Citation system

What this accomplishes

Import references, pick a style, insert footnotes or endnotes, and keep the bibliography in sync.

Store references in a project-local database, cite them inline, and export with bibliography intact.

Export details are in export to PDF and DOCX.

Current availability

This page documents behaviour verified in Miton development builds. Miton is still pre-release and is not publicly downloadable; invited beta users will receive a signed desktop build with automatic updates.

Before you start

• A Miton development build, an active project and Writer open.
• A connected model; keep the source material or existing document in the same project.

The citation database

The citation database is a SQLite database in the user’s project directory. The database location is .miton/citations.db. The database stores:

• References — the citation objects.
• Cite keys — the unique key per reference.
• Styles — the user’s chosen style per document.
• Cited counts — the number of times each reference is cited in the document.

The database is per project. The user can have multiple citation databases across multiple projects; the user can also have a single citation database that is shared across projects (the shared database is in the user’s application data directory; the shared database is opt-in).

The database is observable. The user can open the database in the citation picker; the user can see every reference, every cite key, every style. The user can edit a reference; the user can delete a reference; the user can export the database as BibTeX, RIS, or CSV.

The BibTeX, RIS, and CSV import

The user can import references from a BibTeX file, a RIS file, or a CSV file. The import is from the citation picker’s “Import” menu. The import supports the standard BibTeX, RIS, and CSV formats.

• BibTeX — the standard BibTeX format. The import parses the BibTeX file; the import creates a reference for each entry; the import uses the entry’s key field as the cite key.
• RIS — the standard RIS format (used by EndNote, RefMan, and other reference managers). The import parses the RIS file; the import creates a reference for each record; the import uses the record’s AU and PY fields to generate a default cite key.
• CSV — the standard CSV format. The import parses the CSV file; the import requires the CSV to have a header row with the column names key, type, author, title, year, journal, volume, issue, page, doi. The import creates a reference for each row.

The import is incremental. The user can import the same file twice; the import skips the references that are already in the database. The user can also import a file that has new references and updates to existing references; the import updates the existing references.

The four built-in styles

Miton ships with four built-in citation styles:

• APA 7 — the American Psychological Association style, 7th edition. The bibliography is sorted alphabetically by the first author’s last name.
• MLA 9 — the Modern Language Association style, 9th edition. The bibliography is sorted alphabetically by the first author’s last name.
• Chicago 17 — the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition. The bibliography is sorted chronologically by publication year.
• Harvard — the Harvard style. The bibliography is sorted alphabetically by the first author’s last name.

The user picks the style at the project level, not the document level. The user can override the style at the document level for a one-off document. The style is applied at export time, not at edit time; the editor shows the citation as a numbered marker; the bibliography shows the reference in the chosen style.

The custom style template

The user can define a custom style. The custom style is a template the user configures; the template has slots for author, title, year, journal, volume, issue, page, and DOI. The user can rearrange the slots and add prefix / suffix text.

The custom style template is in citation settings. The user clicks “Add custom style”; the user configures the slots; the user saves the style. The custom style appears in the style picker alongside the four built-in styles.

The custom style is project-local. The user can export the custom style to a JSON file; the user can import the custom style from a JSON file. The export and import are useful for sharing a custom style across projects.

The inline insert

The user highlights a claim in the document. The user presses the cite key (Cmd+Shift+C). The citation picker opens. The user types to search the database. The user selects a reference. The citation is inserted at the cursor as a numbered marker; the bibliography is updated.

The citation is inserted as a footnote or an endnote, depending on the user’s choice. The footnote is a numbered marker in the body text. The endnote is a numbered marker that appears at the end of the document. The user can configure the default in citation settings.

The citation is reversible. The user can click the marker to see the citation; the user can click the citation’s remove button to remove the citation. The user can also edit the citation (change the page number, add a prefix or suffix, change the style for that one citation).

The citation picker

The citation picker is a CoW panel that shows the database’s references, a search input, and a “Recent” section. The user can search by author, title, year, or cite key. The user can filter by type (article, book, chapter, conference, thesis, website). The user can also search the web for a reference; the web search returns BibTeX entries from the open-access citation graph.

The citation picker is opened with Cmd+Shift+C or from the slash menu’s “Citation” item. The citation picker is per-session; the recent searches are preserved per session.

The bibliography

The bibliography appears at the end of the document, formatted in the chosen style. The bibliography is auto-generated from the cited references; the user does not have to type the bibliography by hand.

The bibliography is updated as the user inserts or removes citations. The user can also click a reference in the bibliography to navigate to the citation in the body; the user can click a citation in the body to navigate to the reference in the bibliography.

The bibliography is preserved across sessions. The user can export the bibliography as BibTeX, RIS, or CSV; the user can import a bibliography from BibTeX, RIS, or CSV.

What the citation system does not cover

The citation system does not cover:

• Citation styles beyond APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard — the user can define a custom style, but the system does not ship a complete library of citation styles. A user who needs a less common style (Vancouver, IEEE, Nature, etc.) can define a custom style.
• Real-time collaboration on the citation database — the database is per project; the user can configure a shared database across machines, but the database is not real-time collaborative.
• Automatic DOI lookup — the user can search the web for a reference, but the system does not automatically look up the DOI for a citation. The user can use a third-party tool for DOI lookup.

The citation system focuses on the common cases (APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard) plus a flexible custom style. The less common cases are covered by the custom style; the system does not need a complete library.

What success looks like

The citation system is a structured object, not a string. The user imports the references once; the user picks a style once; the user inserts the citations inline; the bibliography updates automatically.

The four built-in styles are APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 17, and Harvard. The user can define a custom style for journals that require a specific format.

The export to PDF, DOCX, Markdown, and HTML preserves the citations. The bibliography is formatted in the chosen style; the inline citations are formatted in the chosen style.

The citation picker is the entry point. The user presses Cmd+Shift+C; the user types to search; the user picks a reference; the citation is inserted.

Common failures and recovery

• Confirm the intended document and project are active.
• Keep the original text when reviewing a model-proposed change.
• Check the model connection and retry only the failed action, not the complete document.

Related next action

Return to the Writer overview to choose the next document task.