1# citations
2
3sublimated supports citing bibliography entries from `.bib` files using [Pandoc](https://pandoc.org/chunkedhtml-demo/8.20-citation-syntax.html)-style syntax. push a `.bib` file to your space, then cite entries from any markdown file.
4
5## .bib files
6
7BibTeX is a plain text bibliography format used by LaTeX, Typst, Pandoc, R Markdown, Zotero, Mendeley, and many other tools. each entry has a type, citation key, and fields:
8
9```bib
10@article{knuth1984,
11  author  = {Donald E. Knuth},
12  title   = {Literate Programming},
13  journal = {The Computer Journal},
14  year    = {1984},
15  volume  = {27},
16  pages   = {97--111}
17}
18
19@book{lamport1994,
20  author    = {Leslie Lamport},
21  title     = {LaTeX: A Document Preparation System},
22  publisher = {Addison-Wesley},
23  year      = {1994},
24  isbn      = {0-201-52983-1}
25}
26```
27
28push a `references.bib` (or any `.bib` file) to your space. sublimated parses it and renders entries as formatted citation cards instead of raw text.
29
30entry types: `@article`, `@book`, `@inproceedings`, `@misc`, `@phdthesis`, `@techreport`, and others.
31
32## citing in markdown
33
34use Pandoc citation syntax in any `.md` file:
35
36```markdown
37[@knuth1984]                        normal citation
38[-@knuth1984]                       suppress author name (just year)
39[@knuth1984, p. 42]                 with page locator
40[@knuth1984; @lamport1994]          multiple citations
41[@knuth1984, pp. 97--111; @lamport1994, ch. 3]  multiple with locators
42```
43
44citations link to the corresponding entry in your `.bib` file.
45
46## backlinks
47
48sublimated tracks which files cite which entries. browse a `.bib` file on the web and each entry shows "cited by" — all the markdown files that reference it. entries with zero citations are highlighted so you can spot unused references.
49
50## who uses .bib files
51
52if you already use any of these, your `.bib` files work in sublimated:
53- LaTeX / Overleaf
54- Typst
55- Pandoc / R Markdown / Quarto
56- Zotero, Mendeley, JabRef (reference managers that export .bib)
57- [Obsidian](obsidian.md) with the citation plugin
58
59see [syntax](syntax.md) for the full markdown reference, or [demo](demo.md) to see citations rendered.