Paste a DOI or other ID

Paste a DOI or another paper ID into your paper on its own, and a small menu asks what to do with it. Choose Paste as citation to cite the work in one step.

IDs you can paste

The menu appears when what you paste is only one of these:

• A DOI, like 10.1038/nature14539, or a doi.org link.
• A PubMed link, or a PubMed ID written as pmid:12345678.
• A PMC ID, like PMC1234567.
• An arXiv ID, written as arxiv:2101.00001.

If the ID is part of a longer piece of text, it pastes as normal text with no menu.

Turn a pasted ID into a citation

1. Copy the DOI or ID.
2. Click in your paper where the citation should go and paste.
3. The menu shows “Looking up” and the ID, then the work’s title.
4. Choose one of the options.

Choose how it pastes

• Paste as citation adds the work to your library and your reference list, and puts a citation in your text. It only appears when the work was found.
• Paste as link pastes a clickable link to the source.
• Paste as text leaves it exactly as you pasted it.

Pressing Esc or clicking somewhere else pastes it as text.

If the menu says “Could not resolve that identifier.”, the ID wasn’t found. Check it for typos, or search for the title with @ instead. See Cite a source with @.

Looking up an ID and citing it are free on every plan, with no limit.

Tip

You can also paste a DOI, PubMed ID, arXiv ID, ISBN or link into the Citation finder. It finds that exact work, and you can cite it or save it for later.

Frequently asked questions

Why didn't the menu appear when I pasted a DOI?

The menu only appears when you paste the ID on its own. A DOI inside a longer piece of text pastes as normal text.

What if Writing Studio can't find the work?

The menu says Could not resolve that identifier, and only Paste as link and Paste as text are offered. Check the ID, or search for the title with @ instead.

Can I paste an ISBN this way?

No. Pasting works for DOIs, PubMed, PMC and arXiv IDs. To cite a book by ISBN, type @ and paste the ISBN into the Citation finder.

Where to go next

Cite a source with @Type @ in your paper, find the work and choose Cite. The citation, your library and your reference list all update in one step.Search for papers with the Citation finderSearch about 250 million scholarly works by title, keywords, DOI or question, filter the results, and save what you find to your library.Your reference listWriting Studio builds your reference list from your citations, formats it in your style and checks each entry against its published record.

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