Tags are simply keywords, and if you import an item that has keywords, or add them manually following import, they will be added to the tags field. You can also attach tags to items in your library. It is not obligatory to use collections: you may have some items in your library that do not belong to any collection (i.e. they are unfiled).įigure 12: Using tags as a filter in Zotero. For example, you may have a collection that contains the articles you have authored (this is useful when somebody asks you for a copy of one of your publications), and each of these articles may also occur in one or more other collections. Unlike a traditional library, however, an item in reference management software can occur in more than one collection. Organizing your library in collections (this is the term used in Zotero Mendeley refers to a collection as a folder) has one great advantage: it allows you to browse through the items on a particular subject (think of browsing books on a particular subject in a traditional library). Some organizations provide institutional level access to one or the other.įigure 11: Collections within the main Zotero library. As they are freely available, you can try them both, and choose the one that best fulfils your requirements and/or suits your personal taste.

Mendeley and Zotero offer similar facilities. Roy Rosenzweig Centre for History and New Mediaįigure 7: Collecting references from Google Scholar, using Zotero. Use own cloud storage (Dropbox, Nextcloud, etc.) Number of item types (journal article, book, etc.) Table 5: Comparison of Mendeley and Zotero reference citation software. The most commonly used are Mendeley and Zotero, both of which are free. There is a wide range of reference management software.

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