Researchers switching reference managers or moving a manuscript to LaTeX need their citations in a different format. The Reference Converter handles BibTeX, RIS, and EndNote in any direction, with nothing uploaded to a server.
Steps
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Export your references from your current tool. In Zotero: select the items, then File > Export Library, and choose RIS format. In Endnote: File > Export, then select RIS or the EndNote Tagged format. From a database (Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus): use the export or save option and pick RIS or BibTeX where available.
[SCREENSHOT: Zotero export dialog with RIS format selected]
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Go to purplelink.llc/tools/reference-converter/ and paste the exported text into the input area. Open the .ris or .bib file in any text editor, select all, and paste.
[SCREENSHOT: Input textarea with pasted RIS records]
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Select the target format. Click the format picker and choose BibTeX, RIS, or EndNote. The tool detects the input format automatically.
[SCREENSHOT: Format picker showing BibTeX selected]
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Click Convert. The output appears in the right panel.
[SCREENSHOT: Converted BibTeX output]
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Copy or download the output. Click Copy to paste into your .bib file directly, or download as a text file. To import RIS into Zotero, use File > Import and select the downloaded file.
[SCREENSHOT: Copy button and download link in the output panel]
What's happening under the hood
The converter parses each input record into its internal fields (title, authors, year, journal, DOI, and so on), then re-serializes each field into the target format's syntax. BibTeX stores authors as "Last, First and Last, First"; RIS stores each author on a separate AU line; EndNote uses separate %A tags. The tool maps these patterns directly. Common entry types including journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, and books convert cleanly. Unusual entry types or fields with non-standard values may come through with slight alterations; a quick scan before importing is worth it.
Q&A
I pasted 40 references at once. Will all of them convert?
Yes. Paste an entire library export. The tool processes the whole block at once.
Some fields are missing in the output.
Fields with no equivalent in the target format are dropped. Missing DOIs or truncated abstracts reflect the source data, not the conversion.
My BibTeX contains accented characters like ü or é. Will they come through correctly?
BibTeX expects accented characters in its own markup notation. The converter wraps them automatically for BibTeX output. RIS and EndNote output preserves them as Unicode.
Convert references at purplelink.llc/tools/reference-converter/.