Citation Management Software
What is citation management software?
A reference manager supports researchers in performing three basic research steps: searching, storing, and writing [...]. It helps researchers find relevant literature, allows them to store papers and their bibliographic metadata in a personal database for later retrieval, and allows researchers to insert citations and references in a chosen citation style when writing a text.1
Citation managers can save researchers a lot of time, help reduce mistakes, and help avoid plagiarism. For those reasons, they are highly recommended.
Click here for a comparison of different citation managers.
Comparison of citation management software
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Zotero is a popular free and open-source option among researchers that offers many features as well as extensions. |
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Mendeley is a proprietary option from Elsevier. BI faculty and staff have free access via our partnership with BAU. |
| 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 | 2021-08-15 | 1.8.3 | 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 | 2019-12-11 | 3.9.2 | 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+) | 2021-01-23 | 13.5.1[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 | QSR International[4] | 2006-02-13 | 2022-01-05 | 6.11.0.0 | US$89-1947[5] | No | Proprietary | data can be saved locally on the computer, or, for team access, in the Citavi Cloud or an intranet Microsoft SQL Server;[6] search databases from interface[7] |
| CiteULike | Oversity Limited | 2004-11 | Shut down in 2019-03-30[8] | Free | No | proprietary[9] | centrally hosted website | |
| colwiz | colwiz Ltd | 2011 | 2016-05-09 | Free / Online storage free up to 3 GB / Additional storage space available | No | Proprietary | Now combined with wizdom.ai | |
| EndNote | Clarivate Analytics | 1988 | 2021-11-30 | 20.2.1 | US$299.95[1] | No | Proprietary | The web version EndNote basic (formerly, EndNote Web) is free of charge |
| JabRef | JabRef developers | 2003-11-29 | 2021-07-05 | 5.3 | Free | Yes | MIT license | Java BibTeX and BibLaTeX manager |
| KBibTeX | KBibTeX developers | 2005-08 | 2020-04-26 | 0.9.2 | 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 (not macOS 11 Big Sur) |
| Paperpile | Stefan Washietl, Gregorgy Jordan, Andreas Gruber | 2013 | Continually updated online | US$2.99/month for academics, 9.99/month otherwise | No | Proprietary | web-application, integrates with Google Docs, collaboration & sharing features, currently only on Google Chrome | |
| Pybliographer | pybliographer developers | 1998-10-30 (0.2) | 2018-04-03 | 1.4.0 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | Python/GTK2 |
| Qiqqa | Qiqqa | 2010-04 | 2020-10-04 | v80 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | From end 2020, Open Source |
| ReadCube Papers (now Papers) | ReadCube | 2011-10 | 2021-03-09 | v.4.23.3 | US$ 3/month for students, 5/month academics | No | Proprietary | Web-app, Desktop (MacOS, Windows), Mobile (iOS and Android). Microsoft Word and Google Docs add-in. Browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari) |
| refbase | refbase developers | 2003-06-03 | 2014-02-28 | 0.9.6 | Free | Yes | GNU GPL | web-based for institutional repositories/self-archiving[10] |
| 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 | 2021-07-07 | 6.4.10 | Free | Yes | ISC license | 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 [11] | 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.). |