Selecting a citation manager to match your requirements

Citation management tools are designed to help you organize the hundreds of articles and references you will be collecting over the course of your studies and research activities. Each citation management tool comes with a variety of features and at costs ranging from free to reasonable discounts. By using citation management tools you can:

  • Import references from most literature databases
  • Group references by topic, project or specific question you are researching
  • Import PDF files, pull out bibliographic information, and annotate
  • Create in-text citations and bibliographies while writing papers, articles, proposals, etc.

Which program is best for you will depend on your workflow preferences, budget and learning curve:

I need to:Use:Why:
Work From Multiple Computer Locations
  • Mendeley and Zotero have desktop and online platforms with full capabilities from all locations.
  • EndNote allows to sync your desktops through your EndNote Web account.
Have Unlimited Citation Storage Space
  • EndNote allows for unlimited citation storage.
Work On A Mobile Device
  • Mendeley offers apps, available for Apple and Android that sync across devices.
  • EndNote has an app to use on iPads, with limited features.
Work Without An Internet Connection
  • EndNote, Mendeley, and Zotero can be used offline in the desktop version but must be synced when on an Internet connection.
Collaborate With Others
  • EndNote version X8 and later allows you to collaborate with up to 100 other X7/X8 users.
  • Mendeley’s free account allows you to have one private group with up to 3 people.
  • Zotero lets you create limited number of public and private groups.
Get Technical Assistance
Be Able To Learn Quickly
  • Takes longer to learn advance features, but not difficult with practice, many tutorials and guides.
  • Easy to learn, pretty simple interface.
  • Easy to learn, intuitive and simple design, many online user guides and demos.
Save Money
  • Mendeley is free for the first 2GB of storage. Upgrades are available for a monthly fee.
  • Zotero is a free, open-source tool. Additional storage space is available for a monthly fee.
Was this article helpful?
What made the article not helpful?
Last Revision

Related Content

Explore Further