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Which Bibliography Software Should I Choose?

EndNote, Reference Manager or ProCite: view our Bibliography Software Comparison Chart , and read on for our analysis and software training options.

Choosing the right software for references and citations is crucial, since you will use it frequently in your research and writing, to store important bibliographic information, and to share references with other researchers, writers and colleagues. Your choice of software will largely be determined by personal preference, your way of working and the industry standard upon which your work is based. And of course, an indispensible feature for one person may be seen as a limitation for another.

Return to Bibliography Software Home

We offer three bibliography software tools for desktop:


The key similarities between EndNote, ProCite and Reference Manager (namely the ability to store, search, download and use references) are designed to save you a great deal of time in managing information, thus enabling you to work more efficiently and effectively.

All three packages allow users to:
  • create a database of reference information, which can be used to create formatted bibliographies in Microsoft Word
  • import information from online databases through either a text file or a direct connection (via z39.50 protocol) or manually enter reference data
  • create a limitless number of reference databases and save these to any location on your computer or network
There are, however, a number of differences between the three desktop bibliographic software solutions, and it is important to take these into account when deciding which one is right for you. Click on the links above to read about them, and don't forget to reference our Bibliography Software Comparison Chart.

 

We also offer this related bibliographic software tool:

EndNote Web

    EndNote Web is a Web-based bibliographic referencing tool, included with EndNote site licences and also available to academic institutions and other organisations on an annual licence basis (it is not available to individual users). It is ideal for undergraduate and further education students who do not require the full power and flexibility of EndNote, providing them with the tools to help them write professional essays, papers and dissertations that contain correctly formatted citations and bibliographies.

Select one of the bibliography software products on the left to see how it can help you.
EndNote

EndNote is best used by individual writers and researchers who want to create a personal library of reference information for their own use. EndNote is the most intuitive of the packages and is widely used by post-graduate students, lecturers, researchers and writers from all disciplines.

Whilst it is possible for an EndNote library to be shared, it is important to note that it is not possible to have more than one user editing the database at any one time. You can save your EndNote library to a shared location (e.g. network drive), which will allow multiple users to open, search and use the references with Microsoft Word. However, it will not be possible for anyone to edit the database, unless they are the only person who has it open at the time. Should you require multiple users to be able to edit the same database at the same time, we would recommend Reference Manager.

EndNote is the only one of the three packages which allows you to embed actual files into your reference library, instead of linking to them via a filepath. For example, you could have a reference for a government report, for which you have downloaded the full article in Word or PDF format. EndNote allows you to attach the file to the reference, so you can open the file to view at a later date. You can also insert pictures and charts to create figure lists in Microsoft Word. This functionality makes EndNote ideal for anyone who has a large number of files which need to be catalogued.

RTF Document Scan allows you to use any word processor capable of saving files in RTF format to create properly formatted papers. This benefits users who do not have Microsoft Word installed on their machines and wish to use other Word Processors such as Microsoft Works, AppleWorks or WordPerfect.

EndNote is compatible with Windows and Macintosh systems - the databases you create in Windows can be opened and edited by Macintosh users and vice-versa. Of the three packages, EndNote is the only one which allows you to download your references to a compatible Palm device.

Find out more about EndNote

Buy EndNote software

Reference Manager

Reference Manager is most commonly used by people who want to share a central database of references and need to have multiple users adding and editing records at the same time. You can specify whether users are allowed to make edits to the database - EndNote and ProCite do not offer this functionality.


Should you wish to share your reference collection with a wider audience (including people without Reference Manager), Reference Manager Web Publisher allows you to publish your reference databases to an intranet or internet site. This allows anyone with a web browser to search and download references into their own bibliography software. It is possible to password protect your site and also allow others to edit the reference information. Click here to see our example site. Web Publisher includes everything you need to interact with SOAP and WSDL standard services. Reference Manager enables an individual to post databases to the Web in seconds, and organisations to integrate reference collections into their own enterprise portals.

Reference Manager offers different in-text citation templates for each Reference Type. When writing papers, you may want to have a different in-text citation style depending on the reference type you are citing, or journal you are writing for. For example, if you insert a reference for a Book which appears as (Smith, 1999), using Reference Manager you can also insert a reference for a Journal, and it could appear differently, e.g. Smith, 1999 (without the brackets). EndNote only allows one or the other and all reference types must follow the same template.

A concurrent metering utility is provided with Reference Manager, which provides a way of managing the number of Reference Manager licenses being used at any one time (EndNote and ProCite do not allow this).

Both Reference Manager and ProCite allow you to place a check next to references, instead of the EndNote method of highlighting them. Checked references can then be assigned to groups, globally edited, copied, moved and cited and so on - at the same time.

In addition, Reference Manager also allows you to use synonyms within your database. For example, you could specify that "Animal" is a synonym of "Animals", so that when you search your references for "Animal", references containing "Animals" are also returned.

Reference Manager is only compatible with Windows machines.

Find out more about Reference Manager

Buy Reference Manager software

ProCite

ProCite is generally used by librarians who wish to create a catalogue of references which include groups of records relating to a particular topic or theme.

ProCite allows you to capture information from web pages and create a record in your database containing the salient information from the site. This is useful when dealing with non-bibliographic websites (e.g. news pages), where you need to quickly enter the title and URL of the site in question. You can also specify an unlimited number of workforms, which are essentially templates for entering information and customising the fields available within your database.

Both ProCite and Reference Manager allow you to place a check next to references, instead of the EndNote method of highlighting them. Checked references can then be assigned to groups, globally edited, copied, moved and cited etc.. at the same time.

Find out more about ProCite

Buy ProCite software

Training

We run regular Bibliography Software Training Courses for EndNote and Reference Manager. These are designed to provide you with practical, hands-on experience and bring you up to speed quickly, so you get the most out of the software and maximise the productivity benefits to be had from your investment.

Both basic and more advanced hands-on Training Courses, each lasting a full day and delivered by our expert trainers, are held at our comfortable, purpose-built training centre in Letchworth, Herts., UK; and in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich in Germany. We can also deliver Training Courses at your site.

If you require training or a refresher on one or two specific aspects of EndNote or Reference Manager, our modular online training is also available.

Find out more about EndNote, Reference Manager and ProCite training

EndNote Web

EndNote Web is a Web-based research and writing tool designed to help students and researchers through the process of writing a research paper. Members of academic establishments with an EndNote Web licence (or an EndNote CHEST licence, which now includes EndNote Web) can search ISI Web of Knowledge, PubMed and hundreds of other online libraries for relevant literature references, import them into their own Web-based library of references, and format in-text citations and bibliographies automatically.

EndNote Web does not have the full functionality of EndNote, and is more suitable to undergraduate and further education students. However references can be imported directly from EndNote Web into EndNote itself, making it a useful complement to postgraduate students and professional researchers who can access, store and manage references when away from their own desks and import them later into EndNote.

EndNote Web is now included in EndNote site licences. It is also available on an annual subscription, site licence basis to Colleges of Further Education and other academic establishments that do not need a full EndNote licence. EndNote Web is not designed for single-user purchase.

Read more about EndNote Web features.
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