Zotero collects the articles, books and web pages you use for research, keeps your notes and PDFs together, and writes citations and bibliographies in Word or LibreOffice. It has a free plan with limited cloud storage.
Has 5 of 5
How many people bookmarked its code on GitHub. It shows how popular it is, not how good it is or how well it replaces the app.
How hard it is to start using it. Easy: install it like a normal app, or use it in your browser. Advanced: you run it on your own server, use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Its code changed within the last year, so someone is still looking after it.
Does the whole job.
Ordered by how fully it replaces the app, Verified, setup and, when there are enough, people's votes.
JabRef keeps a library of the papers and books you cite, in the BibTeX format used by LaTeX writers, and helps you find, sort and cite them. It runs on your computer.
Has 3 of 5
How many people bookmarked its code on GitHub. It shows how popular it is, not how good it is or how well it replaces the app.
How hard it is to start using it. Easy: install it like a normal app, or use it in your browser. Advanced: you run it on your own server, use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Its code changed within the last year, so someone is still looking after it.
Does part of the job.
Ordered by how fully it replaces the app, Verified, setup and, when there are enough, people's votes.
None of these match. Try another device.
Help me choose
I want to pick an open-source replacement for RefWorks. Below is a list from Open Source Everything (CC BY-SA 4.0), in the order its website shows it. The order is a starting point, not a verdict.
- Zotero: Zotero collects the articles, books and web pages you use for research, keeps your notes and PDFs together, and writes citations and bibliographies in Word or LibreOffice. It has a free plan with limited cloud storage. [Easy setup; Windows · Mac · Linux · iPhone; replaces fully; AGPL-3.0; https://github.com/zotero/zotero]
- JabRef: JabRef keeps a library of the papers and books you cite, in the BibTeX format used by LaTeX writers, and helps you find, sort and cite them. It runs on your computer. [Easy setup; Windows · Mac · Linux; replaces partly; MIT; https://github.com/JabRef/jabref]
Setup rating: "Easy setup" means you can install it like a normal app, use it in a browser. "Advanced setup" means you must run it on your own server or use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Full details: https://opensourceeverything.org/data/groups/reference-managers.json
Before recommending anything, ask me these three questions (one at a time, in plain words): 1) Which device or devices will I use it on (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone)? 2) How comfortable am I with technical setup: only installing apps from a store, happy to follow a step-by-step guide, or comfortable with servers and the command line? 3) What is my budget: free only, or willing to pay for hosting or support? Then recommend one to three projects from this list only, and for each say why, using how fully it replaces the app, its setup rating, and the devices it runs on. If nothing on the list fits me, say so plainly instead of stretching.
Before you build
Read the list of open-source projects at https://opensourceeverything.org/data/groups/reference-managers.json. Compare it with my project or idea below. Tell me which projects overlap, what I could reuse instead of rewriting, and what mine does that none of them do.
My project or idea: