Commonly-used citation management tools include Endnote, Mendeley and Zotero. Library Services does not directly endorse any of these but we have some experience with Zotero. More information about Zotero is listed below.
*EndNote and Mendeley are not supported by IS.
Criteria |
Zotero |
Mendeley |
Endnote basic |
---|---|---|---|
Must be online? |
No |
No |
Yes |
Web-based? |
Can sync with online account; connectors for Firefox, Chrome and Safari and Opera available |
Not primarily, but can sync with an online account which is editable |
Fully-cloud based so you can access it from any device. |
Cost |
Free for basic account, some cost for more online storage space |
Free for basic account, some cost for more online storage space |
Free 30 day trail, than must purchase |
Create group or shared libraries |
Zotero allows you to share your citations through shared folders -- you can give individuals or groups permissions to add and edit the citations in the shared folder |
Mendeley allows you to share citations and documents with a group of up to 2 other users, or create a public reading list that is open to all. |
EndNote Basic allows you to share with up to 1,000 other users. |
Word-processor compatibility |
MS Word, Open Office, Google Docs |
MS Word, Open Office, LaTex |
MS Word |
Storage capacity |
Unlimited local storage and data syncing; 100MB free Zotero file syncing (larger syncing plans available for purchase); or can use WebDav |
Unlimited local storage and data syncing; 1GB personal and 100MB shared online space (larger online storage plans available for purchase) |
Limited to 50,000 citations and 2 GB of attachment storage |
Import from databases |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Import citation info from web pages |
Yes, also archives the page and you can add annotations |
Yes, with a bookmark for a limited number of sites (mostly publishers or databases) |
Yes, with Reference Capture tool |
Attach associated files (PDFs, etc.) |
Yes, with option to attach automatically |
Yes, and can highlight and annotate PDFs |
Yes |
Search full text of PDFs |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Create group or shared libraries |
Yes |
Yes, free for up to 3 group members (larger group plans available for purchase) |
Yes |
Create bibliography with different styles |
Yes |
Yes |
Choose from 7,000 + styles if accessed via Web of Science. |
Automatic citation extraction from PDFs |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Other features |
Sync library with multiple computers Use tags to organize/search |
Sync library with multiple computers Sync with Zotero library |
No |
A white paper is a research based report that offers insight into a complex topic and offers a position on the solution for the problem.