How to Add a BibTeX Entry Without Citing It

Sometimes you need a reference in your bibliography even though you never \\cite it in the text — for example, background reading lists, a CV publication list, or a "Further Reading" section.

Include specific uncited entries

% Add specific entries without citing them in text
\\nocite{smith2024}
\\nocite{jones2023, wang2022}

Include ALL entries from your .bib file

\\nocite{*}
% This includes every entry in your .bib file

Works with both systems

\\nocite works identically in BibTeX/natbib and biblatex:

% BibTeX
\\nocite{*}
\\bibliographystyle{plain}
\\bibliography{references}

% biblatex
\\nocite{*}
\\printbibliography

Where to place it

Put \\nocite anywhere before \\bibliography or \\printbibliography. Convention is to place it just before the bibliography command.

Partial inclusion with biblatex

biblatex offers per-type filtering:

% Print only books, even uncited ones
\\nocite{*}
\\printbibliography[type=book, title={Books}]

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