PDF to CSL-JSON for Pandoc, Quarto & Zotero
Upload a PDF, verify the references against academic databases, and download a clean CSL-JSON file ready to drop into your markdown-based citation pipeline.
Your PDF isn’t stored after extraction
How it works
Step 1
Upload your PDF
Select or drag-and-drop any academic paper. We extract references, then discard the PDF — nothing is stored on our servers.
Step 2
Verify extracted references
Each parsed reference is matched against OpenAlex, CrossRef, and Semantic Scholar so author/year/journal/DOI are filled in from the canonical record before serialisation.
Step 3
Preview and download CSL-JSON
Inspect the raw JSON inline if you want, then download a .json file with a top-level array of CSL items. Drop it into Pandoc with --citeproc, into Quarto, or paste into Zotero.
Why use CiteMe for PDF to CSL-JSON?
- PDF Not Stored
- Your PDF is sent to our servers only to extract references, then immediately discarded.
- Database-Verified
- Each reference matched against CrossRef, OpenAlex, and Semantic Scholar before serialisation. The JSON carries canonical metadata, not just OCR text.
- Style-Agnostic
- CSL-JSON has no built-in citation style — render the same .json file as APA, MLA, Vancouver, or any of 39+ curated styles via Pandoc/Quarto/Zotero.
- Pandoc & Quarto Ready
- Drop directly into pandoc --citeproc --bibliography=references.json or set bibliography: references.json in a Quarto YAML header.
Drop CSL-JSON into your pipeline
CSL-JSON is the canonical machine-readable citation format. Any tool built on CSL (Citation Style Language) consumes it natively.
- Pandoc — pandoc --citeproc --bibliography=references.json doc.md
- Quarto — YAML: bibliography: references.json
- Zotero — Edit → Import from Clipboard (paste JSON contents)
- Hugo / Jekyll / Gatsby — CSL-JSON consumed by markdown-based static-site bibliography plugins
- R Markdown / bookdown — bibliography: references.json in YAML, identical to Quarto
- Custom CSL pipelines — Any tool that consumes CSL data — citation.js, citeproc-js, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CSL-JSON and when should I use it?
CSL-JSON (Citation Style Language JSON) is the canonical machine-readable format for citation data. It is the native input for Pandoc’s --citeproc filter, Quarto’s bibliography pipeline, and Zotero’s "Import from Clipboard" feature. Use CSL-JSON when your toolchain is markdown-based (Pandoc / Quarto / Hugo) or when you want a clean structured payload that any CSL-aware tool can format into APA / MLA / Vancouver / etc.
How is CSL-JSON different from BibTeX or RIS?
BibTeX is the LaTeX-native format (.bib files for biblatex / classic BibTeX). RIS is the EndNote/Zotero/Mendeley import format. CSL-JSON is style-agnostic and lossless — every field used by the Citation Style Language is represented natively, so the same .json file produces identical bibliographies in any CSL-driven tool. Pick CSL-JSON for Pandoc/Quarto pipelines and BibTeX/RIS for LaTeX/reference-manager pipelines.
How do I use the CSL-JSON file with Pandoc?
Pass it via --bibliography and enable --citeproc: pandoc --citeproc --bibliography=references.json doc.md -o doc.pdf. Pandoc auto-detects the format from the .json extension. Combine with --csl=apa.csl for a specific style.
Does this work with Quarto?
Yes. Add references.json to a project folder and reference it from your YAML front matter: bibliography: references.json. Quarto runs the same Pandoc pipeline under the hood.
Can I import CSL-JSON into Zotero?
Yes — Zotero supports CSL-JSON via "Import from Clipboard". Open the downloaded .json in any text editor, copy the contents, switch to Zotero, and use Edit → Import from Clipboard. Zotero recognises the array of CSL items and creates a record per entry.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
Yes — the PDF is sent to our servers to extract the bibliography section, then discarded. We keep only the extracted reference text. Pro users can opt in to save the PDF to their library; otherwise nothing is stored.
Generate CSL-JSON from any PDF — free with a CiteMe account.
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