Free tool

DOI to BibTeX, APA or MLA in one click.

Paste a DOI or arXiv ID and get a BibTeX entry, or an APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard or RIS reference, straight from Crossref and arXiv metadata. Free, no sign-up - from the team behind Sidenote, the AI reading assistant that cites every answer to the source. New to BibTeX? Read the DOI-to-BibTeX guide.

FAQ

Free citation generator - common questions.

Paste the DOI into the DOI tab, click Generate citation and pick BibTeX. The tool fetches the record from Crossref, so you get the publisher's deposited title, authors, journal, year and DOI fields. Check capitalisation and add any missing fields before saving - the metadata is only as complete as the publisher made it.
Yes. Switch to the arXiv tab and paste the ID (for example 2401.12345). The tool queries the arXiv API and returns a BibTeX entry with the eprint fields. If the paper was later published, use the journal DOI instead so you cite the version of record.
Yes: it's free, with no sign-up or card. Paste a DOI, an arXiv ID or a URL (or enter the details by hand) and copy the reference in the style you need.
BibTeX, APA, MLA, Chicago (author-date), Harvard and RIS. BibTeX and RIS are ideal for importing into reference managers like Zotero, Mendeley or EndNote.
From a DOI it queries Crossref; from an arXiv ID it queries the arXiv API; from a URL it reads the page's citation metadata. Always double-check the output - published metadata can be incomplete, and you know the source best.
This tool builds a bibliography reference for a source. The Sidenote extension is about reading: it answers questions about the document you're on and cites the exact passage each answer came from, scrolling you straight to it.
Yes. Paste the URL and the tool will pull what it can from the page's metadata. For pages with proper citation tags (most journals and many news sites) you'll get a fuller reference; otherwise fill any gaps in the Manual tab.
Embed this tool

Add the citation generator to your site - free.

Run a library guide, a course page or a study blog? Drop the free citation generator straight in. Paste this snippet where you want it - please keep the attribution link.

<iframe src="https://getsidenote.app/embed/citation-generator" title="Free Citation Generator by Sidenote" width="100%" height="640" loading="lazy" allow="clipboard-write" style="max-width:760px;border:1px solid #ddd;border-radius:12px"></iframe>
<p style="font:13px/1.5 sans-serif;text-align:center;margin:8px 0">
  <a href="https://getsidenote.app/tools/citation-generator">Free Citation Generator</a> by <a href="https://getsidenote.app">Sidenote</a>
</p>
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