Cite This Article ~ Author Box

Description

Cite This Article ~ Author Box adds a flexible WordPress author box for displaying author names, author bios, profile images, multiple authors, and a reader-facing “Cite this article” panel.

Use it as a traditional author bio box at the end of an article, display several authors together, or create an individual author card for each contributor. Multiple authors are supported natively, so the author box and article citation can use the same resolved author collection.

Each author box can include:

• Author name or multiple author names
• Author bio or description
• Author avatar or profile image
• Combined or individual multiple-author layouts
• A collapsible “Cite this article” citation panel
• One-click citation copying
• A link to reformat the article citation into additional styles with CiteKit

Cite This Article works with both the Gutenberg block editor and WordPress shortcodes and uses the same front-end renderer for both.

Documentation:

• Getting Started
• Multiple Authors
• Layout & Styling

Author Box Features

• Flexible WordPress author box and author bio display
• Native multiple-author support
• Combined author box or individual author cards
• Automatic WordPress author profiles and bios
• Individual author avatars and profile images
• Single/group image, individual images, or no-image display
• Per-author manual bio and description overrides
• Manual author entry when a post’s assigned author should not be used
• Horizontal and vertical author box layouts
• Round or square author images
• Small, medium, and large avatar sizing
• Gutenberg block and shortcode support
• One-click citation copying
• Article citation generation for all resolved authors
• Lightweight front-end output with no external framework dependency

Multiple Authors

Cite This Article supports multiple authors natively rather than requiring a particular multi-author plugin.

Multiple authors can come from:

• Manual authors entered in the Gutenberg block
• Manual authors supplied through the shortcode
• A supported author integration
• The standard WordPress post author

Authors can be displayed in two ways:

Combined — All resolved authors appear together in one author box.

Individual — Each resolved author receives a separate author card with their own avatar and author bio where available. One shared citation panel continues to represent the complete article and all of its authors.

Manual description overrides are available for individual authors, while profile biographies are used automatically when available.

See the Multiple Authors documentation for configuration details.

Author Bios and Profiles

Cite This Article can automatically use WordPress author profile information to build an author bio box.

Depending on the author source and layout, the plugin can display:

• Author display name
• Author biography or description
• Author avatar
• Manually selected author image
• Manually overridden author description

In Individual layout, each author can have their own author bio and profile image.

Visual author-box information remains separate from the author names used to generate the article citation. Changing a display name or author bio does not replace the citation author list.

Cite This Article

In addition to the author box and author bio, the plugin includes a reader-facing Cite this article panel.

The citation panel:

• Generates a citation for the current article
• Includes all resolved article authors
• Supports multiple authors natively
• Provides one-click citation copying
• Links to CiteKit for reformatting into additional citation styles
• Remains shared when authors are displayed as separate individual cards

This gives publishers a traditional WordPress author box while also giving readers a consistent way to cite the article.

Gutenberg Block

The plugin includes a dedicated Gutenberg block called Author Box with Citation.

Block controls include:

• Combined or Individual author layout
• Manual multiple-author entry
• Single, individual, or no-image display
• Media Library image overrides
• Per-author description overrides
• Horizontal or vertical layout
• Round or square avatars
• Small, medium, or large avatar sizing

Leave the manual authors field empty to let Cite This Article resolve the post author automatically.

The block can be used as a simple WordPress author bio box or as a complete multiple-author presentation component.

See Layout & Styling for display options.

Shortcode

Use the [author_box] shortcode anywhere WordPress shortcodes are supported.

Basic Author Box

[author_box]

Displays the automatically resolved post author using the default author box settings.

Horizontal Author Box

[author_box layout="horizontal"]

Vertical Author Box

[author_box layout="vertical"]

Round Author Image

[author_box avatar_shape="round"]

Square Author Image

[author_box avatar_shape="square"]

Large Author Image

[author_box avatar_size="lg"]

Small Author Image

[author_box avatar_size="sm"]

Author Box Without an Image

[author_box image_mode="none"]

Combined Multiple-Author Box

[author_box author_layout="combined"]

Displays all resolved authors together in one author box.

Individual Multiple-Author Cards

[author_box author_layout="individual" image_mode="individual"]

Displays one author card for each resolved author.

Manual Multiple Authors

[author_box authors="Jane Doe|John Smith|Alex Lee"]

Manual Multiple Authors With Individual Cards

[author_box authors="Jane Doe|John Smith|Alex Lee" author_layout="individual" image_mode="individual"]

Manual Author Name

[author_box name="Jane Doe"]

Custom Author Tagline

[author_box tagline="Science and Health Editor"]

Custom Author Bio

[author_box description="Jane writes about evidence-based health, nutrition, and medical research."]

Custom Name, Tagline and Bio

[author_box name="Jane Doe" tagline="Senior Editor" description="Jane covers research, policy, and public health."]

Custom Author Image URL

[author_box image="https://example.com/images/jane-doe.jpg"]

WordPress Media Library Image

[author_box image_id="123"]

Multiple Authors With Individual Images

[author_box authors="Jane Doe|John Smith" author_layout="individual" image_mode="individual" author_images="123|456"]

Customized Horizontal Author Box

[author_box name="Jane Doe" tagline="Senior Editor" layout="horizontal" avatar_shape="square" avatar_size="lg"]

Customized Vertical Author Box

[author_box name="Jane Doe" description="Jane covers research and public health." layout="vertical" avatar_shape="round" avatar_size="md"]

Render an Author Box for Another Post

[author_box post_id="123"]

Accepted Attributes

• name — Override the displayed author name
• authors — Supply multiple authors separated with |
• tagline — Override the author tagline
• description — Override the author bio or description
• image — Supply an author image URL
• image_id — Use an image from the WordPress Media Library
• author_images — Supply image IDs for multiple individual authors
• author_layout — combined or individual
• image_mode — single, individual, or none
• layout — horizontal or vertical
• avatar_shape — round or square
• avatar_size — sm, md, or lg
• post_id — Render the author box using another post’s author context

Author Resolution

Cite This Article resolves the article’s author collection separately from its visual author-box fields.

By default, authors are resolved in this order:

1. Manual authors entered in the block or shortcode
2. Authors supplied by a supported integration
3. The standard WordPress post author
4. The site name as a final fallback

This means multiple-author support is part of Cite This Article itself rather than being tied to one particular author plugin.

Citation generation and author-box presentation use the same resolved author collection, while visual fields such as display names, bios, and images can be customized independently.

Integrations

Cite This Article supports author integrations that can provide the author collection used by the author box, multiple-author layouts, and article citation.

Co-Authors Plus

Co-Authors Plus is currently supported automatically.

When Co-Authors Plus is active, Cite This Article can:

• Resolve all authors assigned to the post
• Support Co-Authors Plus guest authors
• Use guest-author avatars
• Use guest-author descriptions as author bios
• Display authors together or as individual author cards
• Include every resolved author in the article citation

No separate shortcode or special integration setup is required when automatic author resolution is enabled.

If Co-Authors Plus is not installed, Cite This Article continues to work with its native author handling and the standard WordPress author system.

Layout and Display

Author boxes can be displayed horizontally or vertically.

Image controls include:

• One image for a combined author group
• Individual profile images for individual author cards
• No author image
• Round or square image shapes
• Small, medium, or large image sizes

Combined layout is useful for compact multi-author articles. Individual layout is useful when each contributor needs a distinct author bio, image, or description.

See the Layout & Styling documentation for configuration details.

Upgrade to Premium

Cite This Article Premium adds publishing automation and citation portability on top of the author box and multiple-author features included in the free plugin.

These features are not included in this free plugin.

• Reference-manager exports — Add BibTeX, RIS, and CSL-JSON download links to the citation panel
• Citation-aware page metadata — Output Google and Highwire citation_* metadata so compatible reference managers can recognize your articles
• Advanced placement and targeting — Automatically insert author boxes by content position, CSS selector, or theme hook
• Display targeting — Control automatic placement by post type, author, specific post, category, or taxonomy
• Content-type profiles — Configure different author-box presentation rules for different types of published content

Learn more at CiteKit.