BibTeX to Chicago Converter
Paste BibTeX entries and get Chicago Manual of Style 17 bibliography entries. Works with .bib files from Overleaf, Zotero, Mendeley, and Google Scholar. Free, no signup.
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What to do next
How it works
Step 1
Paste your BibTeX
Copy BibTeX entries from your .bib file, Overleaf, Zotero, Mendeley, or Google Scholar. Paste one or more @article, @book, or @inproceedings entries.
Step 2
Convert to Chicago
CiteMe parses the BibTeX fields and builds a Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition bibliography entry — full first names, italic journal/book titles, periods between elements.
Step 3
Copy your Chicago bibliography
Get formatted Chicago references for your bibliography. Smith, John D., and Maria R. Johnson. "Article Title." Journal Name 29, no. 4 (2024): 123–145.
Why use CiteMe for BibTeX to Chicago?
Chicago 17 (Author-Date)
Italic journal/book titles, full first names where BibTeX provides them, periods between elements, full publication details. Author-date and notes-bibliography both supported.
All BibTeX Entry Types
@article, @book, @inproceedings, @phdthesis, @mastersthesis, @incollection, @misc — each type mapped to the Chicago rule for that source kind.
Works with Overleaf
Convert a LaTeX project's .bib to Chicago for journals or coursework that require it. Keep BibTeX for your LaTeX build; export Chicago for submissions.
Unicode & Accents
Preserves italic/bold markup from BibTeX. Handles Unicode author names correctly (Müller, García-López) — important for history and humanities references.
BibTeX to Chicago — example
BibTeX input
@article{smith2024ml,
author = {Smith, John D. and
Johnson, Maria R.},
title = {Machine Learning in
Healthcare Diagnostics},
journal = {Nature Medicine},
year = {2024},
volume = {29},
number = {4},
pages = {123--145},
doi = {10.1038/s41591-024-0001}
}Chicago 17 (author-date) output
In-text: (Smith and Johnson 2024)
Works with BibTeX from anywhere
Overleaf
Copy the content of your .bib file directly from the Overleaf editor.
Zotero
Right-click references > Export Items > BibTeX (.bib).
Mendeley
File > Export > BibTeX. Paste the exported file content.
JabRef
Native BibTeX — open your .bib file and copy entries directly.
Google Scholar
Click the cite icon under any result > BibTeX. Copy the entry.
EndNote
File > Export > choose BibTeX filter. Open the .bib file and copy.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I convert BibTeX to Chicago style?
Paste your BibTeX entries into CiteMe. The tool parses the BibTeX fields (author, title, journal, year, doi) and formats each entry as a Chicago bibliography entry — author last name first, full names where available, italic journal/book titles, volume/number/year, pages, and DOI.
Which Chicago variant does this output?
Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition, author-date system by default — the variant most often required in social sciences and history coursework. The notes-and-bibliography variant is supported through the same parser; copy whichever your style guide requires.
Does this work with BibTeX from Overleaf?
Yes. Copy your BibTeX entries directly from your Overleaf .bib file. CiteMe handles all standard BibTeX entry types: @article, @book, @inproceedings, @phdthesis, @misc, @incollection.
Can I convert multiple BibTeX entries at once?
Yes. On the free plan you can convert up to 3 entries per submission. Pro users can paste an entire .bib file — each entry is converted to Chicago format and you can copy the full bibliography in one go.
How does Chicago differ from APA on the same BibTeX entry?
Chicago author-date is structurally similar to APA but uses full first names where the BibTeX provides them. CMS 17 lists up to 10 authors in the bibliography; with 11 or more, list the first 7 followed by "et al." (APA 7 lists up to 20 before truncating). Chicago notes-and-bibliography uses footnotes plus a bibliography entry — quite different from APA's parenthetical author-date style.
Does it handle book-chapter entries (@incollection)?
Yes. @incollection formats as "Smith, John D. 'Chapter Title.' In Book Title, edited by Editor Name, 12–34. City: Publisher, 2024." with editor, page range, place, and publisher pulled from BibTeX fields.
Can I use this for theses and dissertations?
Yes. @phdthesis and @mastersthesis format with institution, date, and "PhD diss." / "Master's thesis" type designators per Chicago 17. Add a `school` field in BibTeX so the institution appears correctly in the formatted reference.
Keep the bibliography workflow moving
After converting BibTeX to Chicago, the next step is usually checking citations, reformatting to APA for a different course, or extracting BibTeX from a PDF.
Paste BibTeX. Get Chicago bibliography entries. No signup required.
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