Creating an APA bibliography from BibTeX and RIS files

The sources collected for a thesis or an article usually sit in a BibTeX or RIS file. Ibidex imports these files and prepares a bibliography of the selected entries in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago (author-date), Harvard, IEEE or Vancouver style. The library is stored on this device.

Importing sources

1. Select the files with File › Import (BibTeX, RIS, CSL JSON)… (Ctrl/⌘ O).
2. In BibTeX, @string definitions, LaTeX accents and corporate authors are read.
3. Entries with the same DOI, or with the same title and year, are skipped; the number of entries added and skipped is reported.

If you use Zotero or Mendeley, export the library from there as BibTeX, RIS or CSL JSON and bring it in the same way. When a PDF is added, the title, authors, year and the DOI on the first pages are read on the device; the PDF is stored as an attachment to the entry.

APA bibliography

1. Select the entries to include in the bibliography. If no entry is selected, all entries in the list are used; when a collection is open, these are the entries of that collection.
2. In the Bibliography panel, choose APA 7 as the Citation style.
3. Choose English as the Bibliography language. Fixed terms such as "and", "et al.", "n.d." and "pp." follow this choice; it is independent of the interface language.
4. Copy the bibliography to the clipboard with Copy bibliography (Ctrl/⌘ ⇧ C) and paste it into your document. Italics are preserved.
5. If an in-text citation is needed, use Copy citation.

Formatted copying is supported in Chrome, Edge and Safari; in browsers that do not support it, plain text is copied.

Keeping things organised

• Create a collection for a thesis chapter or a course; entries are dragged onto the collection or added with Edit › Add to collection.
• Tags work as filters in the sidebar.
• Notes and files can be attached to each entry. Deleted entries can be restored from Recently deleted for 30 days.

Good to know

• There is no online lookup by DOI or ISBN; the application does not connect to the network. Missing fields are completed by hand in the entry form.
• The styles apply the essential rules for common entry types; they do not cover every publisher's special rules. Before submission, the bibliography should be compared with the institution's guidelines.
• There is no word processor plug-in; the bibliography and citations are copied to the clipboard.
• The library is not synced between devices; it is moved as BibTeX, RIS or CSL JSON with File › Export.

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