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Citations Managing Citations

Managing Citations

Alfred Scholar’s citation manager helps you build, organize, and format your academic references. Citations are automatically extracted when you upload documents, and you can also add them manually or import them from BibTeX and RIS files.

Citations in Alfred Scholar: the reference list with authors, formatted references, DOIs, and import and export controls

Your citation library

Navigate to Citations in the sidebar to see your full citation library. Each citation shows:

  • Title - The title of the referenced work, linking to the paper if a DOI or URL is available.
  • Authors - The list of authors.
  • APA preview - A formatted preview of the citation in APA style.
  • Year - Publication year.
  • Journal - The journal name, volume, and issue.
  • Type - Journal article, book, conference paper, thesis, etc.
  • DOI - A clickable link to the paper.

How citations are added

Automatic extraction

When you upload a research paper, Alfred Scholar automatically extracts citations from its references section. These appear in your citation library linked to the source document. No manual work required.

Manual entry

To add a citation by hand:

  1. Go to Citations in the sidebar.
  2. Click Add Citation.
  3. Fill in the fields: title, authors, DOI, type, journal, publisher, volume, issue, pages, publication date, URL, and abstract.
  4. Click Add Citation.

DOI lookup

If you have a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), Alfred Scholar can fetch all the metadata automatically:

  1. Click Add Citation.
  2. Enter the DOI in the DOI field.
  3. Click the Lookup button. Alfred Scholar fetches the citation details for you.
  4. Review the auto-filled fields and click Add Citation.

Citation fields

Each citation stores the following bibliographic information:

FieldDescription
TitleThe title of the work.
AuthorsList of authors (semicolon-separated, e.g. “Smith, John; Doe, Jane”).
DOIDigital Object Identifier. Use the Lookup button to auto-fill other fields from a DOI.
TypeJournal article, book, book chapter, conference paper, thesis, website, preprint, etc.
JournalThe journal, book, or conference name.
PublisherThe publishing organization.
VolumeJournal volume number.
IssueJournal issue number.
PagesPage range.
Publication dateWhen the work was published.
URLLink to the online version.
AbstractA summary of the work.

Editing a citation

  1. Find the citation in your library.
  2. Click the … menu on the citation row.
  3. Select Edit.
  4. Update any fields in the dialog.
  5. Click Save Changes.

Deleting citations

To delete a citation:

  1. Find the citation in your library.
  2. Click the … menu on the citation row.
  3. Select Delete and confirm.

Deleted citations are moved to the Trash and can be recovered.

Bulk delete

Select multiple citations using the checkboxes, then click Delete in the action bar that appears at the bottom of the screen.

Searching and filtering

Use the search bar at the top of the citations page to find references by title, DOI, journal, or BibTeX key. You can also filter by citation type using the filter pills below the search bar.

Copying a citation

To quickly copy a formatted citation:

  1. Click the copy button on any citation row.
  2. Choose a format from the menu: APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, Harvard, or Vancouver.
  3. The formatted citation is copied to your clipboard.

Importing and exporting

Import

Import citations in bulk from bibliography files:

  1. Click the Import button.
  2. Select your file (BibTeX or RIS format).
  3. Alfred Scholar parses the file and adds all citations to your library.

Export

Export your citation library:

  1. Click the Export button.
  2. Choose the output format (BibTeX or RIS).
  3. The file downloads automatically.

Next steps