Proceedings Citation Guide

BibTeX and BibLaTeX for Proceedings: @inproceedings and @proceedings

Use @inproceedings for a paper in proceedings and @proceedings for the whole volume. This page lists the fields, shows fictional entries, and explains where BibLaTeX differs.

Last updated 6 November 2026

On this page
  1. Entry types for proceedings
  2. Fields in classic BibTeX
  3. A fictional @inproceedings entry
  4. Sharing metadata with crossref
  5. What BibLaTeX changes
  6. Series, volume and organization fields
  7. Capitals, accents and special characters
  8. Common errors and checks
  9. Frequently asked questions
  10. Sources and further reading
  11. Related topics

In brief

  • Classic BibTeX requires author, title, booktitle and year for @inproceedings; @proceedings requires title and year.
  • @conference is kept as an alias of @inproceedings.
  • BibLaTeX adds eventtitle, eventdate and venue so the event and the book title stay separate.
  • BibLaTeX uses date or year and location, and accepts address as an alias for location.
  • Protect capitals with braces around single words, not around the whole title.

Entry types for proceedings

BibTeX stores each reference as an entry with a type, a key, and fields. Three types matter for proceedings.

  • @inproceedings: one paper inside a proceedings volume.
  • @proceedings: the volume as a whole, cited for example as a collection or used as a parent record.
  • @conference: a legacy synonym for @inproceedings. The BibLaTeX manual calls it a legacy alias.

Do not use @article for a workshop paper just because a series has volume numbers. The item type decides which fields the style prints. See common citation mistakes for related errors.

Fields in classic BibTeX

The BibTeX format description on bibtex.org gives these fields.

  • @inproceedings required: author, title, booktitle, year.
  • @inproceedings optional: editor, volume or number, series, pages, address, month, organization, publisher, note.
  • @proceedings required: title, year.
  • @proceedings optional: editor, volume or number, series, address, month, organization, publisher, note.

Note that @proceedings uses title, while the papers inside it use booktitle. Mixing them up is a common reason for a missing proceedings title in the output. The DOI has no standard field in the original format, but most modern styles read a doi field.

A fictional @inproceedings entry

This entry uses the fictional example from this site.

@inproceedings{doe2023example,
  author    = {Doe, Jane and Roe, Richard},
  title     = {An example title of a fictional workshop paper},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Example Workshop on Citation Practice},
  editor    = {Editor, Alex},
  year      = {2023},
  pages     = {1--8},
  publisher = {Example Publisher},
  address   = {Example City},
  doi       = {10.0000/example.2023.1}
}

Use two hyphens in a page range so the output shows an en dash. Separate authors with and, and write each name as Last, First. The citation generator can produce an entry like this from your own data.

Sharing metadata with crossref

If you cite many papers from one volume, define the volume once as @proceedings and point each paper to it with crossref. The paper then inherits fields such as editor, publisher and year.

@proceedings{example2023proc,
  title     = {Proceedings of the Example Workshop on Citation Practice},
  editor    = {Editor, Alex},
  year      = {2023},
  publisher = {Example Publisher},
  address   = {Example City}
}

@inproceedings{sample2023second,
  author    = {Sample, Sam},
  title     = {A second sample title},
  pages     = {9--14},
  crossref  = {example2023proc}
}

In classic BibTeX, the cross-referenced entry must come after the entries that refer to it, according to bibtex.org. Some styles also print the proceedings as its own item once enough papers cross-reference it, so check the output.

What BibLaTeX changes

BibLaTeX is a LaTeX package that formats bibliographies through macros and usually runs with the Biber backend. Its manual describes the proceedings types differently.

  • @inproceedings requires author, title, booktitle and year or date.
  • @proceedings requires title and year or date.
  • New fields eventtitle, eventdate and venue hold the event name, its date and its place.
  • location holds the place of publication. The manual says the event place goes in venue, which keeps the two apart.
  • address still works as an alias for location.
  • Fields such as urldate and eprint are built in.

The manual also says eventtitle holds only the plain event name. Text such as a full volume title belongs in booktitle, not eventtitle.

Series, volume and organization fields

Many workshop volumes belong to a numbered series. Put the series name in series and the volume number in volume. Both BibTeX and BibLaTeX list these as optional fields for proceedings. Use organization only for the body that sponsors the event, not for the publisher.

Here is a fictional case:

@inproceedings{sample2024series,
  author    = {Sample, Sam and Doe, Jane},
  title     = {A sample title for a fictional series paper},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Sample Symposium on Reference Practice},
  series    = {Sample Series},
  volume    = {9999},
  year      = {2024},
  pages     = {20--27}
}

The volume number identifies the proceedings, not the paper. If the volume gives each paper a number instead of pages, BibLaTeX offers an eid field for it. Classic BibTeX has no such field, so many people use note or number there, and the result depends on the style.

Capitals, accents and special characters

Many styles convert titles to sentence case. To keep a capital, wrap the word or acronym in braces, such as {BibTeX} or {DNA}. The bibtex.org page on special symbols warns against putting braces around an entire title, since this hides it from the style completely.

In classic BibTeX files, wrap accent commands in braces, for example {\"o}. With BibLaTeX and Biber you can type UTF-8 characters directly. Escape reserved characters such as &, % and _ with a backslash in most fields. URLs in a url field are written as they are.

Choose keys that are unique, short and stable, such as first author, year and one keyword. Avoid spaces and commas in keys.

Common errors and checks

  • Missing comma after a field, which stops the entry from parsing.
  • Unbalanced braces in a value.
  • Putting the proceedings name in title for a paper, so it appears as a second title.
  • Using the event year as year when the volume appeared later.
  • Entering pages with a single hyphen.
  • Copying an entry from a search engine without checking it against the volume. See how to verify a citation.

Read the log file after each run. Both BibTeX and Biber report missing required fields as warnings.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use @conference or @inproceedings?

Use @inproceedings. The BibLaTeX manual describes @conference as a legacy alias, so it still works but adds nothing.

What is the difference between title and booktitle?

In @inproceedings, title is the paper and booktitle is the proceedings volume. In @proceedings, the volume itself is the title.

Where does the conference city go in BibLaTeX?

The event place goes in venue. The location field holds the place of publication, according to the BibLaTeX manual.

Why does my capital letter disappear?

The style converted the title to sentence case. Put braces around the single word or acronym you want to keep.

Do I need crossref?

No. It saves retyping when you cite many papers from one volume, but each paper can also carry its own complete fields.

Sources and further reading

  1. bibtex.org — BibTeX format description (2023)
  2. bibtex.org — BibTeX special symbols (2023)
  3. CTAN — The biblatex package: reference manual (2024)
  4. CTAN — biblatex package page (2024)
  5. CSL project — Citation Style Language (2024)
  6. Zotero — Zotero item types and fields (2024)