How to Cite Multiple Sources at Once in LaTeX

Citing multiple papers at once — like [1, 3, 5] or (Smith 2020; Jones 2021) — is straightforward once you know the syntax for your citation system.

Basic BibTeX / natbib

% Multiple keys separated by commas
\\cite{smith2020, jones2021, wang2022}
% Output: [1, 5, 12]

% With natbib:
\\citep{smith2020, jones2021, wang2022}
% Output: (Smith, 2020; Jones, 2021; Wang, 2022)

Sorting and compressing

Want [1-3, 7] instead of [1, 2, 3, 7]? Use the sort&compress option:

\\usepackage[sort&compress, numbers]{natbib}
\\cite{ref1, ref2, ref3, ref7}
% Output: [1-3, 7]

With biblatex

\\usepackage[style=numeric, sorting=none]{biblatex}

\\cite{smith2020, jones2021}        % [1, 2]
\\parencite{smith2020, jones2021}   % (Smith 2020; Jones 2021)
\\textcite{smith2020, jones2021}    % Smith (2020) and Jones (2021)

Adding page numbers

% natbib
\\citep[p.~42]{smith2020}           % (Smith, 2020, p. 42)

% biblatex
\\parencite[42]{smith2020}          % (Smith 2020, p. 42)
\\parencites[42]{smith2020}[10]{jones2021}  % per-source pages

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