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ISBN to BibTeX

Type or paste a book’s ISBN and get a BibTeX @book entry with its authors, title, publisher, place and year, ready for your .bib file. This ISBN to BibTeX tool looks the book up in Open Library and Google Books, accepts ISBN-10 and ISBN-13, and needs no account.

What Is ISBN to BibTeX?

From an ISBN Number to a BibTeX Book Entry

An ISBN is the 10- or 13-digit number printed on the back of a book and on its copyright page. ISBN to BibTeX turns that number into a @book entry, so you never retype author names or publisher details from the cover. It also spares you typos in names with accents or unusual spellings.

ISBN to BibTeX Citation Fields

Each entry carries the author list joined with "and", the title with any subtitle, publisher, place of publication, year, page count and the ISBN itself. Characters such as & are escaped so the .bib file compiles first time.

ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 to BibTeX

Older books carry ten digits and newer ones thirteen, usually starting with 978 or 979. Both forms work, with or without hyphens, spaces or an "ISBN" prefix, and the check digit is verified before any lookup.

Why Use Our ISBN to BibTeX Converter?

A Free ISBN to BibTeX Converter Online

There is nothing to install and no account to make. Open the page, enter the number and copy the result; the same goes for our other free LaTeX tools.

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An ISBN BibTeX Generator Backed by Two Catalogues

Open Library is asked first and Google Books fills the gap when it has no record. Between them, ISBN to BibTeX covers most English titles and many Chinese, German, French and Spanish ones, from classic textbooks to recent monographs.

Books Here, Articles by DOI

Journal papers and conference proceedings usually have a DOI rather than an ISBN. For those, the registry lookup gives a fuller entry with volume, issue and pages.

Open DOI to BibTeX

How to Use It in 3 Steps

Step 1: Find the ISBN

Look on the back cover above the barcode, on the copyright page, or on the publisher’s or a bookshop’s listing. Paste it in exactly as printed.

Step 2: Get the BibTeX Entry

Press Get BibTeX. In a second or two the ISBN to BibTeX lookup returns a @book entry with a readable key such as knuth1986texbook. If the number is mistyped, you are told straight away instead of being handed the wrong book.

Step 3: Add It to Your .bib File

Copy the entry or download it as a .bib file, add it to your bibliography and cite it with \cite and its key. Fill in an edition field by hand if you need one.

Convert the rest of your paper to LaTeX

Official references: International ISBN Agency · BibTeX

ISBN to BibTeX: styleLatex card with the tool's purpose and a code sample | ISBN to BibTeX

ISBN to BibTeX FAQ

Do you include ISBN in APA citation?
No. APA 7th edition book references list the author, year, title and publisher, and leave the ISBN out. The number is still useful for finding the exact edition, which is why BibTeX keeps it in its own field.
How to cite a book in BibTeX?
Write a @book entry with at least author, title, publisher and year, save it in your .bib file and cite it with \cite and its key. Entering the ISBN on this page writes that entry for you.
Do you need the ISBN for citation?
Usually not. Author, title, publisher and year identify a book in APA, MLA, Chicago and most LaTeX styles. The ISBN helps you, or a reader, pin down which edition you used.
What is ISBN in citation?
The International Standard Book Number, a unique code for one edition and format of a book. In a citation it is optional; in BibTeX it goes in the isbn field, which styles such as biblatex can print.
How to add ISBN on MLA citation?
MLA 9th edition does not include ISBNs in works-cited entries, so you normally leave it out. If an instructor asks for it, add it at the end of the entry as optional information.
How do I find citations from ISBN number?
Enter the number in this ISBN to BibTeX tool to get a ready entry, or search a library catalogue such as WorldCat or Open Library, which show the full publication details, other editions and libraries that hold the book.
Where to put ISBN in citation?
In BibTeX it has its own isbn field inside the entry. Styles that print it, such as ISO 690, place it near the end of the reference, after the publisher and year.
Can I convert an ISBN to BibTeX online?
Yes. Enter the number above and the entry appears right away. Nothing is installed, and you can copy the result or download it as a .bib file.
Does it work with both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13?
Yes. Both forms are accepted, with or without hyphens, and an X as the last character of an ISBN-10 is fine. The lookup uses the number exactly as you entered it.
How do I add an ISBN to a BibTeX entry?
Add a line such as isbn = followed by the number in braces inside the entry. Entries from this ISBN to BibTeX tool already include it, so there is nothing to add.
Is the ISBN to BibTeX tool free?
Yes. It needs no account and has no daily limit; to keep it fair for everyone, each visitor can make one lookup every two seconds.
Where does the book data come from?
From Open Library, the Internet Archive’s open catalogue, and from Google Books when Open Library has no record. Both are queried live, so the entry reflects their current data. Only the ISBN is sent to them, never anything about you.
Why can’t it find my ISBN?
Neither catalogue has a record for it. That happens most with very new, self-published or small regional books. Try the other ISBN printed on the book, or write the entry by hand; the publisher’s website usually lists everything you need.
Why does it say my ISBN is invalid?
The last digit of every ISBN is a check digit calculated from the others. If one digit is mistyped the check fails, so compare the number with the one on the book.
Which BibTeX entry type does an ISBN give?
Always @book, because an ISBN names a whole book. That suits monographs, textbooks and edited volumes, and the entry imports cleanly into reference managers such as Zotero or JabRef. For a chapter, see the next question.
Does the entry include the edition?
No. The catalogues record editions inconsistently, so rather than guess, the entry leaves it out. Add a line such as edition = Third if your style shows it; many styles only print the edition when it is not the first.
How is the citation key chosen?
It joins the first author’s surname, the year and the first meaningful word of the title, for example cormen2009introduction. You can rename it freely, as long as you cite it by the new name.
Can I cite a single chapter with this tool?
Not directly, since an ISBN identifies the whole book. Change @book to @incollection, add the chapter’s own author and title, and put the book title in a booktitle field.

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