Contents:     What is BibTeX? — Converting EndNote References into BibTex Format — Importing BibTeX Files into an EndNote Library

What is BibTeX?

BibTeX is a tool for managing references so that they can be formatted using the LaTeX document preparation system. LaTeX is widely used in the physical sciences and engineering to format documents containing formulas, equations, etc.

BibTeX references are stored in plain text files, with the file extension .bib (e.g. references.bib).

A reference for a journal article in BibTeX looks like this:

@article{00255156958,
language = {English},
title = {Properties of quadratic equations and their application to power system analysis},
journal = {International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy System},
author = {Makarov, Y.V. and Hill, D.J. and Hiskens, I.A.},
volume = {22},
number = {5},
year = {2000},
pages = {313--323},
issn = {0142-0615},
abstract = {A number of facts about quadratic algebraic problems and applied Newton-Raphson like methods are presented. The main results are about solution structure, loading trajectories, load flow feasibility boundaries and Newton-Raphson solutions. Various practically important applications of these properties are discussed. Although motivated by power flow problems, the results are valid for any problem described by an algebraic system of quadratic equations.},
URL = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0142-0615(99)00041-1},
}

Converting EndNote References into BibTex Format

It is easy to convert references from your EndNote library into BibTeX format. This technique can also be used when a database does not support download in BibTeX format. In such cases, download the references to EndNote and then convert them into BibTeX.

Select the references in your EndNote library which you want to convert to BibTeX.

Go to the EndNote Style Manager, and select the style BibTeX Export.

Click on File and select Export.

When the dialog box opens, choose a name for your file and the location where you wish to save it. The file must be a text file (*.txt). In recent versions of EndNote, you must select the output style at the bottom of the Export File Name dialog box.

Open this file in a plain text editor (e.g. Notepad) to confirm that it is in BibTeX format. Close the file and change the name to BibTeX format, e.g. myrefs.bib

There are various utilities available on the web that will convert BibTeX files into EndNote references. Search on Google for the keywords: bibtex convert endnote.

There are also a number of user-contributed BibTeX conversion tools on the EndNote website.