Four styles
APA, MLA, Chicago and BibTeX, ready to paste.
Citation generator that finds real sources
Give it whatever you have — a DOI, an ORCID, an author's name, a paper title or just the claim you need to support — and the citation finder works out what it is and returns real papers from indexed literature, formatted in the style you need, with citation counts and links. Nothing is invented.
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What it does
Features of the Citation Generator
Any starting point
DOI, ORCID, author, title or a plain-language topic — detected automatically.
Real, indexed papers
Every result is a paper that exists in scholarly indexes, with a link to it.
Citation counts
See how often each result has been cited before you choose it.
How it works
From draft to result in 4 steps
- Enter what you haveA DOI, title, author, ORCID or the claim you want to support.
- Choose the styleAPA, MLA, Chicago or BibTeX.
- Pick the sourceCompare results by relevance and citation count.
- Copy the citationPaste it into your manuscript or reference manager.
Who it's for
Built for the people who write research
ResearchersFind the paper behind a claim and cite it correctly.
StudentsBuild a correctly formatted reference list for an essay.
LaTeX usersGet BibTeX entries ready for your .bib file.
LibrariansHelp patrons turn a half-remembered title into a reference.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a citation from a DOI?
Yes — paste the DOI and you get the formatted reference in your chosen style.
Does it make up references?
No. Results come from indexed scholarly literature and link to the real paper. Still, read a source before you cite it.
Which citation styles are supported?
APA, MLA, Chicago and BibTeX.
How do I find uncited claims in my paper?
Use the Citation Toolkit: it flags factual sentences that carry no reference and audits your reference list.
Can I clean up an existing .bib file?
Yes — the BibTeX Cleaner removes duplicates and flags incomplete entries.
What is the difference between APA and MLA?
APA (common in the sciences and social sciences) puts the author and year in the text, like (Smith, 2021). MLA (common in the humanities) uses the author and page, like (Smith 45). Use the style your journal or department asks for.
How do I cite a paper that has a DOI?
Most styles now include the DOI as a link at the end of the reference, for example https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx. Paste the DOI here and the finder builds the full reference for you.
Related
Tools that pair well with it
BibTeX Cleaner
Paste or upload a .bib file: duplicate entries and keys removed, empty fields stripped, and every entry missing a required field flagged. Submission-ready.
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Research Paper Summarizer
Summarize research papers into key claims, methods and takeaways. Plain-language mode, multi-paper compare and citation export to Zotero or Mendeley.
Learn more →
AI Research Assistant
Ask about methods, statistics, literature or reviewer comments and get straight answers grounded in real papers pulled live from OpenAlex.
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Try the Citation Generator now.
Open it in your browser — nothing to install.