Bibtex: multiple source files/databases

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Sometimes, you might have more than one .bib file that you want to include in a document. For example, your group might share a database, but you have your own personal one, and you want to use both without having to have multiple copies of files or change the shared file. Or you might have your bibliographies divided up by subject:

@book{huheey:keiter:1993,
  title =          {Inorganic chemistry: principles of structure and reactivity},
  publisher =      {HarperCollins College Publishers},
  year =           {1993},
  author =         {James E Huheey and Ellen A Keiter and Richard L Keiter},
  edition =        4,
  address =        {New York}
}
@book{stump:2001,
  author =       {Stump, Gregory T},
  title =        {Inflectional morphology: a theory of paradigm structure},
  publisher =    {Cambridge University Press},
  year =         {2001},
  address =      {Cambridge},
  number =       {93},
  series =       {Cambridge Studies in Linguistics},
}

To include multiple bibliography files, include them in a comma-separated list as the argument of one \bibliography command:

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{natbib}

\begin{document}

\cite{stump:2001} and \cite{huheey:keiter:1993}.

\bibliographystyle{apsr}
\bibliography{bib/linguistics,bib/chemistry}

\end{document}

The references will be listed in the correct order in the list of references or bibliography no matter what order you include the files.

Do not repeat the \bibliography command because the first bibliography file, here bib/linguistics, only will be used, and that bibliography will be displayed the number of times that you call \bibliography:

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{natbib}

\begin{document}

\cite{stump:2001} and \cite{huheey:keiter:1993}.

\bibliographystyle{apsr}
\bibliography{bib/linguistics}
\bibliography{bib/chemistry}

\end{document}

This opposes what some other sources [1,2] say, which state that the latter method will work. However, this might simply be a problem with the natbib package, which issues the following warning on compilation:

Package natbib Warning: Citation `stump:2001' multiply defined.

References

  1. Rough guide to Bibtex, http://www2.phys.canterbury.ac.nz/~jcw83/jcwdocs/latex/bibtexbasics.html
  2. Generating a bibliography, http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/latex/thesis/node13.html

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