ISBN to BibTeX Converter

Paste an ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 and get a clean BibTeX entry for Overleaf, LaTeX, Zotero, or Mendeley. Verified Google Books and CrossRef metadata.

Free to look up — no account required

What to do next

ISBN to Citation PDF to BibTeX Reformat File

How it works

Step 1

Paste your ISBN

Enter an ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 (with or without hyphens). CiteMe looks up the book in Google Books and CrossRef to retrieve verified metadata — title, authors, publisher, year, and edition.

Step 2

Verify and select

CiteMe shows the matched book. Confirm it is the correct edition before exporting. You can also pick a citation style to preview the formatted reference side-by-side with the BibTeX entry.

Step 3

Copy your BibTeX entry

Get a clean BibTeX @book entry ready for your .bib file, Overleaf, Zotero, Mendeley, or JabRef. Includes author, title, publisher, year, address, and isbn fields.

Why use CiteMe for ISBN to BibTeX?

Verified Metadata

Every lookup checked against Google Books and CrossRef — accurate title, authors, publisher, and year, not guesswork from the ISBN alone.

Standard BibTeX Output

Clean @book entries with all standard fields: author, title, publisher, year, address, isbn. Ready for Overleaf, LaTeX, or any .bib consumer.

Works Everywhere

Output is plain BibTeX — import into Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, JabRef, or paste directly into your Overleaf .bib file. No lock-in.

No Signup for Lookup

Paste an ISBN and preview the BibTeX entry for free. Save unlimited entries to a library with a free account; export .bib files in bulk with Pro.

Where to find an ISBN

Back cover or copyright page

Every physical book lists its ISBN on the back cover (near the barcode) and on the copyright page.

Amazon / Goodreads

Book detail page > "Product details" section. Both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 are listed.

Google Books

Search the title > click the book > "About this edition" section shows both ISBNs.

Library catalogue

University and public library catalogues always include ISBN in the book detail page.

Publisher website

Springer, Elsevier, Wiley, Oxford/Cambridge University Press all list ISBN on the book's product page.

PDF metadata

Academic PDFs often include ISBN on the copyright page. Search the PDF for "ISBN" to find it quickly.

Example output

Input ISBN

978-0-06-112008-4

BibTeX Output

@book{bradbury1953fahrenheit,
  author    = {Bradbury, Ray},
  title     = {Fahrenheit 451},
  publisher = {Simon \& Schuster},
  year      = {1953},
  address   = {New York},
  isbn      = {9780061120084}
}

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I convert an ISBN to BibTeX?

Paste an ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 into CiteMe. The tool looks up the book in Google Books and CrossRef, then generates a BibTeX @book entry with author, title, publisher, year, address, and isbn fields. Copy it straight into your .bib file for Overleaf, LaTeX, or Zotero.

What BibTeX fields does this generate?

CiteMe generates a complete @book entry with: author (formatted as Last, First), title (in braces to preserve capitalisation), publisher, year, address (city), isbn, and url or doi when available. All fields follow standard BibTeX conventions for Overleaf and LaTeX.

Does it work with ISBN-10 and ISBN-13?

Yes. Enter either format — with or without hyphens. CiteMe normalises the input and queries both Google Books and CrossRef to find the best metadata match. Older books (pre-2007) often only have ISBN-10; newer books always have ISBN-13.

Can I cite book chapters with an ISBN?

The ISBN identifies the whole book, not a chapter. For a book chapter, you typically cite the book itself via ISBN and add the chapter title and pages manually — or use the Cite-a-Book tool which has a chapter-specific flow. For @incollection entries, the BibTeX field `chapter` or `pages` is added on top of the base @book lookup.

Does it work with LaTeX and Overleaf?

Yes — the output is standard BibTeX, which is the native bibliography format for LaTeX. Copy the entry, paste it into your .bib file in your Overleaf project, and cite it in your document with \cite{key}.

Can I import the output into Zotero or Mendeley?

Yes. Zotero and Mendeley both accept BibTeX imports. In Zotero: File > Import > select the .bib file. In Mendeley: File > Import > BibTeX. JabRef opens .bib files natively. EndNote accepts BibTeX via the import filter.

Is there a limit on how many ISBNs I can convert?

Free plan: 25 lookups per month. Pro: unlimited. Each lookup fetches fresh metadata from Google Books and CrossRef — no stale data.

Keep the bibliography workflow moving

Next step in a typical LaTeX workflow: look up more sources, extract BibTeX from a PDF you were sent, or format the whole .bib file to APA for your paper body.