List of Free Reference Management Tools for Research

Summary: Reference management tools, also known as citation managers, are an asset for people associated with research work as they help organize references and create bibliographies.

Reference Management tools aka citation managers are designed to store, organize references and produce properly formatted bibliographies to save time and effort of the researchers.

Reference materials are vital parts of research work, but writers give them last-minute attention and end up creating a mess. Tools for managing references help organize such materials in chronological order and generate bibliographies that are extremely useful while going through lengthy research.

List of 7 Free Reference Management Tools

• Mendeley
• EndNote
• Zotero
• JabRef
• Citavi
• ReadCube Papers
• Sciwheel

There are several Reference Management Tools available for authors, writers, and people associated with research work. You can choose wisely as per your requirements and budget. Check the list below along with their description, features, and pricing.

1. Mendeley

It is a free reference management tool best known for organizing and distributing research papers and generating bibliographies for various academic publications.

Mendeley gives you the liberty to access it through its cloud-based version and also it can be downloaded on your computer, both windows and mac, as standalone software.

Features of Mendeley

• Research papers can be directly uploaded on the browser in a library that can be accessed from anywhere.
• Create references, citations and bibliographies in a whole fresh range of journal styles.

Free Trial: Mendeley is free to download and access. Free trials are also available for premium plans.

Pricing: Available on request on Mendeley’s official website.

Pros and Cons of Mendeley:

2. EndNote

Endnote is reference management software that is useful to manage your bibliographies and references for essays, articles and reports. With Endnote, you can get features such as importing references from online databases, annotating PDFs, finding full text articles, creating systematic reviews, etc.

Features of EndNote Reference Manager :

• Better search process
• Organize your references with the use of tags
• Cloud based, easy to access your research anytime, anywhere
• Automatically organize references as you work by creating a set of rules.

Free Trial: Endnote offers a free trial for 30 days.

Pricing: Endnote comes with a price tag of $274.95 for one time purchase. If you are a student, you can get it for $149.95 but only if you can verify yourself as a student. Meanwhile, if you are using an older version of endnote, you can upgrade to Endnote 21 at $124.95.

Pros and Cons of EndNote Reference Manager:

3. Zotero

Zotero is a free desktop and web-based reference management software that is helpful for organizing, generating and sharing your citations. You can add Zotero to your browser extensions and it is available for different browsers such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge.

Features of Zotero Reference Manager:

• Automatically senses the research works as you browse the web.
• Easy to organize your research. Allows to sort items into collections and tag them with keywords.
• Creates instant references and bibliographies directly inside Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs.
• Supports over 10,000 citation styles.
• Sync your work and access your research from any web browser.

Free Trial: It is free to use.

Pricing: Zotero can be downloaded and used for free. It offers 300MB of cloud data. You need to buy extra storage.

Pros and Cons of Zotero:

4. JabRef

JabRef is a cross-platform, open-source reference management and citation manager software that helps in collecting and organizing information. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux platforms and can be downloaded from JabRef’s official website.

Features of JabRef:

• Over 15 reference formats are available for import
• New references can be imported directly from the web using extensions
• Full text articles can be linked
• Bibliographic information based on ISBN, DOI, PubMed-ID and arXiv-ID can be fetched
• It supports Word and LibreOffice/OpenOffice for inserting and formatting citations

Free Trials: It is free to use.

Pricing: JabRef is an open-source free program.

Pros and Cons of JabRef:

5. Citavi

Citavi is a reference management solution that aids researchers to organize, collaborate, generate/manage citations and even take notes. Both individual researchers and teams can use Citavi easily. It allows you to break big projects into small tasks and track them efficiently.

Features of Citavi Reference Manager:

• Allows users to store information on their own server instead of in the cloud.
• Creates backups so that you never lose your information.
• Offers 10000 citation styles such as APA, Chicago, MLA, etc.

Free Trial: Citavi offers free trial.

Pricing: Citavi can be accessed with a starting price of $379. For academics, Citavi is offering a price of $249.

Pros and Cons of Citavi:

6. ReadCube Papers

ReadCube Papers is a cross-platform suite of reference management tools that helps users in accessing, organizing, sharing, and generating citations for research literature. It boasts of features like related article feeds, web importing through the browser, 1 click PDF download and built-in search engines.

Features of ReadCube Papers:

• Unlimited cloud storage
• Personalized recommendations
• Keyword tagging and article ratings
• Supports Microsoft Word and Google Docs
• Web importing through browser

Free Trial: Yes, Readcube Papers offers a free trial for 30 days.

Pricing: Readcube Papers comes with price tag starting from $3 per Month for students. For academic and corporate, prices start from $5/month and $10/month respectively.

Pros and Cons of ReadCube Papers:

7. Sciwheel

Sciwheel offers several things beyond reference manager. It is an easy way to discover, read, write and annotate and even share your research work.

It gives the option to instantly save and annotate articles online and easy collaboration with co-authors. You can also access your references and PDFs from any device with Sciwheel.

Features of Sciwheel:

• One-click reference saving
• Easy reference importing
• Manuscript tracker to know who has added what to finish the project
• Over 7,500 bibliography styles

Free Trials: Yes, Sciwheel offers 30-day free trial for its basic plan.

Pricing: It starts from $6.99 per month for its premium plan.

Sciwheel Pros and Cons:

How Reference Management Tools Work?

Reference Management tools aid students and research professionals to cite the research works accurately and efficiently. Alongside the academic uses, reference management software is also useful for business presentations and multiple reports that can be accurately cited.

An efficient reference management tool should offer multiple options for citation format. It should have the capability of generating citations for multiple materials such as websites, journals, books, research works, etc.

What Features to Look for in Free Reference Management Tools?

Reference Management Software is an extremely useful tool for anyone dealing in academics, research works and writing books or journals. There are multiple features any reference management software include:

• Creating references and Citations: The most common feature of any reference management software is its ability to generate citations and bibliographies for various materials including books, journals, research works, etc.
• Various citation styles: It should have multiple options for citation formats.
• Organizing research works: Reference management tool helps in organizing research and other academic information by providing accurate citations and bibliographies.
• Search functionality: It must have an advanced search functionality that helps during lengthy research work.

Conclusion

Reference Management tools are meant to ease the efforts of authors, research professionals and students. There are various reference management software tools available such as Mendeley, EndNote, Zotero, and a few more.

All come up with different pricings and features. The most common feature offered by any reference management tool is creating citations and bibliographies for lengthy reports and research work.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)