Review and comparison of Reference Management Tools
| Zotero | Mendeley | BibTeX | EndNote Classic (basic vers.) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| URL | https://www.zotero.org/ | https://www.mendeley.com/ | https://www.bibtex.org/ | https://endnote.com/ |
| strenghts | intuitive and user-friendly; provides high storage space (for SNS scholars); high level of interoperability, both with other reference management tools and with resources within the broader information ecosystem (catalogs, databases, web pages, multimedia content); supports a wide range of citation styles; customizable citation styles; interoperable with LaTeX | intuitive and user-friendly; integrated PDF viewer; collaboratively curated bibliographic reference library; automatic synchronization with the Web Library | robust interoperability with LaTeX (including seamless integration with the collaborative writing platform Overleaf); tailored for STEM scholars (especially mathematicians and physicists) | intuitive and user-friendly; supports a wide range of citation styles (approximately 4,000); interoperable with Web of Science; compatible with MS Word and other word processing software |
| critical issues | limited storage space for non-affiliated SNS users (300 MB) | occasional malfunctions; currently under review; the web importer is not entirely reliable | complex software and lacks intuitiveness/user-friendliness | PDF management is somewhat cumbersome; the software’s proprietary format reduces interoperability with other systems |
| supported operating systems | MS Windows, Linux, MacOS | MS Windows, Linux, MacOS | MS Windows, Linux, MacOS | MS Windows, MacOS |
| web/cloud version | yes | yes | no; you need to have the program installed on a device or use other platforms that support .bib format files such as Overleaf | yes |
| supported browsers | Firefox, Chrome, Edge; a connector for Safari is available | Firefox, Chrome, Edge; a connector for Safari is available | You can not open BibTeX by browsers, but browsers can display files generated with BibTeX (.bib format files) | Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Safari |
| desktop version | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| compatible word processing programs | MS Word, Google Docs (after Zotero Connector install), Open Office, LaTeX, OIverleaf (LaTeX based) | MS Word, OpenOffice, LaTeX | natives LaTeX and Overleaf editors. The BibTeX website declares compatibility with various text editors even outside of a LaTeX environment, in particular with MS Word, using the P2P tool Bibshare (tutorial) which however is not available online (July 2025) | MS Word, OpenOffice Writer, Pages; only MS Word for the web version |
| manageable citation styles | 16 of the most popular styles are pre-installed; another 7000 styles are available for download; you can also create custom templates to customize the style you wish | 10 of the most popular styles are pre-installed; other 7000 styles are available for download | any predefined style sheets for different journals. If you need to customize the citation style, you can use the natbib package | more than 4000 |
| allows the import and generation of bibliographic references from these sources: | online catalogues (OPACs and discovery tools), bibliographic databases and research data sources, web pages, repositories of images and factual data | online catalogues (OPACs and discovery tools), bibliographic databases (particularly high interoperability with Web of Science) | the import process is neither automatic nor direct; instead, it relies on exporting records from information sources in a format that BibTeX can interpret. In most cases, OPACs, databases, web pages, and image or data repositories do not natively support export in .bib format, but they may provide intermediate formats that can be converted
| online catalogues (OPACs and discovery tools), bibliographic databases (particularly high interoperability with Web of Science), web pages, repositories of images and factual data |
| supports automatic sync between the desktop version and the web library | yes | yes | desktop version not available | yes |
| interoperability (import/export of bibliographic references) with other reference management tools | interoperability is based on standard file formats such as RIS, BibTeX, BibLaTeX, and EndNote XML, which ensure compatibility with all systems that support them, including Mendeley, BibTeX, EndNote, and Overleaf | import and export are supported with EndNote, Zotero, BibTeX, and Overleaf, provided that common file formats such as RIS, BibTeX, or EndNote XML are used | Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote | interoperability is based on standard file formats such as RIS, BibTeX ed EndNote XML which ensure compatibility with all systems that support them, including Mendeley, Zotero e Overleaf |
| supported file formats for import and export | RIS (Research Information Systems), EndNote XML, CSL JSON, Zotero RDF, MODS, MEDLINE/nbib, PubMed XML, and export formats from RefWorks are supported; the tool can also be used to create and manage BibTeX files | RIS (Research Information Systems), EndNote XML, Zotero library; the tool can also be used to create and manage BibTeX files | .bib (BibTeX native standard format); other associated formats (not directly supported): .bst, .tex., bbl. | EndNote XML, RIS (Research Information Systems), BibTeX, Tab delimited |
| supported file formats for reference attachments | PDF, MS Office documents, OpenDocument Text (LibreOffice .odt), images (jpeg, gif, tiff); also supports other file formats, with limited functionality | PDF, MS word (.doc, .docx), OpenDocument Text (LibreOffice .odt), images (.jpeg, .png) and audio/video files, with limited functionality | does not natively support file attachments. However, some extensions—particularly BibLaTeX—allow specifying a relative or absolute path to a PDF or other file type within a dedicated field in the .bib file | PDF, MS Office documents, images (.jpg, .png, .tif), and other multimedia formats |
| integrated PDF viewer (allows opening and viewing attached PDFs without external software) | yes, it offers not only PDF viewing, but also additional features such as highlighting, custom annotation and note-taking, and automatic note creation | yes, both in the desktop and web versions | no | yes, it offers not only PDF viewing, but also additional features such as text highlighting and annotation recording |