Zotero
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Zotero | |
 Zotero detecting bibliographic information from embedded COinS on an experimental Wikipedia page |
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| Developer: | Center for History and New Media |
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| Latest release: | 1.0.0b2.r2 / October 23, 2006 |
| OS: | Cross-platform |
| Use: | Reference management software |
| License: | AFL |
| Website: | Zotero |
Zotero is a free, open source scholars' extension for the Firefox browser produced by the Center for History and New Media that is currently available in public beta. Zotero is in part a piece of reference management software, used to manage bibliographies and references when writing essays and articles. More generally it aims to be a "next-generation research tool" for students and researchers of all genres. It enables its users to collect, manage, and cite research all types of sources without leaving their browser. On many major research websites such as digital libraries, Google Scholar, or even Amazon.com, Zotero will sense when a book, article, or other resource is being viewed and with one click it will find and automatically save the full reference information to a local reference library. If the source is an online article or web page, Zotero can optionally store a local copy of the source as well. Users can then add notes, tags, and their own metadata through the in-browser interface. Selections of the local reference library data can later be exported as formatted bibliographies for research papers or other purposes.
The Zotero model is aimed at replacing the model of traditional reference management software which, because it was originally designed to meet the demands of offline research, tends to make collecting citation information from online sources (as well as locating and accessing cited sources online and sharing bibliographies electronically) a cumbersome process for scholars, libraries and research sites alike.
Because Zotero is open and extensible, it allows for others to contribute citation styles and site translators, and more generally for others who are building digital tools for researchers to expand on the platform.
