Endnote Reference Management Software

[Griselda Humbarger]

EndNoteis bibliographic citation management software that allows you to maintain a "personal library" of references and citations. It can also import citation information from the Library's Catalog, online indexes, and databases. If you use Microsoft Word, you can insert citations from your personal libraries directly into your documents and create bibliographies from those citations.

I am starting a book with academic purposes, and I intend to choose a reference manager to handle the citations. The citations are in footnotes (which is kind of tricky for a reference management software) and very specific (the most common citation styles will not cut it).

This is expected to be some sort of long term engagement, since the book may have to be updated from time to time. So, I need a reference manager that keeps being updated over time, and that may fulfill my needs over the years.

Also, I plan to use Windows (or OS X) and Microsoft Word. Sometimes I may use the iPad or even the iPhone to type some text (I know I probably will not be able to insert citations in these devices, but at least I do not want to lose the citations I have already inserted). I am definitely not using Linux, and probably not using LibreOffice.org or any other word processor for the task.

My main contenders so far are Endnote, Zotero and Mendeley. I am not considering other reference managers because I think these three are the most popular. My concern here is that I do not want to start using a reference manager that may be discontinued within the next 5 years because it had poor sales or because the company behind it is facing financial difficulties.

I have a copy of Endnote X7 and I may well upgrade it to Endnote X8 if it is worth it. Endnote seems to be solid, but development seems to be slow. I did not see much progress in Endnote in the last few years. I used Endnote for my PhD thesis and it was very slow in updating using the cite-while-you-write feature. In addition, some references got messed up when I accidentally replaced the library for an older version (it relies on the number of the reference instead of the name of author). Endnote was also poor to get references from Google Scholar. On the plus side, it was quite easy to customize styles in Endnote. Now Endnote is not under Thomson Reuters anymore, but under a company called Clarivate Analytics (some sort of spin-off). I do not know what this will represent for future development of Endnote, though.

I have also used Zotero, and it seems to be a good alternative, but I did not use it extensively. The Word plug-in seems very nice. It even insert citations directly in footnotes, so I do not have to insert the footnote and then the citation (which is the case with Endnote and Mendeley). However, I do not know about its speed and whether it is possible to convert the formatted citations to fields to make it faster if necessary. Development seems to be not so fast either (although not so sluggish as Endnote). One of my concerns is that it is run by a university and not a private company. Will it have funds to compete with the big guys in the future? Or will it be swallowed?

I have also used Mendeley. Mendeley started as being a poor alternative, but I am impressed at its development. The interface seems very good, and even better than the contenders. The Word plug-in seems very nice at this point, and it was even able to convert Zotero references into Mendeley references. The Mendeley website is also more visited than Zotero and Endnote websites, according to Alexa (these are #2 and #3 respectively). Mendeley was purchased by Elsevier, and it may be good having a rich parent to support it. But is it fast and flexible?

Now, which one should I go with? Or should I choose another one? I want a reference manager that is good, fast and straightforward, and that is updated at a fast pace and does not fall behind the others or get discontinued. And, if possible, that allows me to convert the citations to another format so I can use it with another reference manager if I need it to.

Having said all that. I suspect that over time, some new product taking advantage of new hardware may appear, requiring software conversion. A good new provider (or new product from a preexisting provider) will also include the tools to expedite the transfer though! Backward compatibility is wonderful, but eventually Developers may need to just start over. (I will probably retire before then though!)

The only other thing I would say is that Readcube has purchased the app Papers which was well regarded. They are planning to release a brand new reference manager later in the year that combines the 2 apps. So if you can wait it might be worth seeing what they deliver before you make up your mind.

Another thing is if you anticipate working with a colleague at some point you may wish to check what reference software he/she is using as you will need to be able to integrate that material into yours.

In regards to Zotero, when I was in graduate school, many of my cohorts used it because it was free. There were a lot of workshops hosted at the campus libraries about how to be better with it, and there is extensive documentation on the library websites.

You have many options when it comes to selecting a program to manage your citations; view the columns below and the tabs above for more information on specific citation managers.

All citation management programs let you:

Overleaf is a free online collaborative LaTeX editor with integrated real-time preview. It offers hundreds of templates for arXiv, journal publishers, presentations, exams, dissertations, and more. The Library licenses Overleaf for Institutions to provide access to premium features for faculty, students, and staff. Sign up with or add your Berkeley email address to get access to these features:

Mendeley is a free citation manager and academic social network with web-based, desktop, and mobile versions. Works with Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, and BibTeX. The most up to date tips and help are on Mendeley's website.

EndNote is a client-based program, which means the software resides on your computer and is not accessible via the Internet (but you can sync with the web-based version). The most up to date tips and help are on EndNote's website. EndNote features include:

EndNote Basic, a free web-based version, limits the number of citations you can store, has a limited number of citation styles, and a limited number databases that it's compatible with. UC affiliates, as well as purchasers of EndNote Desktop, also get access to the full EndNote Online.

Other citation management tools at use by your UCB colleagues are using include: Sciwheel (formerly F1000 Workspace), Qiqqa, Paperpile, Citationsy, and ReadCube Papers. Google Docs also has a (very limited) citation tool.

Use the open source AnyStyle to parses your bibliographies or lists of references regardless of citation style and and turns them into structured, bibliographic data. This is useful if you have a list of references (eg, in a Word document) and wish to import them to citation management software.

EndNote Desktop is a powerful citation manager that will allow you to organize large quantities of references for many projects. EndNote Online works either in conjunction with EndNote Desktop for collaboration or as a free stand-alone tool.

There is a known issue with EndNote working properly with Word when Mendeley is also installed on the computer. Having both running may cause problems with the Word plug-ins, with citations not being formatted when using EndNote with Word.

Mendeley had been running two versions of their reference management system: the older Mendeley Desktop and newer Mendeley Reference Manager. They are discontinuing the old version (Mendeley Desktop) as of September 1, 2022.

Current users of Mendeley Desktop will be able to continue using the discontinued application installed on their computers, but there will not be updates and it will not be compatible with future operating systems.

BibTeX is a bibliographic software program that is used in conjunction with the LaTeX typesetting software. You can use BibTeX to organize your references and create a bibliography within a document created with LaTeX.

This introductory BibTeX video introduces you to the basics of using BibTeX to add references to a paper being written in LaTeX. For more information, explore the Wikibook chapter on using BibTeX with LaTeX.

Citation management software, also known as bibliographic management software or citation managers, can help you manage and organize your citations and format bibliographies and footnotes in your papers.

Purdue University Libraries currently supports EndNote, EndNote Basic, and Zotero. The latter two are web-based and available free to Purdue users. See this comparison chart to learn more about these free programs so you can decide which one can better meet your research needs.

Many different citation management tools are available - some are available for free while others are not. EndNote is a leading product in a group of desktop, fee-based, citation managers. Competing with the desktop products are web-based programs. Popular names in this second group are Refworks, EndNote Basic, Zotero, and many more. All citation managers carry out the same basic functions but specific features may vary from program to program.

Inserting citations into word processing documents. Using a "cite-while-you-write" feature, citations and footnotes or endnotes can be inserted into their proper place as you write a paper or manuscript. As they are inserted, a bibliography is automatically generated and updated as you change the citations. The newest software versions can permit tables and figures to be inserted as "citations".

Linking between citations to image or PDF files. Recent versions of citation managers permit links to image or PDF files stored on the hard drive of your computer. Legends to images, figures and tables can be created. Linked images and PDF files can also be inserted into word processing documents as if they were citations.

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