Comparison of reference management software

The following tables compare reference management software.

General

In the "notes" section, there is a difference between:

Web-based, referring to applications that you may install on your own web server (usually requiring MySQL or another database and PHP, perl, python, or some other language for webapps)
Centrally hosted website

Software	Developer	First public release	Latest stable version	Cost (USD)	Open source	License	Notes
Aigaion	Aigaion developers	2005-01	1.3.2 (2007-03-05)	Free	Yes	GPL	web-based
BibDesk	BibDesk developers	2002-04	1.3.10 (2007-09-06)	Free	Yes	BSD	BibTeX front-end + repository
BibSonomy	Knowledge & Data Engineering Group, Univ. Kassel	2006-01	?	Free	No	proprietary	Centrally hosted website
Bibus	Bibus developers	2004-06-03	1.3.0 (2006-12-16)	Free	Yes	GPL	Integrates with Word and OO.o Writer
CiteULike	Richard Cameron	2004-11	?	Free	No	proprietary	Centrally hosted website
Connotea	Nature Publishing Group	2004-12	1.7.1 (2006-02-01)	Free	Yes	GPL	Centrally hosted website, web-based
EndNote	Thomson Corporation	1988	X1 (2007-06-04)	US$299.95^[1]	No	proprietary	Often used in academia
JabRef	JabRef developers	2003-11-29	2.2 (2007-01-30)	Free	Yes	GPL	Java BibTeX manager
ProCite	Thomson Corporation	1984 ?	5.0.3	US$299.95^[1]	No	proprietary	Supports network access
Pybliographer	pybliographer developers	?	1.2.10 (2007-01-22)	Free	Yes	GPL
refbase	refbase developers	2003-06-03	0.9.0 (2006-10-23)	Free	Yes	GPL	web-based for small institutional repositories/self-archiving
Reference Manager	Thomson Corporation	?	11.0.1	US$239.95^[1]	No	proprietary	Network version available; built-in web publishing tool
RefWorks	RefWorks	2001	2007-08	US$100 per year	No	proprietary	Centrally hosted website
Wikindx	Mark Grimshaw	2004-02	3.6.5 (2007-06-4)	Free	Yes	GPL	web-based
Zotero	Center for History and New Media	2006-10-05	Beta 1.0.0rc3 (24 August 2007)	Free	Yes	ECL	Firefox extension
Software	Developer	First public release	Latest stable version	Cost (USD)	Open source	License	Notes

Operating system support

Software	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix
Aigaion	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
BibDesk	No	Yes	No	No	No
BibSonomy	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Bibus	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
CiteULike	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Connotea	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
EndNote	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
JabRef	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ProCite	Yes	No	No	No	No
Pybliographer	Partial^[2]	Partial^[2]	Yes	Yes	Yes
refbase	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Reference Manager	Yes	No	No	No	No
RefWorks	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wikindx	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Zotero	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Software	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix

Export file formats

This table lists the machine-readable file formats that can be exported from reference managers. These are typically used to share data with other reference managers or with other people who use a reference manager. To exchange data from one program to another, the first program must be able to export to a format that the second program may import. Import file formats are in a table below this one.

Software	BibTeX	Endnote/Refer/BibIX	Medline	MODS XML	RIS	Other
Aigaion	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	none
BibDesk	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Endnote XML
BibSonomy	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	various [4]
Bibus	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	none
CiteULike	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	COinS
Connotea	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	RDF
EndNote	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	various [5]
JabRef	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	BibTeXML, DocBook, OpenDocument for OO.o
ProCite	No	No	No	No	Yes	none
Pybliographer	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Ovid
refbase	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	COinS, OpenDocument for OO.o, SRW XML via SRU web service, unAPI
Reference Manager	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	MEDLARS, TSV, CSV, Reference Manager XML, user-customizable
RefWorks	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	various [6]
Wikindx	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	none
Zotero	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	RDF, Wikipedia citation templates
Software	BibTeX	Endnote/Refer/BibIX	Medline	MODS XML	RIS	Other

Import file formats

This table lists the file formats which may be manually imported into the reference managers without needing to connect to one particular database. Many of these database companies use the same name for their file format as they do for their database (including Copac, CSA, ISI, Medline, Ovid, PubMed, and SciFinder). For the ability to retrieve citations from the particular databases (rather than the file format), please refer to the database connectivity table that is below this table.

Software	BibTeX	Copac	CSA	Endnote/Refer/BibIX	ISI	Medline	MODS XML	Ovid	PubMed	RIS	SciFinder	Other
Aigaion	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	none
BibDesk	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	MARC, JSTOR, Reference Miner
BibSonomy	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Firefox bookmarks
Bibus	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	none
CiteULike	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	none
Connotea	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Firefox bookmarks
EndNote	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	various [7]
JabRef	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	BibTexML, Biblioscape, Biomail, Inspec, JSTOR, REPEC (NEP), SilverPlatter, SixPack
ProCite	No	No	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	various [8]
Pybliographer	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	none
refbase	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	RefWorks
Reference Manager	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	various [9]; user-customizable
RefWorks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	No	Yes	?	Yes	No	various
Wikindx	Yes	Depends^[3]	No	Yes	Depends^[3]	No	Depends^[3]	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Zotero	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	COinS, MARC, RDF, unAPI
Software	BibTeX	Copac	CSA	Endnote/Refer/BibIX	ISI	Medline	MODS XML	Ovid	PubMed	RIS	SciFinder	Other

Citation styles

Software	APA	Chicago/Turabian	Harvard	MLA	Other	Extension method
Aigaion	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	BMJ, IEEE	OSBIB
BibDesk	Yes	No	No	No	various	BibDesk export templates
BibSonomy	Yes	No	Yes	No	none	none
Bibus	Yes	No	No	No	user-contributed	bibus format (through GUI)
CiteULike	No	No	No	No	none	none
Connotea	No	No	No	No	none	none
EndNote	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	various [10]	EndNote format (through GUI)
JabRef	No^[4]	No^[4]	Yes^[4]	No^[4]	none^[4]	none^[4]
ProCite	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	various [11]	?
Pybliographer	Yes	No	No	No	none	Pybliographer XML
refbase	Yes	No	No	Yes	Various polar & marine journals	PHP
Reference Manager	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	various [12]	?
RefWorks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	various [13]	RefWorks format through GUI
Wikindx	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	BMJ, IEEE	OSBIB
Zotero	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	none	CSL
Software	APA	Chicago/Turabian	Harvard	MLA	Other	Extension method

Citation file formats

Software	HTML	LaTeX	RTF	Plain text	RSS	Other
Aigaion	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	?	No
BibDesk	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
BibSonomy	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	OpenOffice-CSV
Bibus	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
CiteULike	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	?	N/A
Connotea	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	?	N/A
EndNote	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	clipboard,XML
JabRef	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	clipboard
ProCite	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Pybliographer	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
refbase	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Markdown, PDF, unAPI
ReferenceManager	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
RefWorks	Partial^[5]	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	DOC, ODT
Wikindx	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Zotero	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	clipboard
Software	HTML	LaTeX	RTF	Plain text	RSS	Other

Word processor integration

Software	Microsoft Word	OpenOffice.org Writer	Kile/LyX	Other
Aigaion	No	No	No	none
BibDesk	No	No	Yes	Plugin for any Cocoa text editor
BibSonomy	No	No	No	none
Bibus	Yes	Yes	No	none
CiteULike	No	No	No	none
Connotea	No	No	No	none
EndNote	Yes	Partial^[6]	No	Partial^[6]
JabRef	Depends^[7]	Partial^[8]	Yes	Emacs,WinEdt
ProCite	Yes	?	No	WordPerfect
Pybliographer	No	Yes	Yes	none
refbase	No	Yes^[8]	No	Beta PIRA
Reference Manager^[9]	Yes	No	No	WordPerfect
RefWorks	Yes	Partial^[6]	No	Partial^[6]
Wikindx	No	No	No	Integrated WYSIWYG word processor^[6]
Zotero	Yes	Yes	No	none
Software	Microsoft Word	OpenOffice.org Writer	Kile/LyX	Other

Database connectivity

This table lists the academic databases and search engines which reference managers can import from. In some cases, a search and retrieval can be conducted directly in the reference manager. In others, a bookmarklet or Firefox extension will allow a site to be scraped.

Software	ArXiv	CiteSeer	IEEE Xplore	PubMed	Other
Aigaion	No	No	No	No	none
BibDesk	No	No	No	Yes	any Z39.50 or Entrez
BibSonomy	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	various [14]
Bibus	No	No	No	Yes	none
CiteULike	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	various [15]
Connotea	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	various [16]
EndNote	No	No	No	Yes	various [17]
JabRef	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	none
ProCite	No	No	No	Yes	various [18]
Pybliographer	No	No	No	Yes	none
refbase	No	No	No	Yes	none
Reference Manager	No	No	No	Yes	various [19]
RefWorks	No	No	No	Yes	various
Wikindx	No	No	No	Yes	none
Zotero	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	various [20]
Software	ArXiv	CiteSeer	IEEE Xplore	PubMed	Other

Password "protection" and network versions

Some reference managers provide network functionality. (N/A means the product has no networking, while "no" indicates it does (but lacks a feature).)

Software	Passworded	Networking
Software	Passworded	User-specific permissions	Simultaneous write access
Aigaion	Yes	Yes	Yes
BibDesk	Yes	No	No
BibSonomy	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bibus	?	?	?
CiteULike	Yes	No	Yes
Connotea	Yes	?	Yes
EndNote	No	No	No
JabRef	No	N/A	N/A
ProCite	No	No	No
Pybliographer	?	?	?
refbase	Yes	Yes	Yes
Reference Manager	Yes	No	Yes
RefWorks	Yes	?	Yes
Wikindx	Yes	Yes	Yes
Zotero	No	N/A	N/A
Software	Passworded	Networking
Software	Passworded	User-specific permissions	Simultaneous write access

References

^ ^a ^b ^c MSRP for full version with physical media. Discounted downloads and academic discounts might be available.
^ ^a ^b The GUI requires gnome-python, which isn't available for Windows or OS X.
^ ^a ^b ^c Supported through the bibutils plugin
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f JabRef is typically used in conjunction with BibTeX, which handles styling. It does allow an RTF in the Harvard style natively. Numerous BibTeX styles exist and can be created/modified[1].
^ URLs aren't active links
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Can reformat references in a properly saved RTF document, allowing limited use in OpenOffice.org Writer, StarOffice, FrameMaker, Microsoft Works, WordPad, WordPerfect, and others.
^ JabRef can be integrated in Microsoft Word using bibtex4word.dot.
^ ^a ^b JabRef and refbase can create a spreadsheet for import into an OO.o database to use the native OO.o bibliography tool. refbase's MySQL database can additionally be used directly by OO.o [2].
^ From [3]

External links

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