Entry Types

When entering a reference in the database, the first thing to decide is what type of entry it is. No fixed classification scheme can be complete, but BibTeX provides enough entry types to handle almost any reference reasonably well.

References to different types of publications contain different information; a reference to a journal article might include the volume and number of the journal, which is usually not meaningful for a book. Therefore, database entries of different types have different fields. For each entry type, the fields are divided into three classes:

required

Omitting the field will produce a warning message and, rarely, a badly formatted bibliography entry. If the required information is not meaningful, you are using the wrong entry type. However, if the required information is meaningful but, say, already included is some other field, simply ignore the warning.

optional

The field's information will be used if present, but can be omitted without causing any formatting problems. You should include the optional field if it will help the reader.

ignored

The field is ignored. BibTeX ignores any field that is not required or optional, so you can include any fields you want in a bib file entry. It's a good idea to put all relevant information about a reference in its bib file entry--even information that may never appear in the bibliography. For example, if you want to keep an abstract of a paper in a computer file, put it in an abstract field in the paper's bib file entry. The bib file is likely to be as good a place as any for the abstract, and it is possible to design a bibliography style for printing selected abstracts. Note: Misspelling a field name will result in its being ignored, so watch out for typos (especially for optional fields, since BibTeX won't warn you when those are missing).

The following are the standard entry types, along with their required and optional fields, that are used by the standard bibliography styles. The fields within each class (required or optional) are listed in order of occurrence in the output, except that a few entry types may perturb the order slightly, depending on what fields are missing. These entry types are similar to those adapted by Brian Reid from the classification scheme of van Leunen [] for use in the Scribe system. The meanings of the individual fields are explained in the next section. Some nonstandard bibliography styles may ignore some optional fields in creating the reference. Remember that, when used in the bib file, the entry-type name is preceded by an @ character.

article

An article from a journal or magazine. Required fields: author, title, journal, year. Optional fields: volume, number, pages, month, note.

book

A book with an explicit publisher. Required fields: author or editor, title, publisher, year. Optional fields: volume or number, series, address, edition, month, note.

booklet

A work that is printed and bound, but without a named publisher or sponsoring institution. Required field: title. Optional fields: author, howpublished, address, month, year, note.

conference

The same as INPROCEEDINGS, included for Scribe compatibility.

inbook

A part of a book, which may be a chapter (or section or whatever) and/or a range of pages. Required fields: author or editor, title, chapter and/or pages, publisher, year. Optional fields: volume or number, series, type, address, edition, month, note.

incollection

A part of a book having its own title. Required fields: author, title, booktitle, publisher, year. Optional fields: editor, volume or number, series, type, chapter, pages, address, edition, month, note.

inproceedings

An article in a conference proceedings. Required fields: author, title, booktitle, year. Optional fields: editor, volume or number, series, pages, address, month, organization, publisher, note.

manual

Technical documentation. Required field: title. Optional fields: author, organization, address, edition, month, year, note.

mastersthesis

A Master's thesis. Required fields: author, title, school, year. Optional fields: type, address, month, note.

misc

Use this type when nothing else fits. Required fields: none. Optional fields: author, title, howpublished, month, year, note.

phdthesis

A PhD thesis. Required fields: author, title, school, year. Optional fields: type, address, month, note.

proceedings

The proceedings of a conference. Required fields: title, year. Optional fields: editor, volume or number, series, address, month, organization, publisher, note.

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.

unpublished

A document having an author and title, but not formally published. Required fields: author, title, note. Optional fields: month, year.

In addition to the fields listed above, each entry type also has an optional key field, used in some styles for alphabetizing, for cross referencing, or for forming a \bibitem label. You should include a key field for any entry whose ``author'' information is missing; the ``author'' information is usually the author field, but for some entry types it can be the editor or even the organization field (Section 4 describes this in more detail). Do not confuse the key field with the key that appears in the \cite command and at the beginning of the database entry; this field is named ``key'' only for compatibility with Scribe.