Comparison of reference management software
The following tables compare notable reference management software. The comparison includes older applications that may no longer be supported, as well as actively-maintained software.
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | 2020-08-17 | 1.7.8 | 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; discontinued? |
BibSonomy | University of Kassel | 2006-01 | 2018-07-30 | 3.8.13 | Free | Yes | AGPL, GPL, LGPL[2] | centrally hosted website |
Bibus | Bibus developers | 2004-06-03 | 2013-05-23 | 1.5.1 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | discontinued? |
Bookends | Sonny Software | 1988 (Mac) / 1983 (Apple II+) | 2020-11-08 | 13.4.8 [3] | US$59.99[1] | No | Proprietary | Desktop & iOS synced via iCloud, integrated web search, PDF download, auto-completion, Word plugin, BibTex support, PDF annotations stored as notes |
Citavi | Swiss Academic Software | 2006-02-13 | 2021-01-14 | 6.8.0.0 | US$70-949 / Free for projects up to 100 references[4] | No | Proprietary | data can be saved locally on the computer, or, for team access, in the Citavi Cloud or an intranet Microsoft SQL Server;[5] search databases from interface[6] |
CiteULike | Oversity Limited | 2004-11 | Shut down in 2019-03-30[7] | Free | No | proprietary[8] | 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 | 2019-06-11 | X9.2 | US$299.95[1] | No | Proprietary | The web version EndNote basic (formerly, EndNote Web) is free of charge |
JabRef | JabRef developers | 2003-11-29 | 2020-03-10 | 5.0 | Free | Yes | MIT license | Java BibTeX and BibLaTeX manager |
KBibTeX | KBibTeX developers | 2005-08 | 2018-06-21 | 0.8.1 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | BibTeX front-end, using the KDE Software Compilation |
Mendeley | Elsevier | 2008-08 | 2020 | 1.19.8 | 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, macOS, iPhone & iPad, Android |
Paperpile | Stefan Washietl, Gregorgy Jordan, Andreas Gruber | 2013 | Continually updated online | US$2.99/month for academics, 9.99/month otherwise | No | Proprietary | web-application, integrates with Google Docs, collaboration & sharing features, currently only on Google Chrome | |
Pybliographer | pybliographer developers | 1998-10-30 (0.2) | 2018-04-03 | 1.4.0 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | Python/GTK2 |
Qiqqa | Qiqqa | 2010-04 | 2016-09 | v79 | Free, Freemium and Premium versions | No | Proprietary | Desktop; Tablet; Web; Intranet |
ReadCube Papers (now Papers) | ReadCube | 2011-10 | 2020-07-14 | v.4.4.2 | US$ 3/month for students, 5/month academics | No | Proprietary | Web-based, MacOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps. Microsoft Word and Google Docs add-in. Browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) |
refbase | refbase developers | 2003-06-03 | 2014-02-28 | 0.9.6 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | web-based for institutional repositories/self-archiving[9] |
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 |
RefME | RefME | 2014 | Shut down in 2017 | Free | No | Proprietary | Web, iOS and Android; Chrome and Safari Extensions available; discontinued | |
RefWorks | Ex Libris / ProQuest | 2001 | 2018 | 3 | Institutional subscription | No | Proprietary | web-based, browser-accessed, Word & Google Docs |
SciRef | Scientific Programs | 2012 | 2020-07-30 | 1.6.2 | US$38.90 / Free trial version | No | Proprietary | |
Sente | Third Street Software, Inc. | 2004 | Shut down in 2017 | 6.7.9 | US$60–80[1] / Free for libraries up to 100 refs | No | Proprietary | Desktop and iPad, centralized backup/synching; discontinued |
Wikindx | Mark Grimshaw | 2004-02 | 2020-07-21 | 6.3.7 | Free | Yes | CC-BY-NC-SA | web-based |
WizFolio | WizPatent | 2008-06 | Shut down in 2017 | Avatara | US$25 / Free Basic version | No | Proprietary | centrally hosted website; discontinued |
Zotero | Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at GMU | 2006 | 2021-01-11 | 5.0.95 [10] | 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 through Zotero.org or through a personal cloud-based database folder on a user's computer (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.). |
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 | macOS | Linux | ChromeOS | BSD | Unix | iOS App | Android App | Windows App |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | ? | ? |
Biblioscape | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
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 |
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 Chromium) |
No (requires Chromium) |
in beta | in beta | No |
Pybliographer | Partial[11] | Partial[11] | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Qiqqa | Yes | No | No | ? | No | No | No | Yes | No |
ReadCube (now Papers) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
refbase | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
RefDB | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Reference Manager | Yes[12] | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No |
Referencer | No | No | Yes | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
RefME | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks[13] | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No - but is responsive | ? | No |
SciRef | Yes | No | No | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Sente | No | Yes | No | ? | No | No | Yes[14] | ? | ? |
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![15] | 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bebop | Yes | No | No | No | No | unAPI |
BibBase | Yes | No | No | No | No | none |
BibDesk | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Endnote XML, user customizable |
Biblioscape | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
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] |
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 |
Pybliographer | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Ovid |
Qiqqa | Yes | No | No | No | No | none |
ReadCube (now Papers) | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | 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 |
RefME | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | RIS, BibTeX, Tab delimited or XML metadata |
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[18] | 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.
As of January 2021, CSL YAML is not supported by any reference management system.[19]
Software | BibTeX | Copac | CSA | Endnote/Refer/BibIX | ISI | Medline | MODS XML | Ovid | PubMed | RIS | SciFinder | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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] |
JabRef | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 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 | |
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 (now Papers) | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | |
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 |
RefME | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | 10600+ styles. Styles can be requested and are 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 | 9464 styles | CSL |
EndNote | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6926 styles | EndNote format (through GUI) |
JabRef | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | any BibTeX style | BibTeX |
KBibTeX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | any BibTeX style | BibTeX |
Mendeley | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9464 styles | CSL |
Paperpile | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9464 styles | CSL |
Pybliographer | Yes | No | No | No | none | Pybliographer XML |
Qiqqa | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9464 styles | BibTeX and CSL |
ReadCube (now Papers) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9464 styles | BibTeX and CSL |
refbase | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various polar & marine journals | PHP |
RefDB | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 21 biomedical & law journals | XML (citestylex.dtd), interactive script |
Reference Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | various | Reference Manager format (through GUI) |
Referencer | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefME | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4256, plus CSL styles | RefWorks format (through GUI); CSL |
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 | ABNT, APA, BMJ, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, MLA, Turabian | Wikindx format (through GUI) |
WizFolio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1000+ styles | WizFolio format (through GUI) |
Zotero | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9464 styles. Styles can be edited and requested. | CSL |
Reference list file formats
Zotero and Endnote are incompatible with LaTeX. Among other things, both programs do not provide for robust citation keys. Zotero also does not offer automatic generation and updating of bibliography files in select directories.
Software | HTML | LaTeX[26] | RTF | Plain text | RSS | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |
JabRef | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | clipboard |
KBibTeX | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | PDF, PS |
Mendeley | Yes | Yes[28] | Yes | Yes | Yes | clipboard, embeddable HTML widget, RSS |
Paperpile | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Pybliographer | Yes | ? | No | Yes | No | No |
Qiqqa | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
ReadCube (now Papers) | 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 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefME | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | DOC, ODT |
SciRef | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Doc, others |
Sente | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | clipboard |
Wikindx | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Multiple via BibUtils plug-in |
WizFolio | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | clipboard, DOC |
Zotero | Yes | Possible via plugin[29] | Yes | Possible via plugins[30] | 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 | Word Online | Pages | Apache OpenOffice / LibreOffice | Kile/LyX | Google Docs | RTF scan[31] | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bebop | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | none |
BibBase | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | none |
BibDesk | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Biblioscape | Yes | No | ? | No | No | No | No | ? | WordPerfect |
BibSonomy | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | none |
Bibus | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | ? | none |
Bookends | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Mellel, Nisus |
Citavi | Yes | No | No | No | Only versions prior to 6.0 | Yes[32] | No | Only versions prior to 6.0 | LaTeX editors LEd, Texmaker, TeXnicCenter, TeXstudio, TeXworks, WinEdt, WinShell |
CiteULike | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | none |
colwiz | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | ? | NeoOffice, Star Office |
EndNote | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No[33] | No | No | Yes | No |
JabRef | Yes[34] | ? | ? | ? | Yes[35] | Yes | No | ? | Emacs, Texmaker, TeXstudio, Vim, WinEdt |
KBibTeX | No | ? | ? | ? | No | Yes | No | ? | none |
Mendeley | Yes | Partial[36] | Yes[37] | No | Yes | No | No | ? | NeoOffice |
Paperpile | in beta | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Pybliographer | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | ? | none |
Qiqqa | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | Yes | No | No | none |
ReadCube (now Papers) | Yes | Yes | Yes[38] | Yes[39] | Yes | No | Yes | style="background:#9F9;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-yes"|Manuscripts App, Ulysses, Scrivener | |
refbase | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes[40] | No | No | Yes | PIRA, MediaWiki, SPIP |
RefDB | No | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | none |
Reference Manager | Yes | No | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | none |
Referencer | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefME | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | 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 | No | Yes | (with LyZ)[41] | Yes | 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 | Unpaywall[42] | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bebop | No | No | No | No | No | No |
BibBase | No | No | No | No | No | DBLP, Zotero, BibSonomy, Mendeley |
BibDesk | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | ACM portal, Jstor, DBLP, Google Scholar, Web of Science, any Z39.50 or Entrez, and others |
Biblioscape | No | No | No | Yes | No | Import from integrated web browser |
BibSonomy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | various[43] |
Bibus | No | No | No | Yes | No | none |
Bookends | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Web of Science, Amazon, Google Scholar, Z39.50 |
Citavi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | WorldCat/OCLC, Ovid, EBSCO, ProQuest, Web of Science, Z39.50 (4500+ online resources), SRU. Further catalogs are added upon request. Browser plugins (Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer) support DOI lookup, ISBN lookup, PubMed ID lookup, PMCID lookup, arXiv ID lookup, COinS and import from Wikipedia. |
CiteULike | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | various |
colwiz | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Over 30 repositories, Import from integrated web browser |
EndNote | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | various[44] any Z39.50 |
JabRef | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[45] | ACM Portal, CrossRef, DBLP, DOAJ, DOI, GVK, Google Scholar, INSPIRE-HEP, Medline, MathSciNet, SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System, Springer, and zbMATH |
KBibTeX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | BibSonomy, CiteBase, CSB, DBLP, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, INSPIRE-HEP, Z MATH, Z39.50 |
Mendeley | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | various |
Paperpile | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Google Scholar |
Pybliographer | No | No | No | Yes | No | none |
Qiqqa | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | GoogleScholar, JSTOR |
ReadCube (now Papers) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Microsoft Academic, Google Scholar |
refbase | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | DOI lookup |
RefDB | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | any Z39.50 |
Reference Manager | No | No | No | Yes | No | various[46] |
Referencer | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
RefME | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks | No | No | No | Yes | No | various |
SciRef | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Sente | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Z39.50, SRU, Web of Knowledge |
Wikindx | No | No | No | Yes | No | via plug-ins |
WizFolio | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | various[47] |
Zotero | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[48] | various[49] |
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[50] | Simultaneous write access | ||
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[51] | Yes | Yes |
CiteULike | Yes | No | Yes |
colwiz | Yes | Yes | Yes |
EndNote | Yes | No[52] | No[52] |
JabRef | No | No | Partial |
KBibTeX | No | N/A | N/A |
Mendeley | Yes[53] | Yes | Yes |
Paperpile | Yes[54] | Yes | Yes |
Pybliographer | ? | ? | ? |
Qiqqa | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ReadCube (now Papers) | Yes | Yes | Yes[55] |
refbase | Yes | Yes | Yes |
RefDB | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Reference Manager | Yes | No | Yes |
Referencer | ? | ? | ? |
RefME | ? | ? | ? |
RefWorks | Yes | ? | Yes |
SciRef | ? | ? | ? |
Sente | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Wikindx | Yes | Yes | Yes |
WizFolio | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Zotero | Yes[56] | Yes | Yes |
References
- 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.
- "Update History | Sonny Software". Sonny Software. 2016-11-10. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
- Price depends on affiliation (discounted price for students and members of academic, governmental, and nonprofit organizations), edition (Citavi for Windows for single users and teams with cloud storage, Citavi for DBServer for teams with intranet storage), and, in the case of DBServer, on the license type (per seat license vs. concurrent license), http://www.citavi.com/en/products.html Archived 2015-04-27 at the Wayback Machine
- "Collaborating in a Team with Citavi for DBServer". Swiss Academic Software. 2018-02-20. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
- "Citavi – Organize your knowledge". Swiss Academic Software. 2018-02-20. Archived from the original on 2015-04-24. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- "CiteULike is closing down". CiteULike. Archived from the original on 10 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
- 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 2021-02-01.
- The GUI requires gnome-python, which isn't available for Windows or macOS.
- Reference Manager is not compatible with word 2010
- "Write-N-Cite Download Page". www.refworks.com. 2018-04-10. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- "Support iOS versions". Archived from the original on 2015-02-06. Retrieved 2015-02-06.
- "Yohan Farouz.net". Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- "Output Styles". EndNote. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- Supported through the bibutils plugin
- "Journal Abbreviations". Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
- Fenner, Martin (30 July 2013). "Citeproc YAML for bibliographies". Gobbledygook. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
- "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.
- 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 (i.e. thoughts, comments, and quotations) can be fed into a number of TeX editors in LaTeX code or UTF-8,
- Database can be exported as a whole in BibTeX format.Insert citations via citation key generated by Mendeley ,
- "Better BibTeX". Github. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
- "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.
- "EndNote X8 with LibreOffice – Clarivate Community". 2017-10-24. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- See JabRef FAQ: Field Mapping between MS-Office and JabRef.
- See JabRef FAQ: OpenOffice/LibreOffice integration.
- Requires the Desktop App open to choose references.
- Requires the Mendeley Cite Add-in
- Requires the SmartCite for Papers Add-in
- Can be used with SmartCite for Citekeys
- 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
- Includes all the other databases and open access repositories.
- "scraper info". BibSonomy. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- "Connection Files". EndNote. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
- "Unpaywall". docs.jabref.org. Retrieved Jun 6, 2020.
- "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.
- "Improved PDF retrieval with Unpaywall integration". Zotero Blog. 2018-10-08. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
- "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.
- Storage in Citavi cloud or, with special license, in Microsoft SQL Server in intranet.
- via EndNote basic (cloud based)
- via Mendeley Web
- uses Google Account
- via shared library
- 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.
- Perkel, Jeffrey M. (2015-11-02). "Eight ways to clean a digital library". Nature. 527 (7576): 123–124. Bibcode:2015Natur.527..123P. doi:10.1038/527123a. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 26536960.
- 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. arXiv:1508.07480. Bibcode:2015arXiv150807480T. doi:10.3145/epi.2015.sep.17. ISSN 1699-2407.