So sortierst du dein LaTeX-Literaturverzeichnis alphabetisch (BibTeX & BibLaTeX)

Whether you’re working on a paper, thesis, or collaborative research project, getting your bibliography right is essential. One common requirement—especially for academic journals—is to sort references alphabetically by author. In LaTeX, this can be handled easily with the right tools and packages.

In this post, we’ll show you how to sort your bibliography in alphabetical order using both BibTeX and BibLaTeX, and how CiteDrive simplifies the entire process for Overleaf users.

Why Bibliography Order Matters

Alphabetical ordering isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s often required by academic style guides like APA, MLA, and Chicago. Proper citation formatting helps reviewers, collaborators, and readers quickly locate sources and improves the overall clarity of your work.

Alphabetical Order with BibTeX

If you’re using traditional BibTeX, your .bib file stores references, and LaTeX uses a .bst (BibTeX style file) to format them. For alphabetical sorting, you’ll want a style that handles this automatically.

✅ Recommended BibTeX Styles for Alphabetical Sorting:

• plain.bst: Alphabetical by author (default)
• apalike.bst: APA-style, author-year citations, sorted alphabetically
• alpha.bst: Uses an abbreviation of author names + year

How to Use:

\bibliographystyle{plain}
\bibliography{yourbibfile}

This will produce an alphabetically ordered bibliography based on author names.

Alphabetical Order with BibLaTeX

BibLaTeX offers more flexibility and is the modern choice for new LaTeX projects.

Set up BibLaTeX with Alphabetical Sorting:

\usepackage[backend=biber,sorting=nyt]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{yourbibfile.bib}

The sorting=nyt option sorts entries by name, year, and title — perfect for most academic uses.

Other useful sorting options:

• sorting=none: No sorting, in citation order
• sorting=ynt: Year, name, title
• sorting=debug: Helps you understand how BibLaTeX is sorting

Then render your bibliography like this:

\printbibliography

How CiteDrive Makes This Even Easier

Sorting your LaTeX bibliography is one thing—managing your references is another. That’s where CiteDrive comes in.

CiteDrive is a collaborative reference manager built specifically for LaTeX and Overleaf users. Whether you’re working alone or with a research group, you can:

• Collect and organize references from websites, journals, or DOI links
• Automatically generate properly formatted BibTeX and BibLaTeX entries
• Sync directly with Overleaf—no more copy-pasting .bib files
• Always stay sorted: we keep your entries clean, complete, and consistent

🧠 Bonus: CiteDrive lets you preview how your bibliography will look before exporting it. No more surprises!

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

• Manually reordering entries: Let LaTeX or BibLaTeX do the work. Sorting by hand introduces errors.
• Mixing BibTeX and BibLaTeX: Choose one system per project.
• Missing author fields: Sorting depends on author data—ensure all entries are complete.
• Wrong sorting option in BibLaTeX: If you’re not seeing the order you expect, double-check your \usepackage options.

Final Thoughts

Getting your LaTeX bibliography in alphabetical order doesn’t have to be a hassle. Whether you’re using BibTeX or BibLaTeX, LaTeX gives you the control—you just need to choose the right style or sorting option.

With CiteDrive, you take that one step further: organized references, automatic formatting, and seamless integration with Overleaf and LaTeX.

📚 Ready to streamline your citations?
👉 Try CiteDrive for free and never stress about your bibliography again.