How to Use Numbered Citations in LaTeX / Overleaf / ShareLaTeX

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2 min readAug 13, 2023

Getting to grips with BibTeX and BibLaTeX for numbered references

Introduction

Citations are a crucial component in any scholarly document, allowing readers to trace back the origin of information. In LaTeX, the two main systems that deal with bibliographies are BibTeX and BibLaTeX. While the default citation style often involves the author’s name and year, many researchers and journals prefer numbered citations. Let’s delve into how to set that up!

Using CiteDrive

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1. BibTeX with the plain style

When working with BibTeX, the plain style is an intuitive choice for numbered citations.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{cite} % Better handling of numeric citations

\begin{document}

This is an example citation \cite{key}.

\bibliographystyle{plain}
\bibliography{yourbibfile} % Replace with your .bib filename

\end{document}

In this setup, yourbibfile.bib should contain your references, for instance:

@article{key,
author = "Author Name",
title = "Title of the Paper",
journal = "Journal Name",
year = 2020,
volume = 1,
pages = "1--10"
}

2. BibLaTeX with a Numeric Style

If you’re inclined to use BibLaTeX, the numeric style is the way to go:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[backend=biber, style=numeric]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{yourbibfile.bib} % Add your .bib filename here

\begin{document}

This is an example citation \cite{key}.

\printbibliography

\end{document}

As with BibTeX, you will have a .bib file for your references.

Compiling Your Document

For your changes to reflect and citations to resolve correctly, ensure you run the appropriate sequence of commands:

  • For BibTeX:
  • pdflatex yourfilename bibtex yourfilename pdflatex yourfilename pdflatex yourfilename
  • For BibLaTeX with Biber:
  • bashCopy code
  • pdflatex yourfilename biber yourfilename pdflatex yourfilename

Remember to replace pdflatex with your preferred LaTeX compiler (e.g., xelatex or lualatex) if needed.

Numbered citations can help make your document look clean, organized, and aligned with the formatting guidelines of many scientific publications. Whether you opt for BibTeX or BibLaTeX, the process is straightforward. Happy writing!

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