ERROR - Cannot find 'elsarticle-template.bcf' when compiling the Elsevier template

Question

I just downloaded the sample manuscript of elsevier on the dedicated Elsevier's Latex Instructions webpage and when I run of the following commands:

pdflatex elsarticle-template && biber elsarticle-template

or

pdflatex elsarticle-template && biber elsarticle-template && pdflatex elsarticle-template

or (three commands sequentially)

pdflatex elsarticle-template
biber elsarticle-template
pdflatex elsarticle-template

or (with .tex extension

pdflatex elsarticle-template.tex
biber elsarticle-template
pdflatex elsarticle-template.tex

I get the following error message:

ERROR MESSAGE N°1

INFO - This is Biber 2.16
INFO - Logfile is 'elsarticle-template.blg'
ERROR - Cannot find 'elsarticle-template.bcf'!
INFO - ERRORS: 1

There is no import of biblatex written in the template of elsevier. I tried to import manually by writing \usepackage[ backend=bibtex ]{biblatex} inside the preamble of the document elsarticle-template.tex but got the error message

ERROR MESSAGE N°2

! Package biblatex Error: Incompatible package 'natbib'.
See the biblatex package documentation for explanation.
Type  H <return>  for immediate help.
 ...
l.202 \blx@packageincompatibility

Elsevier seems to use the 'natbib' package.

How can I compile the document from the command line?

Answer 1

The standard citation/bibliography method of the elsarticle class is based on natbib and the classical BibTeX approach. This approach is completely incompatible with biblatex and also with the biblatex-only Biber backend.

You cannot compile the normal elsarticle template with Biber. You need to run BibTeX on your file instead.

If you want to submit your paper to Elsevier, do not load biblatex in your document. Use the standard BibTeX-based approach of selecting a style with \bibliographystyle and indicating the .bib file with \bibliography as outlined in the template file. _{(In theory it is possible to have biblatex work with the elsarticle document class as demonstrated in biblatex instead of natbib in elsarticle, how?, but this is explicitly not what Elsevier recommend for publication. They explicitly say to use BibTeX.)}

So as far as bibliography and citations are concerned, in your document you only need one of the style selections shown below, \citep and \citet as desired and \bibliography{<bib file name without extension>}

\documentclass[review]{elsarticle}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% Elsevier bibliography styles
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% To change the style, put a % in front of the second line of the current style and
%% remove the % from the second line of the style you would like to use.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% Numbered
%\bibliographystyle{model1-num-names}
%% Numbered without titles
%\bibliographystyle{model1a-num-names}
%% Harvard
%\bibliographystyle{model2-names.bst}\biboptions{authoryear}
%% Vancouver numbered
%\usepackage{numcompress}\bibliographystyle{model3-num-names}
%% Vancouver name/year
%\usepackage{numcompress}\bibliographystyle{model4-names}\biboptions{authoryear}
%% APA style
%\bibliographystyle{model5-names}\biboptions{authoryear}
%% AMA style
%\usepackage{numcompress}\bibliographystyle{model6-num-names}
%% `Elsevier LaTeX' style
\bibliographystyle{elsarticle-num}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\begin{document}
Here are two sample references: \cite{Feynman1963118,Dirac1953888}.
\bibliography{mybibfile}
\end{document}

compile this file, if called elsarticle-template.tex, with

pdflatex elsarticle-template
bibtex elsarticle-template
pdflatex elsarticle-template

---

The difference between natbib and biblatex and Biber and BibTeX is nicely explained in bibtex vs. biber and biblatex vs. natbib.