Reference Manager 12 includes a Web Publisher tool which lets you publish unlimited reference in up to fifteen databases to the Web – the internet or a private intranet. This means you can easily share your research and bibliographic information with colleagues anywhere in the world through a remote connection. You can limit access by setting a User Name and Password, optionally allow others to add, and delete and modify your references. It's an innovative way of sharing your research and collaborating on projects.

Web Publisher is a Web server that was first introduced in Reference Manager 11, and must run on the same computer where Reference Manager 11 or later is installed (because of this, you cannot use your ISP's server to host your Web Publisher site). As your computer is the Web server, the Web Publisher site is only available when it is on and connected to the Internet or an intranet via TCP/IP. With Reference Manager 12, the Web Publisher can now run as a Windows Service on Microsoft Windows XP and Vista, meaning it can be set to run automatically and remove the need to have a dedicated Web server; however it won't run as a Service on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008. As with any computer connected to the Web, there is an inherent security risk and you are strongly advised to use a firewall and/or other security precautions. If you are making a Web Publisher site available from a network, corporate or institutional environment, consult your network administrator or IT department.

Here's how you set up Web Publisher for yourself and others to access in Reference Manager (N.B. the attached file contains screen-shots):

1. From the Tools menu, select Web Publisher.

2. On the Databases tab, select the database you wish to publish to the Internet or your intranet and click Add. You can publish up to 15 reference databases, and remove any of these whenever you wish. You can also set access rights to permit others Read-Only access or allow them to add, delete and edit references.

3. On the Display tab, select how you want your published databases to appear in the search results list. You can select the output style you require; decide whether you want abstracts to appear; set the number of records to be displayed on the results page; and include or exclude links to record and edit views. The settings you choose will apply to all the databases you publish.

4. On the Set-Up tab, you can customise the look of your Web Publisher site: the Website name, a description of the site, the text of an About page using HTML tags (a link to this page appears in the footer of your site), the display graphic and a link to your Home page.

5. On the Configure tab, confirm or modify the technical settings: the IP address of the computer running the Web Publisher and the port number used. You can also add security to your site by setting a User Name and Password which anyone you wish to access your site must use to authenticate themselves. This tab also includes a check box for you to enable or disable Web Publisher, and the link to your Web Publisher site.

6. Allow a few minutes for the Website to load if Web Publisher has just been enabled, then use the URL link to see your Web Publisher site in your usual Web browser. Colleagues can use the Quick Search facility to find the references they want to view, search and create reference lists from; they can also export references in RIS and XML formats to import into their bibliographic package or other applications.