BibTeX to Chicago Citation Converter

Convert BibTeX entries to Chicago style references in seconds. Paste any @article or @book entry and copy a clean Chicago citation. Free, no sign-up.

Paste a BibTeX entry to get a Chicago citation

What is BibTeX?

BibTeX is the reference format used by LaTeX and by reference managers such as Zotero, JabRef, and Mendeley. Each entry starts with an @ sign and a type – @article, @book, @inproceedings – followed by a citation key and a set of field–value pairs for authors, title, journal, year, and pages. BibTeX stores the raw data of a reference rather than a formatted citation, which makes it ideal input for conversion: every field is already labeled, so nothing has to be guessed from punctuation. Paste one or more entries into CiteTools and the parser reads the fields directly. If the entry carries a doi field, CiteTools can also verify the record against CrossRef. The output is a finished citation you can paste into a paper written in Word or Google Docs.

How the BibTeX to Chicago conversion works

Copy a BibTeX entry from your .bib file or reference manager and paste it into the input field.
CiteTools parses the entry’s fields and decodes LaTeX markup such as protective braces and accent commands.
Copy the formatted citation, or export the result as plain text, HTML, or RTF.

Example input:

@article{watson1953,
  author  = {Watson, James D. and Crick, Francis H. C.},
  title   = {Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids},
  journal = {Nature},
  volume  = {171},
  pages   = {737--738},
  year    = {1953},
  doi     = {10.1038/171737a0}
}

About Chicago Style

Chicago Manual of Style - used in history, literature, and the arts.

Chicago style, from The Chicago Manual of Style, appears in history, art, and publishing. CiteTools renders the notes-and-bibliography form: full author names, Title Case in quotation marks for article titles, and publication facts ordered for a bibliography entry. Page ranges and DOIs follow the manual’s punctuation rules, so the entry can drop straight into a Chicago-style bibliography.

Frequently asked questions

Which BibTeX entry types are supported?

The common types all work: @article, @book, @incollection, @inproceedings, @phdthesis, @techreport, and @misc. CiteTools maps each type onto the matching reference form in your chosen style.

Do I need the full entry?

The parser needs the fields your target style prints. Author, title, and year produce a usable citation; adding journal, volume, and pages makes it complete. If the entry has a doi field, CiteTools can fill gaps from CrossRef.

Will braces and LaTeX escapes be cleaned up in Chicago?

Yes. Protective braces around capital letters and LaTeX accent commands are decoded before formatting, so the Chicago output contains normal readable text instead of markup.