Why is newcommand not working?

Question

I am quite new to latex and try to understand the \newcommand command. Since (at least in texmaker which I am using) \autocite does not seem to feature autocompletion and automated display of my bibliography like \cite does, I tried to shorten it up by using:

\newcommand{\citea[1]}{\autocite {#1}}

However using \citea{ast_dual_2013} leads to the following error:

! Missing $ inserted.
<inserted text>
$
l.43 \citea{ast_
dual_2013}
I've inserted a begin-math/end-math symbol since I think
you left one out. Proceed, with fingers crossed.

`

This leads to a mathematical output:

What can I do to improve the new defined command?

Answer 1

The first closing curly brace is too late, fixed:

\newcommand*{\citea}[1]{\autocite{#1}}