In this paper, the radial integration method is applied to transform domain integrals into boundary integrals in a boundary element formulation for anisotropic plate bending problems. The inertial term is approximated with the use of radial basis functions, as in the dual reciprocity boundary element method. The transformation of domain integrals into boundary integrals is based on pure mathematical treatments. Numerical results are presented to verify the validity of this method for static and dynamic problems and a comparison with the dual reciprocity boundary element method is carried out. Although the proposed method is more time-consuming, it presents some advantages over the dual reciprocity boundary element method as accuracy and the absence of particular solutions in the formulation. Copyright (C) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.239805818