Grab That Citation! Flex Your Footnotes! The Big Four Reference Managers

Reference managers aren’t just forrefernecemanagers managing citations anymore. These days, reference (a.k.a. citation or personal bibliographic) management software can toss around PDFs and other multimedia sources, including the ability to annotate PDFs. Some can appear on your mobile phone. One even comes with its own social network. The big four, at least for biomedical researchers, are EndNote, Mendeley, Papers, and Zotero. So, dear bench worker or grant writer, which one should you be using?

EndNote, a Thomson Reuters product, has been around for over 15 years. It is the most expensive of the bunch, at $249.95, although many universities offer students deep discounts on it. It does all the basics, adding references to Word, and changing citation styles with a few clicks. It also has a read and annotate function for PDFs. However, EndNote lacks one of the key features of the others, a “bookmarklet,” an awkwardly named widget with great utility because it can add references straight from any webpage with a digital object identifier (DOI). Another potential negative is EndNote’s limitation on the number of users who can share your library—14. Nor is EndNote available for iPhone or Android.

Mendeley has both bookmarklets and mobile versions (although the Android version is still in beta). The software was created in 2007 by three German PhD students, who were bought out by Elsevier in 2013, prompting some users
to cancel their accounts. Despite being “gobbled-up” by a publishing giant, Mendeley still offers a solid platform with up to 2 GB of free storage. In addition to their reference managing capabilities, Mendeley offers a social network for its users. It’s a little bit like LinkedIn where you can post your papers, share what you’re reading, and follow others to see what they’re publishing and reading. You can also form groups where you can post and comment on papers, which is handy for lab journal clubs. Like EndNote, you can use Mendeley to read and add comments to PDFs. It also has a handy bookmarklet for adding references straight from the web. One of Mendeley’s strange drawbacks is that a group with more than three people goes public by default, unless you pay to keep it private.

Papers was developed by two PhD students at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in 2011, with the idea that it would be the iTunes of reference apps. Now owned by Springer, Papers seemed to have undergone a rough transition but it received a big makeover in November 2014 and now seems to be building a fan base. It mirrors Mendeley with most of its features, though the interface has the sleek, simple style of an Apple product. The price tag is $79 ($49 for students). (The iPad/iPhone app is additional.) Like Mendeley, Papers also has an online version where you can share articles with groups or collaborators. Unlike Mendeley, you have the option to make these groups private without additional charges.

Zotero is an open-source program developed at George Mason University. It’s free up to 300 MB with storage upgrades priced at $20 annually for 2 GB or $60 annually for 6 GB. Though it doesn’t have an in-program PDF reader and annotator, it syncs automatically with Papership, a free app designed to access and annotate your Zotero or Mendeley library on-the-go for iPhones, iPads and Macs. Zotero also has a handy bookmarklet for adding references to your library straight from the web.

The bottom line is, if you’re just looking to add references to a Word document and change citation styles for any journal, you can’t go wrong with any of them. The chart below highlights the key differences. And if you’re on the fence, you can try any of or all of them for free.

EndNote Mendeley Papers Zotero

Price

$249.95 or $113.95 for students Free with up to 2 GB storage $79 or $49 for students

Free with up to 300 MB storage (2 GB is $20/year 6 GB is $60/year)

Bookmarklet (add references via web browser)

No Yes Yes Yes
Import BibTex Files No Yes Yes

Yes

Platforms

Mac, PC, iPad, online Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone, experimental Android, online

Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, online

Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone, third party Android, online

Annotate & Highlight PDFs

Yes Yes (also syncs with Papership) Yes

No (but can use Papership)

Syncs with Multiple Computers Yes Yes Yes

Yes

Collaborative Reading Lists/Libraries No (but you can share your library with up to 14 people) Yes (additional charge for private groups with more than 3 people) Yes

Yes

About the Author:


Christina Szalinski is a science writer with a PhD in Cell Biology from the University of Pittsburgh.