RIS to MLA Citation Converter

Convert RIS records to MLA 9th edition citations in seconds. Paste an export from Zotero, EndNote, or Mendeley and copy the MLA result. No sign-up.

Paste an RIS record to get a MLA citation

What is RIS?

RIS is a plain-text reference format created by Research Information Systems and still used as the standard export format by EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley, Web of Science, Scopus, and most library databases. Each record is a block of two-letter tags: TY marks the reference type, AU lines carry one author each, TI holds the title, PY the year, SP and EP the page range, and ER closes the record. Because every field is tagged, an RIS record converts cleanly – CiteTools maps each tag onto its citation data model and renders the reference in the style you choose. This page is the fast path when a database hands you an .ris file but your bibliography needs formatted text: open the file in any text editor, copy a record, and paste it here.

How the RIS to MLA conversion works

Open your exported .ris file in a text editor and copy one or more records.
Paste them into the input field; CiteTools reads the tagged fields directly.
Copy each formatted citation, or convert the whole batch at once.

Example input:

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Harris, Charles R.
AU  - Millman, K. Jarrod
TI  - Array programming with NumPy
JO  - Nature
VL  - 585
SP  - 357
EP  - 362
PY  - 2020
DO  - 10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2
ER  -

About MLA Style

Modern Language Association - primarily used in humanities, literature, and arts.

MLA 9th edition is the standard in literature and the humanities. It uses full author names rather than initials, Title Case with quotation marks around article titles, and a container model that lists the journal, volume, issue, year, and pages in sequence. CiteTools renders the full works-cited entry, including the doi.org form MLA prefers for articles that have a DOI.

Frequently asked questions

How do I export RIS from my reference manager?

In Zotero use File > Export Library and pick RIS. In EndNote choose the RefMan (RIS) output option. Most databases – Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed – offer an RIS or citation-manager export on every record page.

Can I paste more than one RIS record?

Yes. Paste several records – each ending in its ER tag – separated by blank lines, and CiteTools converts up to 100 of them in one batch.

Which RIS tags does the MLA output use?

TY, AU, TI, T2 or JO, PY, VL, IS, SP, EP, DO, and UR cover everything a MLA reference needs. Unknown tags are ignored rather than causing an error.