WordPress · Citation and reference management
Academic References takes an identifier and gives you a finished reference. Paste a DOI, a PubMed ID, an ISBN, an arXiv ID or a plain URL and the plugin works out which it is, fetches the metadata, and renders it through citeproc-php in the CSL style your journal asks for. The citation goes into the post as a block, and the bibliography builds itself from what you cited.
11 metadata sources · 10,738 CSL styles · WordPress 6.0+ · PHP 8.0+
How it works
There is no import step and no source picker. You paste what you have, and the plugin decides where to look.
You do not pick the source from a dropdown. The plugin reads the string and decides: a 10.1101 prefix is a bioRxiv or medRxiv preprint, an eight-digit run is a PubMed ID, a 13-digit run is an ISBN, and anything left that looks like a link is treated as a URL.
The matching fetcher calls that database and brings back authors, title, journal, volume, issue, pages, year and DOI as structured data, not as text you have to correct afterwards.
The reference is stored as CSL-JSON, then rendered through the style you chose. Change the style later and every citation and bibliography on the site re-renders from the same stored data.
Insert it from the block editor sidebar, a citation block, or a shortcode. The bibliography block collects whatever the post actually cited, so the reference list stays in step with the writing.
Editor and front end
References are a post type of their own, with categories, tags and an archive at /references/. What changes per site is how you reach them.
Four blocks ship with the plugin: citation, bibliography, footnote, and a static bibliography for a list you want to fix in place. A sidebar panel sits alongside the post so you can search the library and cite without leaving the draft.
A citations meta box appears on posts and pages, and a filter decides which post types get it, so a custom type can carry citations too.
Eleven shortcodes cover the surfaces a theme or a page builder needs, including the member-facing library, dashboard and submission screens.
Open front-end submission and contributors can add references for review. A Pending References item appears in the admin menu only while something is waiting, and role maps decide who publishes directly, who submits for review, and who moderates.
Shortcodes
[abt_bibliography] The reference list for the current post [abt_citation] A single in-text citation [abt_footnote] A numbered footnote [abt_reference_library] The browsable library [abt_single_reference] One reference on its own [abt_my_references] A member list with favourites and reading status [abt_dashboard] The member dashboard [abt_submit_reference] Front-end submission form [abt_edit_reference] Front-end editing [abt_import_references] Front-end import [abt_export_references] Front-end export Styles and workspace
Twelve of the common styles ship inside the plugin. The rest are pulled from the public CSL repository the first time you pick one and cached on your server after that. Search by name, then narrow by citation format or subject field.
Around the styles
Pricing
Both carry the same plugin. There is no feature held back for the larger licence, because nothing in Academic References checks which licence you hold. Personal is a one-time payment for a single site, Agency is a yearly licence for as many sites as you run, so on one site the one-time option is the cheaper of the two. Read the refund policy.
One site
$199once
One-time payment, not a subscription
Unlimited sites
$499/year
Billed once a year
Runs on WordPress 6.0 or later with PHP 8.0 or later. Updates are delivered through your licence key.
Before you buy
You give it an identifier, it fetches the bibliographic metadata from the matching database, and it renders a formatted citation and bibliography in the CSL style you picked. The reference is stored as structured data, so changing the style later re-renders everything you have already cited.
A DOI, a PubMed ID or PMCID, an ISBN, an arXiv ID, a bioRxiv or medRxiv DOI or link, an ORCID, or a plain URL. Crossref, OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar and Google Scholar are also searchable by title or author. You do not choose the source: the plugin reads the string and picks the right one.
The style index holds 10,738 CSL styles, including APA, MLA, Chicago in both forms, Harvard, IEEE, Vancouver, Nature and AMA. Twelve of the most common ship inside the plugin. Any other style is downloaded from the public CSL repository the first time you select it and cached on your server, and if that fetch ever fails the plugin falls back to APA rather than breaking the page.
Yes, as a file. Import and export both handle BibTeX, RIS and CSL-JSON, from the admin screen or over the REST API, and the importer skips duplicates. Zotero and Mendeley can export all three formats, so a library moves across as a file. There is no screen for connecting a Zotero or Mendeley account directly.
Yes. A citations meta box appears on posts and pages, and a filter lets you add it to custom post types. In the block editor you get four blocks plus a sidebar panel for searching the library while you write, and eleven shortcodes work in either editor.
Only if you switch it on. Front-end submission ships disabled, and login is required by default. Once enabled, role maps decide who publishes directly, who submits for review and who moderates, and a Pending References item appears in the admin menu while anything is waiting.
There is a REST API under the abt/v1 namespace across thirteen controllers, covering references, collections, auto-cite, citations, styles, import and export, revisions, webhooks and analytics. Templates can be overridden from a child theme, there is a custom-fields API, and action hooks fire on every reference and collection event. Reference analytics and revision history are reachable through that API rather than through an admin screen.
WordPress 6.0 or later and PHP 8.0 or later. The plugin will not activate below either version and tells you why.
The Personal licence is a one-time payment of $199 for a single site. The Agency licence is $499 a year for unlimited sites. Those are the only two options, and the same plugin is in both.
Academic References · v1.1.0
Install it, pick the style your journal wants, and the next citation takes a paste instead of an evening.
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