How to Cite a Preprint

Paste the arXiv ID or link. If the paper has since been published in a journal, cite the published version instead. Examples for APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, Vancouver, AMA, ACS, Nature, ASA, APSA, OSCOLA, the Bluebook and AGLC4 are below, each produced by the generator itself.

Examples in every style

APA 7th edition

References entry

Devlin, J., Chang, M.-W., Lee, K., & Toutanova, K. (2018). BERT: Pre-training of deep bidirectional transformers for language understanding (arXiv:1810.04805). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805

In-text citation

(Devlin et al., 2018)
MLA 9th edition

Works Cited entry

Devlin, Jacob, et al. “BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding.” Preprint arXiv:1810.04805, arXiv, 11 Oct. 2018, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805.

In-text citation

(Devlin et al.)
Chicago 18th edition (notes and bibliography)

Bibliography entry

Devlin, Jacob, Ming-Wei Chang, Kenton Lee, and Kristina Toutanova. “BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding.” Preprint arXiv:1810.04805. arXiv, October 11, 2018. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805.

Footnote

Jacob Devlin et al., “BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding,” Preprint arXiv:1810.04805 (arXiv, October 11, 2018), https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805.

Later footnotes

Devlin et al., “BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding.”
Chicago 18th edition (author-date)

References entry

Devlin, Jacob, Ming-Wei Chang, Kenton Lee, and Kristina Toutanova. 2018. “BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding.” Preprint arXiv:1810.04805. arXiv, October 11. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805.

In-text citation

(Devlin et al. 2018)
Harvard (Cite Them Right)

Reference list entry

Devlin, J. et al. (2018) ‘BERT: Pre-training of deep bidirectional transformers for language understanding’. arXiv. Available at: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805.

In-text citation

(Devlin et al., 2018)
IEEE

References entry

[1] J. Devlin, M.-W. Chang, K. Lee, and K. Toutanova, “BERT: Pre-training of deep bidirectional transformers for language understanding,” Oct. 11, 2018, arXiv: arXiv:1810.04805. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805.

In-text citation

[1]
Vancouver (NLM)

References entry

1. Devlin J, Chang MW, Lee K, Toutanova K. BERT: Pre-training of deep bidirectional transformers for language understanding [Preprint]. arXiv; 2018. doi:10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805

In-text citation

(1)
AMA 11th edition

References entry

1. Devlin J, Chang MW, Lee K, Toutanova K. BERT: Pre-training of deep bidirectional transformers for language understanding. arXiv. Preprint posted online October 11, 2018:arXiv:1810.04805. doi:10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805

In-text citation

1
ACS

References entry

(1) Devlin, J.; Chang, M.-W.; Lee, K.; Toutanova, K. BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding. arXiv October 11, 2018. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805

In-text citation

1
Nature

References entry

1. Devlin, J., Chang, M.-W., Lee, K. & Toutanova, K. BERT: Pre-training of deep bidirectional transformers for language understanding. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805 (2018).

In-text citation

1
ASA 7th edition

References entry

Devlin, Jacob, Ming-Wei Chang, Kenton Lee, and Kristina Toutanova. 2018. “BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding.”

In-text citation

(Devlin et al. 2018)
APSA

Reference List entry

Devlin, Jacob, Ming-Wei Chang, Kenton Lee, and Kristina Toutanova. 2018. “BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding.” doi:10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805.

In-text citation

(Devlin et al. 2018)
OSCOLA

Bibliography entry

Devlin J and others, ‘BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding’ (arXiv, 11 October 2018) <https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805>

Footnote

Jacob Devlin and others, ‘BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding’ (arXiv, 11 October 2018) <https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805>.

Later footnotes

Devlin and others (n 1).
Bluebook

Bibliography entry

Jacob Devlin et al., BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding (Oct. 11, 2018).

Footnote

Jacob Devlin et al., BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding (Oct. 11, 2018).

Later footnotes

Devlin et al., supra note 1.
AGLC4

Bibliography entry

Devlin, Jacob et al, ‘BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding’ (Preprint No arXiv:1810.04805, arXiv, 11 October 2018)

Footnote

Jacob Devlin et al, ‘BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding’ (Preprint No arXiv:1810.04805, arXiv, 11 October 2018).

Later footnotes

Devlin et al (n 1).

Style: APA 7th edition · APA guide

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    Where to find the details

    • arXiv gives every paper a DOI of the form 10.48550/arXiv.ID.

    Required in most styles: author, date published, title, repository (arxiv, ssrn, medrxiv).

    a Preprint in a specific style

    Other sources

    Questions

    What do I need to cite a preprint?

    At minimum: author, date published, title, repository (arxiv, ssrn, medrxiv). arXiv gives every paper a DOI of the form 10.48550/arXiv.ID.

    Is this free?

    Yes. No account and no limit. Your bibliography is saved in this browser only, and you can export it to Word, BibTeX, RIS or CSL-JSON.

    Citations are formatted by citeproc-js by Frank Bennett (CPAL-1.0, or AGPL-1.0), the engine behind Zotero and Mendeley, running the official Citation Style Language styles (10,863 styles, commit 2e93558) and locales (commit a89adec), used under CC BY-SA 3.0. AGLC4 citations use the LexIntellect AGLC4 engine, checked against the Guide's worked examples. Always check a citation against the manual or your institution's guide before you submit.