How do you know which citation manager is right for you?
Check the chart below which compares several popular programs, and consider questions such as:
- Do you use a Mac or PC, or both?
- What is the norm in your field? What do your collaborators use?
- Do you prefer a Web-based tool, or one that is installed on your computer?
- Will you be sharing citations or your database with others?
RefWorks is a good choice for many undergraduates. It is free for students, Web-based, and easy to navigate.
It's not a lifetime commitment - you can change citation managers. And you can use more than one citation manager, have more than one RefWorks account, and move citations from one type of manager to another.
Consider taking a library workshop on a particular citation manager, or a session introducing all the features that they share.
Citation Manager Comparison
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Cost
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Desktop: $94.65 (version X7 academic pricing as of Aug. 2013) at U of M Bookstore
Web: Free to U of M students, staff, & faculty |
Free for basic edition | Free to U of M students and alumni. Free to staff & faculty while affiliated; available from RefWorks at cost afterwards. | Free |
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Access
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Desktop: software (Mac/PC)
Allows work offline
Web: Online access only Free access with EndNote or by registering in Web of Science EndNote Basic |
Download a desktop version—allows offline use. Also able to use/sync multiple computers online. Mendeley |
Web-based Cite references in documents while offline RefWorks |
Firefox plugin or standalone versions Use on computer or flash drive or sync across computers Allows work offline Zotero |
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Collaboration
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Share libraries with other EndNote users and citations via EndNote Basic | Allows the sharing of citations and papers with a single click at www.mendeley.com | Create group accounts, share folders with other campus users, share read-only citations with anyone via public url, collaborate with anyone using RefShare. | Create group libraries and sync through Zotero |
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Audience
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Desktop: Good for users with ongoing projects preparing manuscripts. Web: Good collaborating or undergraduate level research. |
Good choice for papers for classes
Good choice if you already have a lot of pdfs for your research. |
Good choice for papers for classes, group projects, and manuscripts
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Good choice for papers for classes. Best choice for web-based sources (non-journal)
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Ease of Use
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Desktop: Somewhat more difficult to learn. Web: Moderately easy |
Moderately easy
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Moderately easy
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Easy
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Import Filters
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Desktop: Can edit and create Web: Cannot edit and create |
N/A |
Cannot edit and create
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Cannot edit and create
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Importing Citations | ||||
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... from library databases
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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... from library catalog
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Web: Yes
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No
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Yes
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Yes
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... from websites
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Save manually
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Yes
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Use RefGrab-It to capture URL & page title
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Yes
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... from RSS feeds
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No
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No
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Yes
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Yes
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Storage Capacity & Storing Files
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Desktop: Unlimited |
1GB for free (500 MB for personal/500MB for groups) More space available for a fee. |
Limited to 5GB per account for file attachments
Can organize citations in folders |
Very easy to attach files. Usually stores web pages, screen shots, and other objects automatically on saving citation Text can be searchable |
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Notes & Tags
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Can add notes & tags to citation. Can annotate pdfs
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Can annotate pdfs
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Can add notes & tags to citation
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Can attach notes to citations
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Word Processing Software Compatibility
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Cite-While-You-Write: MS Word and OpenOffice |
Compatible with MS Word, Open Office, and BibTex
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MSWord (Write-n-Cite)
Can format RTF, HTML, & OpenOffice .odt documents with manual citation insertion Works with LaTeX through BibTeX |
Weaker than others but more options
MSWord, OpenOffice, & Google Docs |
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Citation Styles
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~3700 styles available
Edit, create, & request additional styles |
1180 styles (community generated) |
~1600 styles available
Edit, create, & request additional styles |
15 major styles (e.g., Chicago) as well as >1000 other user-developed styles
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EndNote Desktop also substitutes journal abbreviations automatically from term lists and create records for figures and tables to add into papers.
Additional Resources
- Introduction to EndNote Workshop Page
- RefWorks Basics Workshop Page
- Introduction to Zotero Workshop Page
Find comparisons of a more comprehensive list of citation managers at Wikipedia's Comparison of reference management software
