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Supported inputs and formats

Paste a reference list or upload a file, in the citation style you already use.

Paste directly

Copy your reference list from Word, a reference manager, or a web page and paste it in all at once. PerfectRefs splits it into separate references and reads the fields of each one.

Numbered lists

A list can start with numbers such as "[1]", "(1)", "1.", or "1、", in full-width or half-width characters. You don't need to clean up the numbers. They are removed when the list is split, and the rest of the text is left exactly as you wrote it.

Example:
[1] LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y., & Hinton, G. (2015). Deep learning. Nature, 521(7553), 436-444. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539
[2] Watts, D. J., & Strogatz, S. H. (1998). Collective dynamics of small-world networks. Nature, 393(6684), 440-442. https://doi.org/10.1038/30819
[3] Hartley, M., & Okafor, D. (2019). Attention routing in sparse transformer networks. Journal of Machine Intelligence, 12(3), 45-58.

Bulleted lists

Lists that start with a bullet marker (•, -, *, and so on) are recognized automatically when the list is split.

Example:
- LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y., & Hinton, G. (2015). Deep learning. Nature, 521(7553), 436-444. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539
- Watts, D. J., & Strogatz, S. H. (1998). Collective dynamics of small-world networks. Nature, 393(6684), 440-442. https://doi.org/10.1038/30819
- Hartley, M., & Okafor, D. (2019). Attention routing in sparse transformer networks. Journal of Machine Intelligence, 12(3), 45-58.

Plain text

Use no prefix. Separate references with a blank line, and each paragraph counts as one reference.

Example:
LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y., & Hinton, G. (2015). Deep learning. Nature, 521(7553), 436-444. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539

Watts, D. J., & Strogatz, S. H. (1998). Collective dynamics of small-world networks. Nature, 393(6684), 440-442. https://doi.org/10.1038/30819

Hartley, M., & Okafor, D. (2019). Attention routing in sparse transformer networks. Journal of Machine Intelligence, 12(3), 45-58.

Upload a file

Word (.docx)

Upload the whole Word document, either a paper or a reference list. The references are read in one by one.

BibTeX (.bib)

Entry types commonly used with LaTeX, such as @article, @book, and @inproceedings, are supported.

Example:
@article{lecun2015,
  author  = {LeCun, Yann and Bengio, Yoshua and Hinton, Geoffrey},
  title   = {Deep learning},
  journal = {Nature},
  year    = {2015},
  volume  = {521},
  number  = {7553},
  pages   = {436--444},
  doi     = {10.1038/nature14539}
}

RIS (.ris)

A common export format for reference managers such as EndNote and Zotero.

Example:
TY  - JOUR
AU  - Watts, D. J.
AU  - Strogatz, S. H.
TI  - Collective dynamics of small-world networks
JO  - Nature
PY  - 1998
VL  - 393
IS  - 6684
SP  - 440
EP  - 442
DO  - 10.1038/30819
ER  -

EndNote (.enw)

EndNote's .enw export files. You can import this format, but PerfectRefs can't export it.

Plain text (.txt)

Works the same as pasting. Either a numbered list or blank-line-separated references will do.

Supported citation styles

GB/T 77142015 · 2025APA 7MLA 9Chicago 18IEEEVancouver

APA, IEEE, and MLA are detected automatically. Chicago and Vancouver must be selected manually. If the style can't be recognized, the reference is treated as Other and only an Existence check is run. For the details of each style, see the Style reference.

Export

Reference list: .docx, .txt, .pdf, .bib, or .ris. Check report: .pdf, .docx, or .md.

Tips

  • The more complete a reference is (authors, title, source, year, DOI), the more accurately it can be matched.
  • References exported directly from a reference manager have the most complete fields.
  • Spelling errors are a common reason for a Not found result, most often in author names and titles.

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