BibTeX to RIS
Paste BibTeX or upload a .bib file and download RIS for reference managers. First 10 references free. Attachments and custom fields may not transfer.
Your references RIS
Files are processed in your browser. Identifier lookups use metadata services. Drafts and results are saved in this tab for this page; the allowance count is saved locally.
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Find papers and develop your research with linked sources. Opens in a new tab; download your bibliography first. Files and references do not transfer automatically.
Move a LaTeX bibliography into a reference manager
BibTeX to RIS turns structured bibliography entries into tagged records that reference managers can import. Start with the .bib file used by your LaTeX project, rather than a PDF of its printed bibliography. A printed reference loses the boundaries between fields; the original BibTeX gives the converter explicit titles, authors and publication details. Paste complete entries or upload the file, keep BibTeX selected as From and RIS as To, then convert and inspect the result.
Use this direction when collaborators maintain a library in a reference manager while you write in LaTeX. Import the resulting RIS into a temporary collection first. Compare several different record types before combining the collection with an established library. Keep the original .bib file as the authoritative backup for citation keys and project-specific information.
Worked example: a synthetic book record
The example below is a deliberately synthetic file fixture, not a discovered publication. Its BibTeX book type becomes an RIS BOOK record. The person is kept in family-name, given-name order. The title and publication year have independent tags, so importing this record should create one book with one author, not several references. Whitespace and optional tags in a downloaded file can differ from this minimal field illustration.
To verify your own conversion, identify one entry in the input and find the matching title in the output. Count the AU lines for that record and compare them with its creators. Check the year before importing. This spot check catches accidental splitting of names or loss of record boundaries more effectively than merely checking that a file downloaded.
Input → output
Input
@book{river2020, author={River, Alex}, title={Research notes}, year={2020}}
Output
TY - BOOK AU - River, Alex TI - Research notes PY - 2020 ER -
Synthetic fixture; minimal field mapping, not a live publication or byte-for-byte export.
Field mapping and information that may be lost
Common mappings are title to TI, author to repeated AU fields, year to PY, publisher to PB and DOI to DO. Journal, volume, issue and page information are mapped when the source record and destination support them. BibTeX entry types and RIS types do not form a perfect one-to-one catalog: check chapters, proceedings and unusual online sources individually. A publication identifier should remain an identifier rather than being pasted into the title.
Attachments, library folders, citation-key conventions and custom fields are not a portable library backup. TeX commands and protected capitalization also need review in the destination. Preserve corporate names as a single creator and compare accented characters after import. Conversion does not retrieve missing metadata from the publisher just because an entry includes a DOI. Repair omissions in the original record and convert again.
Choose RIS for interchange, BibTeX for manuscript keys
RIS is useful for transferring bibliographic records to a manager that accepts tagged imports. Keep BibTeX when a manuscript already refers to its citation keys or a LaTeX build expects a .bib database. Changing the file extension is insufficient: the internal structure must change too. Importing a converted file also does not reconnect the references to existing citations in a Word document or rewrite citation commands in a LaTeX manuscript.
Conversion limits and processing
- The first 10 references are free per browser, shared across all six converter pages. Files: up to 1 MB; batches: up to 100 references.
- File formats are parsed in your browser. Identifier lookups go through the server to Crossref / DataCite (DOI), NCBI PubMed (PMID), Open Library (ISBN) or arXiv. No AI is used to convert references.
- Review any field-loss warnings and keep your original file. Attachments and custom library fields are not a complete portable backup.
Popular reference conversions
Frequently asked questions
What input should I paste?
Paste complete BibTeX entries, including the opening entry type and the closing brace. Alternatively upload a .bib file. A list of citation keys, LaTeX citation commands or formatted bibliography text is not the same input and should not be labelled BibTeX.
What does the download contain?
The download contains RIS bibliographic records. Each record begins with TY and ends with ER. Repeated author tags belong inside that boundary. The file contains reference metadata; it does not contain full-text PDFs or linked attachments from your library.
How many entries can I convert free?
The first 10 references are free across all six converter pages in this browser. Files are limited to 1 MB and batches to 100 references. Review the allowance before submitting a large file; copying an existing result does not spend references.
Will my citation keys survive?
Do not depend on RIS to preserve the keys used by a LaTeX manuscript or the internal identifiers of a reference manager. Retain the original BibTeX file and verify the imported records before replacing any library or changing manuscript links.
Why does a BibTeX entry fail?
Check balanced braces, quoted values, commas between fields and the complete entry boundary. Start with the reported entry and correct the source file. Do not delete meaningful author or title content merely to make malformed syntax pass.
Are all custom fields preserved?
No. The supported bibliographic fields are mapped, but manager-specific fields, attachments and some formatting may not transfer. Review any conversion warnings and compare corporate authors, identifiers, capitalization and uncommon source types in the destination library.
How do I import the RIS?
Download the result, select the destination manager’s file-import workflow and choose RIS if it asks for a format. Import into a test collection first. Check duplicates and creators before combining libraries; this page does not upload the file to your manager.