biblatex + biber — Modern Bibliography Management

CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/biblatex
Manual: texdoc biblatex

Setup

\usepackage[
  backend=biber,        % modern backend (not bibtex)
  style=authoryear,     % citation + bibliography style
  sorting=nyt,          % name-year-title
  maxbibnames=99,       % show all authors in bibliography
  maxcitenames=2,       % truncate in citations
]{biblatex}

\addbibresource{references.bib}   % .bib file (include extension!)

% At end of document:
\printbibliography

Compilation Workflow

pdflatex  main.tex    # 1. Generate .bcf file
biber     main        # 2. Process bibliography (no extension!)
pdflatex  main.tex    # 3. Resolve references
pdflatex  main.tex    # 4. Final pass (page numbers, back-refs)

Or with latexmk: latexmk -pdf main.tex (handles everything automatically).

.bib File Format

@article{einstein1905,
  author    = {Einstein, Albert},
  title     = {On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies},
  journal   = {Annalen der Physik},
  year      = {1905},
  volume    = {322},
  number    = {10},
  pages     = {891--921},
  doi       = {10.1002/andp.19053221004},
}

@book{knuth1984,
  author    = {Knuth, Donald E.},
  title     = {The {\TeX}book},
  publisher = {Addison-Wesley},
  year      = {1984},
  isbn      = {0-201-13447-0},
}

@inproceedings{smith2023,
  author    = {Smith, John and Doe, Jane},
  title     = {Deep Learning for Everything},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of ICML},
  year      = {2023},
  pages     = {100--110},
  doi       = {10.1234/icml.2023.100},
}

@online{wiki2024,
  author    = {{Wikipedia contributors}},
  title     = {LaTeX},
  url       = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX},
  urldate   = {2024-01-15},
  year      = {2024},
}

@thesis{jones2020,
  author    = {Jones, Alice},
  title     = {Quantum Computing Applications},
  type      = {phdthesis},
  institution = {MIT},
  year      = {2020},
}

@manual{pgfmanual,
  author    = {Tantau, Till},
  title     = {The TikZ and PGF Packages},
  year      = {2023},
  url       = {https://ctan.org/pkg/pgf},
}

Common Entry Types

Type	Use for
@article	Journal articles
@book	Books
@inproceedings	Conference papers
@incollection	Chapter in edited book
@thesis	PhD/Master's thesis (use type field)
@online	Websites, web resources
@manual	Technical documentation
@techreport	Technical reports
@misc	Anything else
@unpublished	Unpublished manuscripts
@patent	Patents
@software	Software packages

Common Fields

Field	Description
author	Author(s) — {Last, First and Last, First}
title	Title — protect caps with {NASA}
year/date	Publication year or full date (2023-06-15)
journal	Journal name
booktitle	Conference/collection title
publisher	Publisher
volume/number	Volume and issue
pages	Page range (10--20)
doi	Digital Object Identifier
url	Web URL
urldate	Access date for online sources
isbn/issn	Identifiers
editor	Editor(s)
edition	Edition ({2nd})
note	Additional notes
abstract	Abstract (not printed by default)
keywords	Keywords for filtering
langid	Language (english, german) — for hyphenation

Author Name Formats

author = {Last, First},                    % single
author = {Last, First and Last, First},    % multiple
author = {Last, Jr., First},               % suffix
author = {{World Health Organization}},    % corporate (double braces)
author = {da Silva, João},                 % name particles

Citation Commands

Command	Output (authoryear)	Output (numeric)
\cite{key}	Einstein 1905	[1]
\parencite{key}	(Einstein 1905)	[1]
\textcite{key}	Einstein (1905)	Einstein [1]
\autocite{key}	Style-dependent	Style-dependent
\fullcite{key}	Full bibliography entry inline	—
\footcite{key}	Footnote citation	—
\citeauthor{key}	Einstein	Einstein
\citeyear{key}	1905	1905
\citetitle{key}	On the Electro...	—

With Options

\parencite[see][p.~42]{einstein1905}
% Output: (see Einstein 1905, p. 42)

\parencite[p.~42]{einstein1905}
% Output: (Einstein 1905, p. 42)

% Multiple citations
\parencite{einstein1905, knuth1984}
% Output: (Einstein 1905; Knuth 1984)

Bibliography Styles

Style	Citation	Bibliography	Use for
authoryear	Einstein (1905)	Alphabetical by author	Humanities, social sciences
numeric	[1]	Numbered by citation order	Sciences, engineering
alphabetic	[Ein05]	Alphabetical labels	Math, CS
authortitle	Einstein, "On the..."	Author-title	Humanities
verbose	Full cite in footnotes	Detailed	Law, history
ieee	[1]	IEEE format	Engineering (needs biblatex-ieee)
apa	(Einstein, 1905)	APA 7th ed	Psychology (needs biblatex-apa)
chicago-authordate	(Einstein 1905)	Chicago	Humanities (needs biblatex-chicago)
nature	¹	Nature format	Natural sciences (biblatex-nature)

% For IEEE:
\usepackage[style=ieee, backend=biber]{biblatex}

% For APA:
\usepackage[style=apa, backend=biber]{biblatex}
% Also needs: \DeclareLanguageMapping{english}{english-apa}

Sorting Options

Value	Sorting order
nty	Name, title, year (default for authoryear)
nyt	Name, year, title
none	Citation order (for numeric)
ynt	Year, name, title
anyt	Alphabetic label, name, year, title

Printing the Bibliography

% Simple
\printbibliography

% With title
\printbibliography[title={References}]

% As section (not chapter)
\printbibliography[heading=subbibliography]

% Filtered
\printbibliography[type=article, title={Journal Articles}]
\printbibliography[keyword=primary, title={Primary Sources}]
\printbibliography[notkeyword=primary, title={Secondary Sources}]

Multiple Bibliographies

% By type
\printbibliography[type=book, heading=subbibliography, title={Books}]
\printbibliography[type=article, heading=subbibliography, title={Articles}]

% By keyword
% In .bib: keywords = {primary}
\printbibliography[keyword=primary, title={Primary Sources}]
\printbibliography[notkeyword=primary, title={Other Sources}]

% Per chapter (refsection)
\begin{refsection}
\chapter{First Chapter}
Text \cite{something}.
\printbibliography[heading=subbibliography]
\end{refsection}

Useful Options

\usepackage[
  backend=biber,
  style=authoryear,
  sorting=nyt,
  maxbibnames=99,      % all authors in bibliography
  maxcitenames=2,      % "Smith et al." after 2 authors
  mincitenames=1,      % show at least 1 before "et al."
  uniquelist=false,    % don't disambiguate with more names
  uniquename=false,    % don't disambiguate with initials
  dashed=false,        % repeat author name (vs dash for same author)
  doi=true,            % print DOIs
  isbn=false,          % hide ISBNs
  url=false,           % hide URLs (except @online)
  eprint=false,        % hide eprint info
  date=year,           % show only year
]{biblatex}

Comparison: biblatex vs natbib/BibTeX

Feature	biblatex + biber	natbib + BibTeX
Unicode	✅ Full support	❌ Limited
Styles	Flexible (LaTeX macros)	.bst files (hard to edit)
Entry types	More (@online, @software)	Fewer
Filtering	keyword, type filters	Manual
Multiple bibliographies	Built-in	Needs multibib/etc
Fine-grained citations	\textcite, \parencite, etc	\citet, \citep
Date handling	Full dates, ranges	Year only
Name handling	Sophisticated	Basic
Compilation	pdflatex → biber → pdflatex²	pdflatex → bibtex → pdflatex²
Journal requirement	Some require BibTeX	✅ Traditional

Recommendation: Use biblatex for new documents. Use natbib only if a journal template requires it.

Common Pitfalls

Problem	Cause	Fix
"I found no \citation commands"	biber not run	Run biber after first pdflatex
"I found no \bibstyle command"	Mixing bibtex with biblatex	Use biber, not bibtex
Citation shows [key]	biber hasn't run / error	Check biber log, re-run
.bib file not found	Missing extension in \addbibresource	Include .bib extension
Unicode in .bib fails	Using BibTeX backend	Use backend=biber
Author "et al." wrong	maxcitenames too low	Adjust maxcitenames
Style not found	Missing package	Install biblatex-ieee, biblatex-apa, etc.
Refsection empty	Citations outside refsection	Each refsection is independent
Name sorting wrong	Particles (van, de)	Use \DeclareNameAlias or check useprefix
"Runaway argument"	Missing comma in .bib	Check .bib syntax (commas between fields)