Comparison of reference management software

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The following tables compare reference management software.

Contents

[edit] 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 webapps)
  • centrally-hosted website
Software Developer First public release Latest stable version Cost (USD) Open source License Notes
2collab Elsevier 2007-11  ? Free No proprietary centrally-hosted website, web-based
Aigaion Aigaion developers 2005-01 2.1.0 (2008-11-23) Free Yes GPL web-based
BibDesk BibDesk developers 2002-04 1.3.18 (2008-07) Free Yes BSD BibTeX front-end + repository
Biblioscape CG Information 1998 7.19 (2007-11-15) US$79-299[1] No Proprietary ODBC; web access in Pro ed; optional client/server
BibSonomy U. Kassel 2006-01  ? Free No proprietary centrally-hosted website
Bibus Bibus developers 2004-06-03 1.4.3 (2008-05) Free Yes GPL integrates with Word and OO.o Writer
Bookends Sonny Software 1988 (Mac) / 1983 (Apple II+) 10.4.3 (2009-1-15) US$99[1] No Proprietary  ?
CiteULike Richard Cameron 2004-11  ? Free No proprietary centrally-hosted website
Connotea Nature Publishing Group 2004-12 1.7.1 (2006-02-01) Free Yes GPL centrally-hosted website, web-based
EndNote Thomson Corporation 1988 X2 US$299.95[1] No proprietary often used in academia
I, Librarian I, Librarian developers 2003 2.0.3(2009-04-09) Free Yes GPL web-based
JabRef JabRef developers 2003-11-29 2.4.2 (2008-11-01) Free Yes GPL Java BibTeX manager
Mendeley Mendeley 2008-08 0.6.4 (2009-04-06; 16 days ago) Free No proprietary Desktop & Web components
Papers Mekentosj 2007 1.9.1 (2009-02-26) US$42 No proprietary search repositories from interface; supports plug-ins
ProCite Thomson Corporation 1984 ? 5.0.3 US$299.95[1] No proprietary supports network access
Pybliographer pybliographer developers  ? 1.2.12 (2008-11-30) Free Yes GPL Python/GTK2
refbase refbase developers 2003-06-03 0.9.5 (2008-11-19) Free Yes GPL web-based for institutional repositories/self-archiving[2]
RefDB refdb developers 2001-04-25 0.9.9 (2007-11-05) Free Yes GPL network-transparent; XML/SGML bibliographies
Referencer Referencer developers  ? 1.1.3 (2008-05-28) Free Yes GPL BibTeX front-end
Reference Manager Thomson Corporation 1984 11.0.1 US$239.95[1] No proprietary network version available; built-in web publishing tool
RefWorks RefWorks 2001 2007-08 US$100 per year No proprietary centrally-hosted website
Scholar's Aid Scholar's Aid, Inc. 1998 4.1 (2008-4-1) US$149[1] / Free Lite version No proprietary integrates with Word and OpenOffice
Sente Third Street Software, Inc. 2004 5.5 (2008-5) US$129.95[1] No proprietary integrates with Word, Mellel, Pages, and Nisus
Wikindx Mark Grimshaw 2004-02 3.8.2 (2008-02-06) Free Yes GPL web-based
Zotero Center for History and New Media 2006-10-05 1.09  (2008-12-23; 120 days ago) Free Yes ECL Firefox extension

[edit] 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 BSD Unix
2collab N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Aigaion Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
BibDesk No Yes No No No
Biblioscape Yes No No No No
BibSonomy N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Bibus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bookends No Yes No No No
CiteULike N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Connotea Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
EndNote Yes Yes No No No
JabRef Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mendeley Yes Yes Yes No No
Papers No Yes No No No
ProCite Yes No No No No
Pybliographer Partial[3] Partial[3] Yes Yes Yes
refbase Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
RefDB Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Reference Manager Yes No No No No
Referencer No No Yes No No
RefWorks N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Sente No Yes No No No
Scholar's Aid Yes No No No No
Wikindx Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Zotero Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

[edit] 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
2collab Yes No No No Yes CSV [5]
Aigaion Yes No No No Yes none
BibDesk Yes No Yes Yes Yes Endnote XML, user customizable
Biblioscape Yes Yes Yes No Yes none
BibSonomy Yes Yes No No Yes various [6]
Bibus Yes Yes Yes No Yes SQLite
Bookends Yes Yes Yes No Yes various user-customizable
CiteULike Yes No No No Yes COinS
Connotea Yes Yes No Yes Yes RDF
EndNote Yes Yes Yes No Yes various [7]
I, Librarian Yes Yes No No Yes CSV
JabRef Yes Yes No Yes Depends[8] BibTeXML, DocBook, OpenDocument for OO.o, user-customizable
Mendeley Yes Yes No No Yes Endnote XML
Papers Yes Yes No No Yes Bookends, CSV, Endnote XML
ProCite No No No No Yes none
Pybliographer Yes Yes Yes No No Ovid
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 Yes No No No Yes MEDLARS, TSV, CSV, Reference Manager XML, user-customizable
RefWorks Yes No No No Yes various [9]
Scholar's Aid No  ? No No No user-customizable
Sente Yes Yes No No Yes user-customizable
Wikindx Yes Yes No No Yes COinS
Zotero Yes Yes No Yes Yes RDF, Wikipedia citation templates
Software BibTeX Endnote/Refer/BibIX Medline MODS XML RIS Other

[edit] 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
2collab No No No No No No No No No Yes No IE and Firefox bookmarks [10]
Aigaion Yes No No No No No No No No Yes 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[11]; user-customizable
CiteULike Yes No No No No No No No No No No none
Connotea Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes No Firefox bookmarks
EndNote Partial[4] No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes various [12]
I, Librarian No No No Yes No No No No No Yes No none
JabRef Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes BibTexML, Biblioscape, Biomail, Inspec, JSTOR, REPEC (NEP), SilverPlatter, SixPack
Mendeley Yes No No Yes No No No No No Yes No Browser bookmarks
Papers  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
ProCite No No Yes  ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No various [13]
Pybliographer Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No none
refbase Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes RefWorks
RefDB Yes Yes[5] No Yes[5] Yes[5] Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes[5] MARC, risx
Referencer Yes  ?  ? Yes  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Reference Manager Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes various [14]; user-customizable
RefWorks Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes  ? No Yes  ? Yes No  ?
Scholar's Aid[6] No No No Yes  ? Yes No No Yes  ? No  ?
Sente Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No Dublin Core, Marc21 SUTRS, JSTOR, SilverPlatter
Wikindx Yes Depends[5] No Yes[citation needed] Depends[5] No Depends[5] No Yes[citation needed] Yes[citation needed] No User plug-ins[citation needed]
Zotero Yes No[7] No[7] Yes Partial[8] No Yes Partial[8] Partial[8] Yes No COinS, MARC, RDF, unAPI
Software BibTeX Copac CSA Endnote/Refer/BibIX ISI Medline MODS XML Ovid PubMed RIS SciFinder Other

[edit] Citation styles

Software APA Chicago/Turabian Harvard MLA Other Extension method
Aigaion Yes Yes Yes Yes BMJ, IEEE OSBIB
BibDesk Yes No No No various BibDesk export templates
Biblioscape Yes Yes Yes Yes 2000+ styles[citation needed] GUI style editor
BibSonomy Yes No Yes No none none
Bibus Yes No No No user-contributed bibus format (through GUI)
Bookends Yes Yes Yes Yes various[citation needed]  ?
CiteULike Yes Yes Yes Yes various[citation needed] none
EndNote Yes Yes Yes Yes various EndNote format (through GUI)
Mendeley Yes Yes Yes Yes various CSL
Papers  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
ProCite Yes Yes Yes Yes various  ?
Pybliographer Yes No No No none Pybliographer XML
refbase Yes Yes Yes Yes various polar & marine journals PHP
RefDB Yes Yes Yes Yes Various biomedical & law journals XML (citestylex.dtd), interactive script
Referencer  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Reference Manager Yes Yes Yes Yes various  ?
RefWorks Yes Yes Yes Yes various RefWorks format through GUI
Scholar's Aid Yes Yes Yes Yes MHRA SA format through GUI
Sente Yes Yes Yes Yes various[citation needed] Sente format through GUI
Wikindx Yes Yes Yes Yes BMJ, IEEE OSBIB
Zotero Yes Yes Yes Yes various CSL
Software APA Chicago/Turabian Harvard MLA Other Extension method

[edit] Reference list file formats

Software HTML LaTeX RTF Plain text RSS Other
2collab Yes No No Yes Yes No
Aigaion Yes No Yes Yes  ? No
BibDesk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Atom
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
CiteULike No No No No Yes No
Connotea N/A N/A N/A N/A Yes N/A
EndNote Yes No Yes Yes No clipboard,XML
JabRef Yes No No Yes No clipboard
Mendeley No No Yes Yes No clipboard
Papers  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
ProCite Yes No No No No No
Pybliographer Yes Yes No Yes No No
refbase Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Markdown, PDF, unAPI
RefDB Yes Yes Yes Yes No DocBook, TEI
Referencer  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
ReferenceManager Yes No No Yes No No
RefWorks Partial[9] No Yes Yes Yes DOC, ODT
Scholar's Aid No No Yes Yes No clipboard
Sente Yes No Yes Yes No clipboard
Wikindx Yes No Yes No Yes No
Zotero Yes No Yes No No clipboard
Software HTML LaTeX RTF Plain text RSS Other

[edit] Word processor integration

Most reference management software supports copy/paste or drag-and-drop of references into any editor. Some reference management software includes further support for automatic embedding and (re)formatting of references in some programs.

Software Microsoft Word OpenOffice.org Writer Kile/LyX Other
2collab  ?  ?  ?  ?
Biblioscape Yes No No WordPerfect
Bibus Yes Yes No none
Bookends Yes Partial[10] No Partial[10]
EndNote Yes (but not 64-bit Windows[11]) Partial[10] No Partial[10]
JabRef Depends[12] Partial[13] Yes Emacs,Vim,WinEdt
Mendeley Yes No No none
Papers  ?  ?  ?  ?
ProCite Yes  ? No WordPerfect
Pybliographer No Yes Yes none
Referencer  ?  ?  ?  ?
Reference Manager[14] Yes No No WordPerfect
RefWorks Yes Partial[10] No Partial[10]
Scholar's Aid Yes Yes No WordPro, WordPerfect, HWP
Sente Yes Partial[10] No Pages, Mellel, Nisus, TextEdit; plus RTF, HTML and plain text scan[10]
Zotero Yes Yes Depends[15] none
Software Microsoft Word OpenOffice.org Writer Kile/LyX Other

[edit] 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
2collab  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Aigaion No No No No none
BibDesk Yes Yes No Yes Web of Science, any Z39.50 or Entrez
Biblioscape No No No Yes Import from integrated web browser
BibSonomy Yes Yes Yes Yes various [15]
Bibus No No No Yes none
Bookends Yes No No Yes Web of Science, Amazon, Google Scholar, Z39.50
CiteULike Yes Yes Yes Yes various [16]
Connotea Yes Yes No Yes various [17]
EndNote No No No Yes various [18]
I, Librarian No No No Yes PubMed Central
JabRef Yes Yes Yes Yes none
Mendeley Yes Yes Yes Yes various [19]
Papers  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
ProCite No No No Yes various [20]
Pybliographer No No No Yes none
refbase Yes No No Yes DOI lookup
RefDB No No No Yes any Z39.50
Referencer  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Reference Manager No No No Yes various [21]
RefWorks No No No Yes various
Scholar's Aid No No No Yes Z39.50
Sente No No No Yes Z39.50, SRU, Web of Knowledge
Wikindx No No No Yes none
Zotero Yes Yes Yes Yes various [22]
Software ArXiv CiteSeer IEEE Xplore PubMed Other

[edit] 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 Simultaneous write access
2collab Yes No  ?
Aigaion Yes Yes Yes
BibDesk Yes No No
Biblioscape Yes Yes Yes
BibSonomy Yes Yes Yes
Bibus  ?  ?  ?
Bookends  ?  ?  ?
CiteULike Yes No Yes
Connotea Yes  ? Yes
EndNote No No No
I, Librarian Yes Yes Yes
JabRef No N/A N/A
Mendeley Yes Yes Yes
Papers  ?  ?  ?
ProCite No No No
Pybliographer  ?  ?  ?
refbase Yes Yes Yes
RefDB Yes Yes Yes
Referencer  ?  ?  ?
Reference Manager Yes No Yes
RefWorks Yes  ? Yes
Scholar's Aid No N/A N/A
Sente No No No
Wikindx Yes Yes Yes
Zotero Beta No  ?
Software Passworded Networking
User-specific permissions Simultaneous write access

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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.
  2. ^ A centrally-hosted website is available at refbase.org.
  3. ^ a b The GUI requires gnome-python, which isn't available for Windows or OS X.
  4. ^ Endnote cannot import directly BibTex files, but there are various methods to transform these into the refer format, which may be imported [1]
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Supported through the bibutils plugin
  6. ^ The DataRetriever module that imports and exports data is not compatible with Vista.
  7. ^ a b Zotero can import references directly from the database after which this format is named, although it cannot read the format itself.
  8. ^ a b c Zotero can import references in these formats directly from some databases, but not from files saved on the disk.
  9. ^ URLs aren't active links
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Can reformat references in a properly saved RTF document, allowing limited use in OpenOffice.org Writer, StarOffice, FrameMaker, Microsoft Works, WordPad, WordPerfect, and others. Bookends is able to scan files from Pages, Mellel, Nisus Writer Express and Pro Macros.
  11. ^ The Cite While You Write feature for EndNote compatibility with Microsoft Word is not compatible with 64-bit versions of Windows.[2]
  12. ^ JabRef can be integrated in Microsoft Word using bibtex4word.dot.
  13. ^ JabRef and 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 [3].
  14. ^ From [4]
  15. ^ The Lytero extension integrates Zotero with Lyx/Kile

[edit] External links

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Reference management software
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Web Based
Category  • Comparison
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