About PaperFormat

Features

• Eight styles — APA 7th, MLA 9th, Chicago 18th (author-date and notes-bibliography), IEEE, Vancouver (NLM/ICMJE), and two common Korean journal conventions.
• Eight source types — Journal articles, books, book chapters, theses, web pages, reports, news articles, and conference papers or presentations, each with the right fields.
• DOI autofill — Pulls authors, title, journal, volume, issue and pages from the public Crossref API, and falls back to DataCite. If both fail, just type the details in.
• Korean and Western names — Korean names stay whole and uninverted; Western names are inverted or reduced to initials as each style requires, with each style's et al. rules.
• Copy with formatting — Copies to the clipboard with italics intact, ready to paste into Word, Google Docs or Hangul (HWP).
• List and export — Save references to a list that re-sorts and reformats when you switch styles. Export as BibTeX or RIS for Zotero, EndNote or Mendeley.
• In-text citation builder — Parenthetical, narrative and footnote forms, citations of several sources at once, and numeric ranges.
• Extra tools — A title case converter and an interactive thesis formatting checklist.

How to use it

1. Choose the source type from the tabs at the top of the form.
2. Paste a DOI and press Look up, or type the author, title, year and other details yourself.
3. Pick a citation style on the right. The reference and the in-text citation update as you type; add a page number to include it in the citation.
4. Press Add to list to keep it. The list below re-sorts for the chosen style and can be copied in one go.
5. Before submitting, compare the result with your journal's or university's instructions, since many adapt the standard styles.

Editions followed

• APA: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (2020)
• MLA: MLA Handbook, 9th ed. (2021)
• Chicago: The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed. (2024)
• IEEE: IEEE Reference Guide (IEEE Author Center)
• Vancouver: NLM Citing Medicine, 2nd ed., and ICMJE Sample References
• Korean journals: there is no single national standard, so two widely used forms from Korean society guidelines are implemented (see the Korean conventions guide).

Limitations

• Journal titles are not abbreviated automatically (IEEE or NLM abbreviations). Type the abbreviation into the journal field if needed.
• Automatic title capitalization is word-list based and cannot recognize proper nouns. Review the result.
• DOI metadata is whatever the publisher registered with Crossref, so capitalization and name spelling may differ from the printed article.
• Journals and universities often adapt styles. Their instructions always take precedence.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free? Do I need an account?

It is free and needs no account. Ads at the bottom of pages cover running costs.

Is the information I enter stored on a server?

No. Formatting runs entirely in your browser, and your list is saved only in this browser's localStorage. Only when you press Look up is the DOI itself sent to the public Crossref API (and DataCite if Crossref has no record).

How do I move my list to another device?

Export it as BibTeX and import it on the other device with the BibTeX converter. Browser storage is separate for each browser and device, so it does not sync by itself.

How are Korean and English sources sorted together?

With the Korean journal styles, Korean-language sources come first in Korean alphabetical order, followed by other sources A–Z. Untick 'Korean sources first' to sort everything together. Numbered styles (IEEE, Vancouver) follow citation order.

When does et al. start?

It depends on the style. APA 7 uses et al. in citations from three authors and lists up to 20 authors in the reference list. Chicago 18 lists up to six authors in the bibliography and, for seven or more, the first three followed by et al. See the author-number guide for the full comparison.

Italics disappear when I paste.

Use Copy with formatting, which puts HTML on the clipboard so Word, Google Docs and Hangul keep the italics. Plain-text editors will paste plain text.

The DOI lookup fails.

Either the DOI is not registered with Crossref or DataCite, or your network (for example a campus firewall) blocks the public API. Fill in the fields manually; the DOI stays in the DOI field.

Can I move references into Zotero or EndNote?

Yes. Use Export BibTeX or Export RIS in the list. Zotero, EndNote and Mendeley all import both formats.