Comparison of reference management software
The following tables compare reference management software. Researchers using the tables below for comparison in order to evaluate and choose reference management software should note the product's "latest stable release date." An older release date suggests the product is not currently being supported and users may encounter technical issues and little to no technical support.
General
In the "notes" section, there is a difference between:
- web-based, referring to applications that may be installed on a web server (usually requiring MySQL or another database and PHP, Perl, Python, or some other language for web applications)
- a centrally-hosted website
Software | Developer | First public release | Latest stable release date | Latest stable version | Cost (USD) | Free software | License | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aigaion | Aigaion developers | 2005-01 | 2013-05-08 | 2.2 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | web-based (Apache, PHP, MySQL) |
Bebop | ALaRI Institute | 2007-11-08 | 2009-11-10 | 1.1 | Free | Yes | BSD | web-based BibTeX front-end (Apache, PHP, MySQL) |
BibBase | Christian Fritz | 2005 | 2013-07 | v3 | Free | No | Proprietary | centrally hosted website, intended for publication pages |
BibDesk | BibDesk developers | 2002-04 | 2017-02-14 | 1.6.9 | Free | Yes | BSD | BibTeX front-end + repository; Cocoa-based; integration with Spotlight |
Biblioscape | CG Information | 1997 | 2015-06-22 | 10.0.3.6 | US$79-299[1] | No | Proprietary | ODBC; web access in Pro ed; optional client/server |
BibSonomy | University of Kassel | 2006-01 | 2016-12-02 | 3.7.0 | Free | Yes | AGPL, GPL, LGPL[2] | centrally hosted website |
Bibus | Bibus developers | 2004-06-03 | 2009–12-01 | 1.5.1 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | |
Bookends | Sonny Software | 1988 (Mac) / 1983 (Apple II+) | 2017-06-24 | 12.8.2 [3] | US$60[1] | No | Proprietary | integrated web search, pdf download, auto-completion |
Citavi | Swiss Academic Software | 2006-02-13 | 2017-07-18 | 5.6 | US$70-949 / Free for projects up to 100 references[4] | No | Proprietary | data can be saved locally, or, for team access, in an intranet Microsoft SQL Server, or on Windows Azure;[5] search databases from interface[6] |
CiteULike | Oversity Limited | 2004-11 | ? | Free | No | proprietary[7] | centrally hosted website | |
colwiz | colwiz Ltd | 2011 | 2016-05-09 | Free / Online storage free up to 3 GB / Additional storage space available | No | Proprietary | Desktop (Win, Mac, Linux) & Web components, iOS and Android | |
EndNote | Clarivate Analytics | 1988 | 2017-07-19 | X8.0.2 | US$299.95[1] | No | Proprietary | The web version EndNote basic (formerly, EndNote Web) is free of charge |
F1000Workspace | F1000/Science Navigation Group | 2015-05 | Continually updated online | Institutional access – varies with size of institute / Personal subscription $9.99/month / Free Trial Version | No | Proprietary | Web-based, Microsoft Word plug-in (Win, Mac), Google Docs add-on, browser extension(s) Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 11, mobile app available | |
JabRef | JabRef developers | 2003-11-29 | 2017-01-29 | 3.8.2 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | Java BibTeX and BibLaTeX manager |
KBibTeX | KBibTeX developers | 2005-08 | 2015-08-09 | 0.6 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | BibTeX front-end, using the KDE Software Compilation |
Mendeley | Elsevier | 2008-08 | 2016 | 1.16.1 | Free / Online storage free up to 2 GB / Additional storage space available | No | proprietary (OS API clients exist) | Account required, Desktop & Web components, Windows, Linux, OS X, iPhone & iPad, Android |
Paperpile | Stefan Washietl, Gregorgy Jordan, Andreas Gruber | 2013 | Continually updated online | US$2.99/month for academics, 9.99/month otherwise | No | Proprietary | web-application, integrates with Google Docs, collaboration & sharing features, currently only on Google Chrome | |
Papers | Labtiva | 2007 | 2016-05-11 | 3.4.5 | US$79[1] | No | Proprietary | search repositories from interface; supports plug-ins, Universal iOS app |
Pybliographer | pybliographer developers | 1998-10-30 (0.2) | 2014-11-30 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | Python/GTK2 | |
Qiqqa | Qiqqa | 2010-04 | 2016-09 | v79 | Free, Freemium and Premium versions | No | Proprietary | Desktop; Tablet; Web; Intranet |
ReadCube | Labtiva | 2011-10 | 2016-09-20 | v2.22.13732 | Free desktop & mobile app / Cloud Storage $5/month, $55/year | No | Proprietary | Desktop (Mac/PC) & Web components, personalized recommendations, private group sharing, integrated web search, enhanced PDF reader, iOS App, Android |
refbase | refbase developers | 2003-06-03 | 2014-02-28 | 0.9.6 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | web-based for institutional repositories/self-archiving[8] |
RefDB | refdb developers | 2001-04-25 | 2007-11-05 | 0.9.9 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | network-transparent; XML/SGML bibliographies |
Reference Manager | Thomson Reuters | 1984 | 2010 | 12.0.3 | Not for sale anymore, sales ceased December 31, 2015 | No | Proprietary | network version; built-in web publishing tool; discontinued |
Referencer | Referencer developers | 2008-03-15 | 2014-02-27 | 1.2.2 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | BibTeX front-end |
RefWorks | RefWorks / ProQuest | 2001 | 2013 | US$100 per year | No | Proprietary | web-based, browser-accessed, centrally hosted program | |
RefME | RefME | 2014 | Shut down on March 7, 2017 | Free | No | Proprietary | Web, iOS and Android; Chrome and Safari Extensions available; discontinued | |
SciRef | Scientific Programs | 2012 | 2012-11-20 | 1.0 | US$38.90 / Free trial version | No | Proprietary | |
Sente | Third Street Software, Inc. | 2004 | 2015 | 6.7.9 | US$60–80[1] / Free for libraries up to 100 refs | No | Proprietary | Desktop and iPad, centralized backup/synching |
Wikindx | Mark Grimshaw | 2004-02 | 2014-08 | 4.2.2 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | web-based |
WizFolio | WizPatent | 2008-06 | 2011-01 | Avatara | US$25 / Free Basic version | No | Proprietary | centrally hosted website; discontinued, service ends December 2017 |
Zotero | Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at GMU | 2006 | 2017-07 | 5.0.4 [9] | Free / Online storage free up to 300 MB / Additional storage space available | Yes | AGPL | Multi-platform desktop version with connectors for Firefox, Chrome and Safari. Web-based access to reference library also available. |
Operating system support
In the case of web applications, this describes the server OS. For centrally hosted websites that are proprietary, this is not applicable. Any client OS can connect to a web service unless stated otherwise in a footnote.
Software | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | ChromeOS | BSD | Unix | iOS App | Android App | Windows App |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aigaion | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Bebop | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
BibBase | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | ? | ? | ? |
BibDesk | No | Yes | No | ? | No | No | Third-party - PocketBib | ? | ? |
BibSonomy | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | ? | ? | ? |
Bibus | Yes | Experimental | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Bookends | No | Yes | No | ? | No | No | Yes | ? | ? |
Citavi | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
CiteULike | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | ? | ? | ? |
colwiz | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
EndNote | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
F1000Workspace | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
JabRef | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
KBibTeX | Experimental | Experimental | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Mendeley | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Paperpile | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (requires Chrome) |
No (requires Chrome) |
No | No | No |
Papers | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | third party - EZPaperz[10] or Aziz, Lite! [11] | No |
Pybliographer | Partial[12] | Partial[12] | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Qiqqa | Yes | No | No | ? | No | No | No | Yes | No |
ReadCube | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
refbase | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
RefDB | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Reference Manager | Yes[13] | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No |
Referencer | No | No | Yes | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks[14] | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
SciRef | Yes | No | No | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Sente | No | Yes | No | ? | No | No | Yes[15] | ? | ? |
Wikindx | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
WizFolio | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Zotero | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | third party | third party - Aziz, Lite![11] | No |
Export file formats
This table lists the machine-readable file formats that can be exported from reference managers. These are typically used to share data with other reference managers or with other people who use a reference manager. To exchange data from one program to another, the first program must be able to export to a format that the second program may import. Import file formats are in a table below this one.
Software | BibTeX | Endnote/Refer/BibIX | Medline | MODS XML | RIS | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aigaion | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | none |
Bebop | Yes | No | No | No | No | unAPI |
BibBase | Yes | No | No | No | No | none |
BibDesk | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Endnote XML, user customizable |
BibSonomy | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | various |
Bibus | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | SQLite |
Bookends | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | various user-customizable |
Citavi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various |
CiteULike | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | COinS, Delicious |
colwiz | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | EndNote XML, CSL formatted HTML |
EndNote | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | various[16] |
F1000Workspace | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | CSV |
JabRef | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | BibTeXML, DocBook, HTML, OpenDocument for OO.o, RTF, SQL database, user-customizable |
KBibTeX | Yes | Yes | No | Depends[17] | Yes | PDF, PostScript, HTML, XML, RTF |
Mendeley | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Endnote XML |
Paperpile | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | none |
Papers | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Bookends, CSV, Endnote XML, PDF |
Pybliographer | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Ovid |
ReadCube | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | none |
Qiqqa | Yes | No | No | No | No | none |
refbase | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | COinS, OpenDocument for OO.o, SRW XML via SRU, unAPI, Word XML |
RefDB | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | SRW XML via SRU web service, DocBook, TEI |
Reference Manager | No | No | No | No | Yes | MEDLARS, TSV, CSV, Reference Manager XML, user-customizable |
Referencer | Yes | No | No | No | No | none |
RefWorks | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | various[18] |
SciRef | No | No | No | No | Yes | Plain text, RTF |
Sente | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | user-customizable |
Wikindx | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | COinS, RTF, HTML, ADS, Word BIB |
WizFolio | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Zotero | Yes | Yes | as of version 4.0[19] | Yes | Yes | COinS, CSV, Several RDF format standards, TEI, Wikipedia citation templates, Endnote XML, CSL JSON, Refer/BiblX, RefWorks tagged |
Import file formats
This table lists the file formats which may be manually imported into the reference managers without needing to connect to one particular database. Many of these database companies use the same name for their file format as they do for their database (including Copac, CSA, ISI, Medline, Ovid, PubMed, and SciFinder). For the ability to retrieve citations from the particular databases (rather than the file format), please refer to the database connectivity table that is below this table.
Software | BibTeX | Copac | CSA | Endnote/Refer/BibIX | ISI | Medline | MODS XML | Ovid | PubMed | RIS | SciFinder | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aigaion | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | none |
Bebop | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | none |
BibBase | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | none |
BibDesk | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | MARC, JSTOR, Reference Miner |
Biblioscape | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
BibSonomy | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Firefox bookmarks |
Bibus | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | none |
Bookends | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various ; user-customizable |
Citavi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various |
CiteULike | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | none |
colwiz | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | with built-in browser, bookmarklet |
EndNote | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various[20] |
F1000Workspace | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | EndNote XML, NBIB from PubMed, Medline, PDF |
JabRef | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | BibTexML, Biblioscape, Biomail, Inspec, JSTOR, MSBib, PDF widh XMP annotations, REPEC (NEP), SilverPlatter, SixPack |
KBibTeX | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Depends[17] | No | Yes | Yes | No | none |
Mendeley | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Browser bookmarks |
Paperpile | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
Papers | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Endnote ENW, Endnote XML, CHM eBook, PDF |
Pybliographer | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | none |
Qiqqa | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | none |
ReadCube | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | none |
refbase | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | RefWorks |
RefDB | Yes | Yes[17] | No | Yes[17] | Yes[17] | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes[17] | MARC, risx |
Reference Manager | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various;[21] user-customizable |
Referencer | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | none |
RefWorks | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various[22] |
SciRef | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | ? |
Sente | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Dublin Core, Marc21 SUTRS, JSTOR, SilverPlatter |
Wikindx | Yes | Depends[17] | No | Yes | Depends[17] | No | Depends[17] | No | Yes | Yes | No | ISI, BibReX LaTeX |
WizFolio | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Internet Browser bookmarks[23] |
Zotero[24] | Yes | No[25] | No[25] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | COinS, MARC, RDF, unAPI, Browser bookmarks, Endnote XML |
Citation styles
Software | APA | Chicago/Turabian | Harvard | MLA | Other | Extension method |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aigaion | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | BMJ, IEEE | OSBIB |
Bebop | No | No | No | No | none | none |
BibBase | Yes | No | No | No | none | none |
BibDesk | Yes | yes | No | No | various | BibDesk export templates |
Biblioscape | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2000+ styles | Biblioscape format (through GUI) |
BibSonomy | Yes | No | Yes | No | none | none |
Bibus | Yes | No | No | No | 56 styles, user-contributed | bibus format (through GUI) |
Bookends | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various | ? |
Citavi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 8400+ styles. Styles for journals are created upon request and centrally corrected. Any BibTeX style when used with LaTeX. | Citavi format (through GUI), includes conditions and programmable components; BibTeX |
CiteULike | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various | none |
colwiz | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6750+ styles | CSL |
EndNote | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6506 styles | EndNote format (through GUI) |
F1000Workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7,500+ styles | CSL |
JabRef | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | any BibTeX style | BibTeX |
KBibTeX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | any BibTeX style | BibTeX |
Mendeley | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6979 styles | CSL |
Paperpile | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6837+ styles | CSL |
Papers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6390+ styles | CSL |
Pybliographer | Yes | No | No | No | none | Pybliographer XML |
Qiqqa | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6390+ styles | BibTeX and CSL |
ReadCube | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6390+ styles | BibTeX and CSL |
refbase | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various polar & marine journals | PHP |
RefDB | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Various biomedical & law journals | XML (citestylex.dtd), interactive script |
Reference Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various | Reference Manager format (through GUI) |
Referencer | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4193 styles | RefWorks format (through GUI) |
SciRef | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various | SciRef format (through GUI) |
Sente | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various | Sente format (through GUI) |
Wikindx | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | BMJ, IEEE, Built-in style editor to create your own | OSBIB |
WizFolio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1000+ styles | WizFolio format (through GUI) |
Zotero | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7800+ styles | CSL |
Reference list file formats
Software | HTML | LaTeX[26] | RTF | Plain text | RSS | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aigaion | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No |
Bebop | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | unAPI |
BibBase | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No |
BibDesk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Atom, DOC, PDF, XML, |
Biblioscape | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
BibSonomy | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | OpenOffice-CSV |
Bibus | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Bookends | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | clipboard |
Citavi | Yes | Yes[27] | Yes | Yes | No | clipboard, DOC, ODT, PDF, HTML |
CiteULike | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
colwiz | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
EndNote | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | clipboard, XML |
F1000Workspace | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | |
JabRef | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | clipboard |
KBibTeX | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | PDF, PS |
Mendeley | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | clipboard, embeddable HTML widget, RSS |
Paperpile | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Papers | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | |
Pybliographer | Yes | ? | No | Yes | No | No |
ReadCube | Yes | No | No | No | No | |
refbase | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Markdown, PDF, unAPI |
RefDB | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | DocBook, TEI |
Reference Manager | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | clipboard |
Referencer | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks | Partial[28] | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | DOC, ODT |
SciRef | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Doc, others |
Sente | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | clipboard |
Wikindx | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Multiple via BibUtils plug-in |
WizFolio | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | clipboard, DOC |
Zotero | Yes | Possible via plugins[29] | Yes | Possible via plugins[29] | Yes | clipboard |
Word processor integration
Some reference management software include support for automatic embedding and (re)formatting of references in word processing programs. This table lists this type of support for Microsoft Word, Pages, Apache OpenOffice / LibreOffice Writer, the LaTeX editors Kile and LyX, and Google Docs. Other programs are able to scan RTF or other textual formats for inserted placeholders which are subsequently formatted. Most reference management programs support copy/paste or drag-and-drop of references into any editor, but this is not meant here.
Software | Word for Windows | Word for Mac | Pages | Apache OpenOffice / LibreOffice | Kile/LyX | Google Docs | RTF scan[30] | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aigaion | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | none |
Bebop | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | none |
BibBase | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | none |
BibDesk | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Biblioscape | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? | WordPerfect |
BibSonomy | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | none |
Bibus | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | ? | none |
Bookends | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Mellel, Nisus |
Citavi | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes[31] | No | Yes | OpenDocument Text scan, LEd, Texmaker, TeXnicCenter, TeXstudio, TeXworks, WinEdt, WinShell |
CiteULike | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | none |
colwiz | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | ? | NeoOffice , Star Office |
EndNote | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
F1000Workspace | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Manuscripts App |
JabRef | Yes[32] | ? | ? | Yes[33] | Yes | No | ? | Emacs, LEd, Texmaker, TeXstudio, Vim, WinEdt |
KBibTeX | No | ? | ? | No | Yes | No | ? | none |
Mendeley | Yes | Yes[34] | No | Yes | No | No | ? | NeoOffice |
Paperpile | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Papers | Yes | Yes | Only versions prior to 5.0 | Yes | ? | No | ? | Mellel, TextEdit; HTML |
Pybliographer | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | ? | none |
Qiqqa | Yes | ? | ? | No | Yes | No | No | none |
ReadCube | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | none |
refbase | No | ? | ? | Yes[35] | No | No | Yes | PIRA, MediaWiki, SPIP |
RefDB | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | none |
Reference Manager | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | none |
Referencer | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | Yes | none |
SciRef | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | none |
Sente | Yes | ? | Only versions prior to 5.0 | No | No | No | Yes | Mellel, Nisus, TextEdit; HTML and plain text scan |
Wikindx | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | Yes | Integrated WYSIWYG word processor (RTF output for Word/OpenOffice) |
WizFolio | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Zoho Writer |
Zotero | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | (with LyZ)[36] | No | Yes | NeoOffice |
Database connectivity
This table lists the academic databases and search engines which reference managers can import from. In some cases, a search and retrieval can be conducted directly in the reference manager. In others, a bookmarklet or Firefox extension will allow a site to be scraped.
Software | ArXiv | CiteSeer | IEEE Xplore | PubMed | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aigaion | No | No | No | No | none |
Bebop | No | No | No | No | No |
BibBase | No | No | No | No | DBLP, Zotero, BibSonomy, Mendeley |
BibDesk | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ACM portal, Jstor, DBLP, Google Scholar, Web of Science, any Z39.50 or Entrez, and others |
Biblioscape | No | No | No | Yes | Import from integrated web browser |
BibSonomy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various[37] |
Bibus | No | No | No | Yes | none |
Bookends | Yes | No | No | Yes | Web of Science, Amazon, Google Scholar, Z39.50 |
Citavi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | WorldCat/OCLC, Ovid, EBSCO, ProQuest, Web of Science, Z39.50 (4500+ online resources), SRU, DOI lookup, ISBN lookup, PubmedID lookup. Further catalogs are added upon request. |
CiteULike | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various |
colwiz | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Over 30 repositories, Import from integrated web browser |
EndNote | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | various[38] any Z39.50 |
F1000Workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Google scholar, Google Books, Amazon, Web of Science/Web of Knowledge, WorldCat/OCLC, Science Direct, JSTOR, Highwire, PMC Europe, ACMDigitalLibrary, Scopus, Wiley, NIHLibrary, voyager, PrimoLibweb, PubMedID/DOI/ISBN lookup and the majority of journal websites. |
JabRef | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ACM portal, DBLP, DOAJ, DOI, DiVA,[39] GVK,[40] Google Scholar, INSPIRE-HEP, Medline, Springer |
KBibTeX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | BibSonomy, CiteBase, CSB, DBLP, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, INSPIRE-HEP, Z MATH, Z39.50 |
Mendeley | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various |
Paperpile | Yes | No | No | Yes | Google Scholar |
Papers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ACM, ADS, Google Books, Google Scholar, JSTOR, MathSciNet, Project Muse, Scopus, Web of Science |
Pybliographer | No | No | No | Yes | none |
Qiqqa | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | GoogleScholar, JSTOR |
ReadCube | No | No | No | Yes | Microsoft Academic, Google Scholar |
refbase | Yes | No | No | Yes | DOI lookup |
RefDB | Yes | No | No | Yes | any Z39.50 |
Reference Manager | No | No | No | Yes | various[41] |
Referencer | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks | No | No | No | Yes | various |
SciRef | No | No | No | No | No |
Sente | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Z39.50, SRU, Web of Knowledge |
Wikindx | No | No | No | Yes | via plug-ins |
WizFolio | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | various[42] |
Zotero | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various[43] |
Password "protection" and network versions
Some reference managers provide network functionality. (N/A means the product has no networking, while "no" indicates it does (but lacks an implemented feature).)
Software | Passworded | Networking | |
---|---|---|---|
User-specific permissions[44] | Simultaneous write access | ||
Aigaion | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Bebop | No | N/A | N/A |
BibBase | N/A | N/A | N/A |
BibDesk | Yes | No | No |
Biblioscape | Yes | Yes | Yes |
BibSonomy | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Bibus | ? | ? | ? |
Bookends | ? | ? | ? |
Citavi | Yes[45] | Yes | Yes |
CiteULike | Yes | No | Yes |
colwiz | Yes | Yes | Yes |
EndNote | Yes | No[46] | No[46] |
F1000Workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
JabRef | No | No | Partial |
KBibTeX | No | N/A | N/A |
Mendeley | Yes[47] | Yes | Yes |
Paperpile | Yes[48] | Yes | Yes |
Papers | ? | ? | ? |
Pybliographer | ? | ? | ? |
Qiqqa | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ReadCube | Yes | Yes | No |
refbase | Yes | Yes | Yes |
RefDB | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Reference Manager | Yes | No | Yes |
Referencer | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks | Yes | ? | Yes |
Sente | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Wikindx | Yes | Yes | Yes |
WizFolio | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Zotero | Yes[49] | Yes | Yes |
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 MSRP for full version, usually with physical media. Discounted downloads and academic discounts might be available. More expensive workgroup/server/librarian versions may be available.
- ↑ "dev.bibsonomy". BibSonomy.org. 2016-02-15. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
- ↑ "Sonny Software – Bookends update history". Sonny Software. 2016-01-30. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
- ↑ Price depends on affiliation (discounted price for students and members of academic, governmental, and nonprofit organizations), edition (Citavi for Windows for single users and small teams, Citavi for DBServer for larger and large teams), and, in the case of DBServer, on the license type (per seat license vs. concurrent license), http://www.citavi.com/en/products.html
- ↑ "Collaborating in a Team with Citavi for DBServer". Swiss Academic Softwre. 2015-10-27. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
- ↑ "Citavi – Organize your knowledge". Swiss Academic Software. 2015-04-21. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
- ↑ A developer kit is available. The community is invited to create plugins to access data off databases
- ↑ A centrally-hosted website is available at refbase.net.
- ↑ "Zotero Changelog". Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
- ↑ EZPaperz by EZBio.net (Yohan Farouz)
- 1 2 http://azizlite.ezbio.net
- 1 2 The GUI requires gnome-python, which isn't available for Windows or Mac OS X.
- ↑ Reference Manager is not compatible with word 2010
- ↑ The Write-N-Cite citation tool requires download & installation
- ↑ Support iOS versions
- ↑ "Output Styles". EndNote. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Supported through the bibutils plugin
- ↑ "Products". RefWorks. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- ↑ "Journal Abbreviations". Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
- ↑ "Import Filters". EndNote. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- ↑ "Thomson ResearchSoft Reference Manager Filters: Terms of Use". Refman.com. Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- ↑ "Products". RefWorks. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- ↑ "WizAdd". Archived from the original on December 25, 2009. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
- ↑ "Zotero supported data formats". Zotero.org. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
- 1 2 Zotero can import references directly from the database after which this format is named, although it cannot read the format itself.
- ↑ This refers to the direct output of raw LaTeX (often in a format similar to the BibTeX-generated .bbl files). Many programs can export BibTeX (see above table), which can then be processed into LaTeX."Creating a Publication with TeX". Swiss Academic Software. 2015-10-27. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
- ↑ Database can be exported as a whole in BibTeX format. Text (ie. thoughts, comments, and quotations) can be fed into a number of TeX editors in LaTeX code or UTF-8,
- ↑ URLs aren't active links
- 1 2 "Plugins for Zotero". Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ↑ Can reformat references in a properly saved RTF document, allowing limited use in OpenOffice.org Writer, StarOffice, FrameMaker, Microsoft Works, WordPad, WordPerfect, Google Docs and others.
- ↑ Detailed setup guide "Citavi + LyX". Citavi. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
- ↑ See JabRef FAQ: Field Mapping between MS-Office and JabRef.
- ↑ See JabRef FAQ: OpenOffice/LibreOffice integration.
- ↑ Will transfer you to the Desktop App to choose a reference.
- ↑ Refbase can create a spreadsheet for import into an OO.o database to use the native OO.o bibliography tool. Refbase's MySQL database can additionally be used directly by OO.o .
- ↑ The LyZ extension integrates Zotero with Lyx/Kile
- ↑ "scraper info". BibSonomy. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- ↑ "Connection Files". EndNote. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- ↑ Digitala Vetenskapliga Arkivet http://www.diva-portal.org>
- ↑ Gemeinsamer Verbundkatalog <http://gso.gbv.de>
- ↑ "Reference Manager Z39.50 Hosts". Refman.com. 2003-03-11. Archived from the original on 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- ↑ "WizAdd (Web Importer) - WizFolio". Help.wizfolio.com. 2012-06-22. Archived from the original on 2012-07-23. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- ↑ "translators [Zotero Documentation]". Zotero.org. 2012-03-15. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- ↑ Most databases allow one to create different user accounts to store records. Some further allow you to specify permissions (granting and denying some users the rights to edit or read some or all of your records. This column describes the latter.
- ↑ Database file can be saved on shared network drive for small teams. Storage of data in Microsoft SQL Server in intranet or in private cloud on Windows Azure for large teams.
- 1 2 via EndNote basic (cloud based)
- ↑ via Mendeley Web
- ↑ uses Google Account
- ↑ via zotero.org
Bibliography
- Gilmour, Ron; Cobus-Kuo, Laura (2011). "Reference Management Software: a Comparative Analysis of Four Products". Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship. Summer 2011. doi:10.5062/F4Z60KZF. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
- Perkel, Jeffrey M. (2015-11-02). "Eight ways to clean a digital library". Nature. 527 (7576): 123–124. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 26536960. doi:10.1038/527123a. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
- Technische Universität München Library (2016-08-04). "Reference Management Software Comparison — 6th Update" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-09.
- Tramullas, Jesús; Sánchez-Casabón, Ana I.; Garrido-Picazo, Piedad (2015). "Studies and analysis of reference management software: a literature review". El Profesional de la Información. 25 (4): 680–688. ISSN 1699-2407. doi:10.3145/epi.2015.sep.17. Retrieved 2016-02-02.