Auto Clean and Standardize Your BibTeX Files with AI – Bibfixer

Bibfixer is a free Python tool that automatically cleans, completes, and standardizes BibTeX entries using OpenAI’s language models and web search capabilities.

This tool works by taking your messy .bib files (Google Scholar, arXiv, or cobbled together from various sources) and transforming them into clean, standardized references.

It doesn’t just reformat surface-level issues. Bibfixer actually fills in missing metadata, finds the proper conference information for papers originally listed as preprints, and enforces consistent styling across all entries according to your preferences.

Features

Automatic metadata completion via LLM and web search

Bibfixer uses OpenAI’s language models combined with web search to fill in missing author names, publication dates, page numbers, and other critical metadata that often gets lost when copying from preprints.

Venue standardization

Papers published on arXiv often get cited in their preprint form even though they were eventually published in conferences or journals. Bibfixer automatically detects these cases and updates entries with the official conference information (venue name, volume, page numbers).

Title case correction

Handles automatic capitalization of titles and acronyms, ensuring that “ai” becomes “AI” and titles follow consistent formatting rules specific to your field.

Author format consistency

Standardizes author names across all entries, handling everything from full names versus abbreviations to consistent ordering and formatting.

Page range standardization

Normalizes page notation (e.g., “pp. 123-456” to “123–456”) according to your preferred format.

Customizable style preferences

Define how you want specific venues named (e.g., “Use NeurIPS instead of NIPS”) through command-line preferences or custom prompt files, and the tool applies these rules uniformly across your entire bibliography.

Multiple output formats

Process single files or configure the tool to apply changes directly to your main bibliography or save to a new output file.

Streamlit interface

Beyond the command-line tool, a web-based Streamlit app provides a graphical interface for users who prefer not working with terminal commands.

Use Cases

• Automatic metadata completion via LLM and web search: Bibfixer uses OpenAI’s language models combined with web search to fill in missing author names, publication dates, page numbers, and other critical metadata that often gets lost when copying from preprints.
• Venue standardization: Papers published on arXiv often get cited in their preprint form even though they were eventually published in conferences or journals. Bibfixer automatically detects these cases and updates entries with the official conference information (venue name, volume, page numbers).
• Title case correction: Handles automatic capitalization of titles and acronyms, ensuring that “ai” becomes “AI” and titles follow consistent formatting rules specific to your field.
• Author format consistency: Standardizes author names across all entries, handling everything from full names versus abbreviations to consistent ordering and formatting.
• Page range standardization: Normalizes page notation (e.g., “pp. 123-456” to “123–456”) according to your preferred format.
• Customizable style preferences: Define how you want specific venues named (e.g., “Use NeurIPS instead of NIPS”) through command-line preferences or custom prompt files, and the tool applies these rules uniformly across your entire bibliography.
• Multiple output formats: Process single files or configure the tool to apply changes directly to your main bibliography or save to a new output file.
• Streamlit interface: Beyond the command-line tool, a web-based Streamlit app provides a graphical interface for users who prefer not working with terminal commands.

How to Use It

1. Install the tool from PyPI using pip:

pip install bibfixer

2. You’ll need an OpenAI API key. Set it up as an environment variable:

export OPENAI_API_KEY='your-api-key-here'

3. To run the tool, you need to provide an input file. The following command will process sample_input.bib and print the corrected entries to the console:

bibfixer -i sample_input.bib

4. To save the corrected entries to a new file, use the -o or --output flag:

bibfixer -i sample_input.bib -o corrected.bib

5. You can also specify additional formatting preferences with the -p flag. For example, to use “NeurIPS” instead of “NIPS,” you would run:

bibfixer -i sample_input.bib -p "Use NeurIPS instead of NIPS"

Pros

• Time-Saving: Automates the tedious process of cleaning and standardizing BibTeX files.
• Improved Accuracy: Uses AI and web search to find and add missing metadata, improving the accuracy of your bibliography.
• Customizable: Allows you to define your own formatting rules through a custom prompt file.

Cons

• API Key Required: Requires an OpenAI API key.
• Potential for Errors: Since it uses an LLM, there’s a small chance of incomplete or inaccurate metadata. Always review the final output.

Related Resources

• OpenAI API Documentation: Learn how to set up your API key and understand pricing for OpenAI’s models that power Bibfixer’s intelligence.
• BibTeX Format Guide: Comprehensive reference for BibTeX syntax and standards, helpful for understanding what makes valid entries and how Bibfixer standardizes them.
• Streamlit Documentation: If you prefer the graphical interface, Streamlit’s documentation explains how to use and customize the web interface.
• Python Virtual Environments Guide: Best practices for setting up isolated Python environments before installing Bibfixer, preventing conflicts with other tools.

FAQs

Q: How much does it cost to use Bibfixer?
A: Bibfixer itself is free, but it relies on OpenAI’s API for the actual processing. You pay for API usage based on the number of tokens processed.

Q: What happens if Bibfixer finds conflicting information about a paper?
A: The tool uses the LLM to make reasonable judgments when it encounters conflicting metadata, generally prioritizing the most authoritative source (official conference information over preprints, for example). However, these decisions aren’t perfect. This is why reviewing the output before finalizing it is important—you can catch and manually correct any questionable choices.

Q: Will Bibfixer work with BibTeX files from reference management tools like Zotero or Mendeley?
A: Yes, Bibfixer works with any standard BibTeX file format. If you export from Zotero, Mendeley, or similar tools as .bib files, Bibfixer will process them fine. The resulting cleaned file can be imported back into your reference manager or used directly in LaTeX.