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.

^{Fenner, Martin, Kaja Scheliga, and Sönke Bartling. ‘Reference Management’. In Opening Science, edited by Sönke Bartling and Sascha Friesike, 125–37. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00026-8_8.}

Citation managers can save researchers a lot of time, as well as help to reduce mistakes and avoid plagiarism.

• Collecting Research
  • Citation managers allow users to gather research materials from various sources. They can automatically save data from webpages, capture journal articles, and import PDFs directly into the library.
    
• Organizing Information
  •  Researchers can organize their references using folders, tags, and notes. This helps in keeping track of important information and categorizing research materials for easier access.
• Annotating Sources 
  • Citation managers provide tools for annotating and adding notes to documents within their library, which can be crucial for reviewing literature and making notes for future reference.
• Citing Sources
  • The software integrates with word processors like Microsoft Word, allowing for the easy insertion of citations and bibliographies in various styles, which is essential for writing research papers.

Zotero