citep vs citet in LaTeX: What Is the Difference?
In LaTeX (with natbib or biblatex), \citet produces a textual citation like "Smith (2020)" to use as part of a sentence, while \citep produces a parenthetical citation like "(Smith, 2020)" for the end of a sentence. Load \usepackage{natbib}, or biblatex with the natbib option, to enable both.
Example
\usepackage{natbib}
% ...
\citet{smith2020} showed that ... % -> Smith (2020) showed
... as reported \citep{smith2020}. % -> ... (Smith, 2020).Frequently asked questions
When should I use citet vs citep?
Use \citet when the author name is part of your sentence ("Smith (2020) argues..."); use \citep when the whole citation sits in parentheses at the end ("...as shown (Smith, 2020).").
Do citep and citet work without natbib?
No — they are natbib commands. Load \usepackage{natbib}, or use biblatex with \usepackage[natbib=true]{biblatex}. Plain BibTeX provides only \cite.
How do I add a page number to citep?
Pass it as the optional argument: \citep[p.~5]{smith2020} prints "(Smith, 2020, p. 5)". A second optional argument adds a prefix: \citep[see][]{smith2020}.
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