Effective research needs effective tools. Reference management tools/programs are crucial for research work. The primary purpose of each tool is to manage references and create citations and bibliographies within documents.
The followings are some of the reference management programs/software:
EndNote: It can be downloaded for free by UTHSC faculty, student, and staff with a valid NetID. EndNote has three platforms: Desktop (need to download), EndNote Basic (free Web version) (need to create an account), and iPad app. The library created an EndNote Guide to show you how to use the program.
Mendeley (Free): It has three platforms: Desktop (need to download), Web version (need to sign up for an account), and iPad app. Mendeley has created several videos about it's features and how to use the program.
Zotero (Free): It helps collect, manage, and cite research sources.
A General Information Comparison about Selected Bibliographic Management Tools Accessible to UTHSC Users
(Updated May 2017)
| EndNote Desktop | EndNote Online | Mendeley | Zotero | |
| Developer | Thomson Reuters | Thomson Reuters | Mendeley | George Mason University |
| Released | 1988 | 2008 | 2004 | |
| Cost | Free to UTHSC users | Free / Open Source | Free / Open Source | Free / Open Source |
| Free Storage | Unlimited | 2G | 2G (Web) | 300MB (Web) |
| Platform |
Desktop & App for iOS devices |
Web & App | Desktop, Web-based, & App for iOS devices | Web-based, Standalone (Desktop), & Add-on to Firefox |
| OS | Windows, Mac | Windows, Mac | Windows, MAC, Linux | Windows, MAC, Linux, Unix |
| Tutorials | EndNote tutorials | EndNote tutorials | Mendeley Tutorials | Zotero tutorials |
| Website | http://endnote.com/product-details/basic | http://www.mendeley.com/ | http://www.zotero.org/ |
A Comparison of Key Features of Bibliographic Management Tools Accessible to UTHSC Users
(Updated February 2016)
|
Key Features |
EndNote |
EndNote Online |
Mendeley |
Zotero |
|
Organizing/Annotating/Highlighting PDFs |
✔ |
✖ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
Mobile and iOS devices |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✖ |
|
Cross-platform synching (Web, Desktop, & mobile devices) |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✖ |
|
Automatically invoke Find Full Text (PDFs) attached to newly imported references |
✔ |
✖ |
✖ |
✖ |
|
Full text searching across all your papers |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
Cite While You Write with Word |
✔
|
✔ Need to install plug-in for Word |
✔ Need to install plug-in for Word to use web-based version |
✔ Need to install plug-in for Word |
|
Creating private folders/groups |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
Creating public folders/groups (Sharing sources publicly) |
✖ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
Directly capturing online content |
✖ |
✔ |
✔ Via Web Importer Bookmarklet |
✔ Via Web Connector, a browser extension |
|
Networking and finding collaborators |
✖ |
✔ |
✔
|
✔
|
|
Writing with others |
✔
|
✔
|
✔
|
✔
|
|
Readership statistics by categories |
✖ |
✖ |
✔ |
✖ |
Literature reporting using reference management software for systematic reviews: