| Developer |
RefWorks |
Elsevier |
Centre for History and New Media at GMU |
| Cost |
Not free (SPC No Longer has Subscription) |
Free |
Free |
| Access |
Desktop applications. Web-based applications |
Desktop applications. Web-based applications |
Firefox Add-on. Desktop Application through Standalone application on Internet Explorer or Chrome |
| Must be online? |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Import from databases |
Direct export from specific databases |
Yes, with Mendelay import browser plugin |
Yes |
| Export |
RefWorks format, RIS bibliographic software |
BibTex, EndNote (XML), RIS |
BibTex, RIS, Refer/BiblX, Bibliontology, MODS |
| How does it work? |
Export references from compatible databases into RefWorks |
Export references from compatible databases into Mendeley |
Click on item records to add to your Zotero references/collections |
| Import citation information from web pages |
Yes, with RefGrab-It |
Yes, with Mendeley Import browser plugin. Also archives the page and allows annotations |
Yes. Also archives the page and allows annotations |
| Cross-platform syncing across desktop, web and mobile devices |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Attach and organise associated files eg PDFs |
Yes (limited) |
Yes, and can annotate and highlight |
Yes, with option to annotate automatically; annotate and highlight |
| Screen capture web page content eg blogs, videos |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Extract DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Full-text searching across PDFs |
No |
Yes |
Yes: not enabled by default |
| Tagging |
Yes (keywords) |
Yes |
Yes |
| Add notes to references |
Yes: in 'notes' or 'user' fields |
Yes: in 'notes' tab on desktop |
Yes |
| Citation PlugIns for Word |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Word Processor compatibility |
MS Word with Write-N-Cite |
MS Word, Open Office |
MS Word, Open Office, Google Docs |
|
|
|
|
| Duplicate detection |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes. Limited |
| Create bibliography with different styles |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Edit or create citation styles |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes: via Citation Style Editor |
| Private Groups |
Yes but other users cannot add more references |
Yes: small groups up to 3 are free. Costs for larger groups |
Yes |
| Public Groups |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Sharing References |
Others can be invited to view references |
Others can be invited to share and view references |
Others can be invited to share and view references |
| Storage Capacity |
Default is 100MB per user. Can be increased to 5GB: limit of 20MB per attachment |
Unlimited local storage and data syncing. 1 GB free mendeley web space. More space can be purchased |
Unlimited local storage and data syncing. 100MB free Zotero web space. More space can be purchased. |
| Mobile app |
Yes. RefMobile (mobile and smart phones, PDAs) |
Yes. iPad, iPhone, 3rd party Android apps, web interface |
Yes.3rd party IOS and Android apps, web interface |
| Open Source |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Other features |
- Access for web-connected mobile devices at www.refworks.com/mobile
- Allows users to share citations
- Good for organising citations for papers
- Web-based so you are not limited to a single machine
|
- Sync My Library with multiple computers. Use tags to organise/search
- Great for managing PDFs; enables highlighting and comments on PDFs
- Has a social aspect: you can see what other users are reading
- Pulls citation metadata from PDFs
- Share citations and documents with others
|
- Sync My Library with multiple computers. Use tags to organise/search
- Simple download of records
- Good for managing a variety of formats, including webpages
- Integrated with work you do on the web
|
|
|
|
|
