biblatex + biber — Modern Bibliography Management

CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/biblatex
Manual: texdoc biblatex

Setup

\usepackage[
  backend=biber,        % modern backend (not bibtex)
  style=authoryear,     % citation + bibliography style
  sorting=nyt,          % name-year-title
  maxbibnames=99,       % show all authors in bibliography
  maxcitenames=2,       % truncate in citations
]{biblatex}

\addbibresource{references.bib}   % .bib file (include extension!)

% At end of document:
\printbibliography

Compilation Workflow

pdflatex  main.tex    # 1. Generate .bcf file
biber     main        # 2. Process bibliography (no extension!)
pdflatex  main.tex    # 3. Resolve references
pdflatex  main.tex    # 4. Final pass (page numbers, back-refs)

Or with latexmk: latexmk -pdf main.tex (handles everything automatically).

.bib File Format

@article{einstein1905,
  author    = {Einstein, Albert},
  title     = {On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies},
  journal   = {Annalen der Physik},
  year      = {1905},
  volume    = {322},
  number    = {10},
  pages     = {891--921},
  doi       = {10.1002/andp.19053221004},
}

@book{knuth1984,
  author    = {Knuth, Donald E.},
  title     = {The {\TeX}book},
  publisher = {Addison-Wesley},
  year      = {1984},
  isbn      = {0-201-13447-0},
}

@inproceedings{smith2023,
  author    = {Smith, John and Doe, Jane},
  title     = {Deep Learning for Everything},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of ICML},
  year      = {2023},
  pages     = {100--110},
  doi       = {10.1234/icml.2023.100},
}

@online{wiki2024,
  author    = {{Wikipedia contributors}},
  title     = {LaTeX},
  url       = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX},
  urldate   = {2024-01-15},
  year      = {2024},
}

@thesis{jones2020,
  author    = {Jones, Alice},
  title     = {Quantum Computing Applications},
  type      = {phdthesis},
  institution = {MIT},
  year      = {2020},
}

@manual{pgfmanual,
  author    = {Tantau, Till},
  title     = {The TikZ and PGF Packages},
  year      = {2023},
  url       = {https://ctan.org/pkg/pgf},
}

Common Entry Types

Common Fields

Author Name Formats

author = {Last, First},                    % single
author = {Last, First and Last, First},    % multiple
author = {Last, Jr., First},               % suffix
author = {{World Health Organization}},    % corporate (double braces)
author = {da Silva, João},                 % name particles

Citation Commands

With Options

\parencite[see][p.~42]{einstein1905}
% Output: (see Einstein 1905, p. 42)

\parencite[p.~42]{einstein1905}
% Output: (Einstein 1905, p. 42)

% Multiple citations
\parencite{einstein1905, knuth1984}
% Output: (Einstein 1905; Knuth 1984)

Bibliography Styles

% For IEEE:
\usepackage[style=ieee, backend=biber]{biblatex}

% For APA:
\usepackage[style=apa, backend=biber]{biblatex}
% Also needs: \DeclareLanguageMapping{english}{english-apa}

Sorting Options

Printing the Bibliography

% Simple
\printbibliography

% With title
\printbibliography[title={References}]

% As section (not chapter)
\printbibliography[heading=subbibliography]

% Filtered
\printbibliography[type=article, title={Journal Articles}]
\printbibliography[keyword=primary, title={Primary Sources}]
\printbibliography[notkeyword=primary, title={Secondary Sources}]

Multiple Bibliographies

% By type
\printbibliography[type=book, heading=subbibliography, title={Books}]
\printbibliography[type=article, heading=subbibliography, title={Articles}]

% By keyword
% In .bib: keywords = {primary}
\printbibliography[keyword=primary, title={Primary Sources}]
\printbibliography[notkeyword=primary, title={Other Sources}]

% Per chapter (refsection)
\begin{refsection}
\chapter{First Chapter}
Text \cite{something}.
\printbibliography[heading=subbibliography]
\end{refsection}

Useful Options

\usepackage[
  backend=biber,
  style=authoryear,
  sorting=nyt,
  maxbibnames=99,      % all authors in bibliography
  maxcitenames=2,      % "Smith et al." after 2 authors
  mincitenames=1,      % show at least 1 before "et al."
  uniquelist=false,    % don't disambiguate with more names
  uniquename=false,    % don't disambiguate with initials
  dashed=false,        % repeat author name (vs dash for same author)
  doi=true,            % print DOIs
  isbn=false,          % hide ISBNs
  url=false,           % hide URLs (except @online)
  eprint=false,        % hide eprint info
  date=year,           % show only year
]{biblatex}

Comparison: biblatex vs natbib/BibTeX

Recommendation: Use biblatex for new documents. Use natbib only if a journal template requires it.

Common Pitfalls