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Brown School Library

Location: Brown Hall, 3rd Floor
Serving the research and teaching needs of the Brown School community in social work, public health, and social policy.

Citation Management Resources

EndNote

EndNote is available for reduced prices through the Washington University Software Licensing service.  We recommend the renewable license. 

Retrieving Full-Text via EndNote

  1. Launch your endnote desktop application
  2. click on the Edit menu
  3. click the Preferences option
  4. click the Find Full Text option
  5. Check boxes for…
    Web of Science
    DOI
    OpenURL
  6. In the box for OpenURL Path, enter the following link to point to the journal articles that Olin and The Brown School libraries subscribe to: https://JE5QH2YG7P.search.serialssolutions.com
  7. Your preferences should look like this…

* The PubMed LinkOut option may cause a copyright violation explained here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/about/copyright/

How to Choose: EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero

Citation Software Capabilities

Below are comparison charts to help you think through which citation management software will work best for your needs. They all have pros and cons. 

I Need to:

Use:

Why:

…work from multiple computers or locations.

EndNote Online

Zotero

Mendeley     

Can be used on its own or with EndNote desktop

Zotero saves your citation library to your local computer, but syncs with multiple computers so you can work from home, work, or school.

Mendeley is a program that lives on your local computer, but syncs with a web account.

…work without an Internet connection.

Zotero

Mendeley

EndNote

Zotero, Mendeley and EndNote store your citation libraries locally on your computer.

…archive web pages and import citations from sites such as Google Scholar, Amazon, Flickr, and ArtSTOR.

Zotero

Zotero allows you to easily save snapshots of web pages and annotate them within your citation library. It is a great tool for scraping citation information from web-based publications and some commercial and social networking sites.

…work on a group project or share my citations with others.

Zotero          

Mendeley     

EndNote 

Zotero - share your citations through shared folders -- you can give individuals or groups permissions to add and edit the citations in the shared folder. 

Mendeley - share citations and documents with a group of up to 2 other users, or create a public reading list that is open to all.

EndNote - share your entire library with up to 100 people and EndNote Online allows sharing of one group from your library.

...work with unusual or complex citation styles, cite unusual document types or create my own document type

EndNote

EndNote has more citation styles than any other program, more flexibility, ability to customize styles.

...work extensively with PDFs

Mendeley

Mendeley has better ability to extract citation information automatically from PDFs, PDF full-text search-ability, and a social networking component to see what others in your field are reading and commenting on (particularly in the sciences).

...work with more than 2,000 citations for a research project like a systematic review EndNote EndNote has unlimited storage capability and can handle manipulating large numbers of citations with ease

 adapted from Penn State WashU Libraries

Citation Manager Comparison Chart

Criteria Zotero Mendeley EndNote
Website https://www.zotero.org/ https://www.mendeley.com/ https://endnote.com/
Web based? Yes, works with Firefox browser and can sync with online account; connectors for Chrome and Safari available Not primarily, but can sync with an online account which is editable No, but can transfer library to EndNote Online
Operating System Windows, Mac, Linux Windows, Mac, Linux Windows or MAC
Cost Free for basic account, some cost for more online storage space Free for basic account, some cost for more online storage space

$ 22.00 for WUSTL Students 

$44.00 for WUSTL Staff
Go to sl.wustl.edu

Word-processor compatibility MS Word, Open Office, Google Docs MS Word, Open Office, LaTex MS Office, Open Office, iWork Pages
Mobile Device Application 3rd party iOS and Android apps, web interface iPad, iPhone, 3rd party Android apps, web interface iPad, web interface
Number of citation styles About 16 pre-loaded, "thousands" available for download from Zotero Over 1180 Top 100 downloaded, over 4000 more available
Number of import filters 247 "translators;" other sources captured as web page About 50, + COinS, + integrates with Zotero's "translators" 700+
Import from databases Yes Yes Direct export from specific databases
Import citation info from web pages Yes, also archives the page and you can add annotations Yes, with a bookmark for a limited number of sites (mostly publishers or databases) only with EndNote Online bookmarklet
Storage capacity Unlimited local storage and data syncing; 100MB free Zotero file syncing (larger syncing plans available for purchase); or can use WebDav Unlimited local storage and data syncing; 1GB personal and 100MB shared online space (larger online storage plans available for purchase) Unlimited local storage
Attach associated files (PDFs, etc.) Yes, with option to attach automatically Yes, and can highlight and annotate PDFs Yes, and can highlight and annotate PDFs
Search full text of PDFs Yes Yes Yes
Duplicate detection Yes Limited Yes; fully customizable
Create group or shared libraries Yes Yes, free for up to 3 group members (larger group plans available for purchase) Yes, with up to 100 people and includes attachments and PDFs
Create bibliography with different styles Yes Yes Yes
Automatic citation extraction from PDFs Yes Yes Yes
Other features Sync library with multiple computers
Use tags to organize/search
Sync library with multiple computers
Sync with Zotero library
Insert figures and charts using word processor integration

 adapted from Penn State WashU Libraries