathematics, statistics, philosophy, and linguistics.

Unlike word processor documents, which contain inline text formatting, LaTeX documents contain plain text with tags and other LaTeX syntax. The visual formatting is handled by a LaTeX processing system. Therefore, a LaTeX document may look different depending on which LaTeX application is used to display the file.

BibTeX is a system for managing bibliographic references included in the LaTeX documents. The bibliographies may be stored in the LaTeX document but are typically stored in BIB files. Examples of items included in bibliographies are books, articles, research papers, and technical reports.

Example BibTeX formatting

A sample BIB file entry may be formatted as follows:

@BOOK{citation key,

AUTHOR = {Author name}, TITLE = {Title of book}, PUBLISHER = {Name of publisher}, ADDRESS = {Location published}, }

You can open BIB files with various LaTeX applications and bibliographic managers, such as MiKTeX (Windows), BibDesk (macOS), TeXworks (multiplatform), and JabRef (multiplatform).

Since BIB files are saved in plain text, you can also open and edit BIB files with a plain text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad (bundled with Windows) or Apple TextEdit (bundled with macOS). However, these text editors do not provide helpful formatting features like LaTeX applications and bibliographic managers.

Programs that open BIB files

Updated: March 29, 2021

BIB file open in Microsoft Notepad 11

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