What is a citation manager?
A citation manager is a tool that you can download or use in your browser. Citation managers allow you to:
- Organize and store your citations
- Easily generate bibliographies in the citation style of your choice
- Generate in-text citations in Word
- Share your references with your peers
There are many different citation managers available. To view features of some of the more popular options, see the Comparison of Citation Managers chart. To see more information about each of these citation managers, click on the tabs above.
Comparison of Citation Managers
| EndNote Basic | EndNote X7 | Mendeley | Zotero | |
| Cost | Free |
Requires purchase by user, research group, or department but available for free through Ontario Tech. |
Free | Free |
| Method of access | Online at www.myendnoteweb.com and through Web of Science | If not pre-loaded on your university-issued laptop, contact IT (servicedesk@dc-uoit.ca or 905-721-3333, option 1) to get it downloaded. |
Online at www.mendeley.com | Online at www.zotero.org |
| Operating systems | Web-based (independent of OS) | Windows and Mac | Windows, Mac, Linux | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Storage | 50,000 records with 2 GB of free web storage | 999,999 records with unlimited amount of web storage | 2 GB of free web storage, additional costs for more storage, unlimited through desktop application | 300 MB of free web storage, additional costs for more storage, unlimited on desktop version |
| Word processor integration | Yes (Microsoft Office) | Yes (Microsoft Office) | Yes (Microsoft Office and Open/Libre Office) | Yes (Microsoft Office and Open/Libre Office) |
| Sharing and collaborating | Can only share references with other EndNote users | Can only share references with other EndNote users |
Can create public and private groups Publicly share references (with limitations) Synchronization of collections across devices |
Can create public and private groups Publicly share references (with limitations) Synchronization of collections across devices |
| Adding notes to references | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (can be stand alone or attached to references) |
| Annotating PDFs | No | Yes | Yes | No, but will sync PDFs annotated through third party software |
| Direct export from databases | Yes (through certain databases) | Yes | Yes (via toolbar) | Yes (automatically detected through browser) |
| Direct export to other citation managers | Can export to: BibTeX, Tab Delimited | Can export to: BibTeX, Tab Delimited, RIS, Refer export | Can export to: BibTeX, RIS | Can export to: BibTeX, RIS, Refer/BibIX, Bibliontology, MODS, and more |
| Mobile device applications | No | iPad, web interface | iPad, iPhone, 3rd party Android apps, web interface | 3rd party IOS and Android apps, web interface |
| Screen capture of web page content | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Other |
Ontario Tech supported Thomson Reuters product Access provided through Web of Science subscription (gives additional bibliographic styles, automatically detects Web of Science data and links) |
Ontario Tech supported Thomson Reuters product |
Elsevier product |
Open source Doesn't work with Internet Explorer Very established support community |
Creative Commons License
This guide was created by Ontario Tech Libraries and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License, except where otherwise noted.
