Common Literature Management Tools (Sharing the Best Literature Management Tools)

Common literature management software includes many options besides EndNote, some are open source, some are free. There are also several domestic literature management software available. This article lists some common literature management software.

However, EndNote also has many shortcomings, such as supporting only two-level directory grouping, and EndNote does not support tags. In comparison, Zotero is much more powerful in this regard, supporting multi-level classification directories and allowing users to add tags to references.

Actually, these are not the main issues. The most important thing is that EndNote is commercial software, which is too expensive for ordinary individual users. However, EndNote’s redeeming quality is that it has no verification mechanism - as long as you have the authorization file, you can use it, and authorization files can be easily found online.

Mendeley

Mendeley has been quite popular in recent years, characterized by its community features where users can share and discuss references together. This is Mendeley’s biggest highlight. Mendeley has also incorporated the latest literature evaluation metric: Altmetric, which is an emerging paper evaluation indicator that better reflects the influence of new social media compared to traditional impact factors. Of course, impact factor is not an indicator of paper quality but essentially an indicator of journal evaluation. However, domestically, journal impact factors are generally used as important indicators for evaluating papers.

Mendeley is also free software that users can use without charge. But Mendeley has a drawback for domestic users: it requires internet connection and login to use. Unfortunately, Mendeley is sometimes blocked by the firewall, making it frequently inaccessible, which is quite frustrating.

Zotero

Zotero also has many loyal users. Zotero is an open-source literature management software. Zotero’s distinctive feature is that it can be used as a browser plugin, which is actually its fundamental characteristic. Local Zotero reference databases can also be uploaded to Zotero’s web server for free without space limitations. However, there are size restrictions for attachments on the web server - Zotero’s web server only provides 300MB of free storage per user.

Compared to EndNote, Zotero is free and its biggest feature is unlimited directory classification. Multiple subdirectories can be created under one directory, making reference management much more convenient, while EndNote only supports two-level directories. Zotero also supports reference tagging, automatically adding tags to each reference, and users can also customize tags, further enhancing reference management capabilities.

JabRef

JabRef is released under the GNU General Public License. The software is programmed in Java and can be used on various operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

The initial version of JabRef was released on November 29, 2003. The name JabRef stands for Java, Alver, Batada, Reference. Alver and Batada refer to Morten O. Alver and Nizar Batada, the two original developers.

I haven’t used JabRef, so the above content comes from Wikipedia.

NoteExpress

NoteExpress is a domestic literature management software. It is said to support Chinese literature and Chinese databases better than EndNote. It has many users domestically, but this software is commercial software. The student version costs 198 - not 1998! Not 998! Just 198! NoteExpress can be taken home~~~ The permanent version requires 698 yuan.

But with that money, I would use Zotero, so I’ve never been interested in NoteExpress. There are cracked versions available online, but I haven’t tried them. By the way, try to avoid using cracked software whenever possible.

CNKI E-Study

CNKI E-Study is an official research tool launched by China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). It not only has literature management functions but also online submission and writing capabilities. Therefore, CNKI defines it as a “learning and research platform.”

E-Study supports classification management of multiple file types and supports most global academic achievement file formats, including: CAJ, KDH, NH, PDF, TEB and other file management and reading. Added preview function for image format files and TXT files. Supports conversion of WORD, PPT, TXT to PDF.

Based on the CNKI platform, E-Study can easily connect with CNKI’s resource database, supporting CNKI Academic Total Database retrieval, CNKI Scholar retrieval, etc., directly importing retrieved reference information into learning units; automatically downloading full texts based on user-set account information without logging into the corresponding database system.

Other Literature Management Software

There are many other literature management software, some are niche, some have single functions and cannot be considered true literature management software. Interested researchers can try them. The following literature management software include some that are specific to certain software (such as LaTeX), some that only generate reference formats for web pages, and some that are truly free literature management software. One more thing: ReadCube, although an emerging software, may have significant potential.