Citation Software managers are programs that help you gather citations from databases and the Web; organize them into folders by topic or project; choose a citation style; automatically add formatted in-text citations to papers; and at the click of a mouse, create complete bibliographies using those citations.
For information about Citation Styles (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.), see the Colby Libraries guide: All About Citations: How To and Tools
Which software manager will meet your needs?
| EndNote | Mendeley | RefWorks | Zotero | |
| Cost | Colby institutional subscription | Free; paid upgrades available | Colby institutional subscription | Free and open source |
| Access after graduation | Only with desktop version; must pay for upgrades | Yes | Yes, through RW Alumni program | Yes |
| Platform | Both Mac & PC | Both Mac & PC | Both Mac & PC | Both Mac & PC |
| Mobile device? | iPad app | 3rd party apps | Via mobile website | iPhone, iPad app |
| Web-based? | Desktop and web (EndNote Online) | Desktop and web | Yes | Desktop & web |
| Store PDFs? | Yes | Yes & annotate | Yes & annotate/share | Yes |
| Sharing possible? | Create groups through EndNote Online | Create groups, share a database, comments; social networking features | Create groups to share citations, folders, PDFs, annotations, notes | Create groups, share databases |
| Choice of citation styles? | 1000s | Some pre-loaded; 1000s available for download from Zotero | 1000+ w/ multiple library view options (with & without annotations) | 1100+ |
| Need import filters? | For specific databases | |||
| Ease of linkage to databases | Direct linkage from Ebsco databases, JSTOR | Direct linkage from Scopus, export in RIS format, or save PDF to desktop and drag into application | Direct linkage from many databases, often with dedicated "export to Refworks" option. | Direct linkage from many databases |
| Integrates with MS Word to create/format in-text citations and reference lists? | Yes, download plug-in | Yes, download plug-in | Yes, download plug-in | Yes, download plug-in |
| Capture web page and create record? | No | Yes; also capture bibliographic data from a web page | Yes, captures bibliographic data from a web page | Yes; also capture bibliographic data from a web page |
| Transfer records from other bibliographic software? | Yes (RefWorks) | Yes (EndNote, RefWorks, Zotero) | Yes (EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero) | Yes (EndNote, Mendeley |
