Table 1. Comparison of Zotero, Mendeley, Qiqqa, RefWorks, and EndNote AT A GLANCE Cost Free Free Free Subscription Life-long access for alumni of subscribing institutions 30-day free trial Individual: USD $329.95 Student: USD $115.95 Upgrade: USD $99.95 30-day free trial License GPL proprietary proprietary proprietary proprietary Free online storage 100 MB 1 GB 1 200 MB 100 MB 1 GB Additional storage 1 GB: $20/year 5 GB: $60/year 10 GB: $100/year 25 GB: $240/year 7 GB: 1 $59.88 15 GB: 1 $119.88 Storage: $0.19 per GB per month Downloads: $0.19 per GB Uploads: $0.19 per Additional storage may be provided upon request --- Alternative storage options Operating Systems Any cloud-based storage 2 via WebDav (e.g. icloud: 5 GB free, cloudsafe: 2 GB free, SwissDisk: 2 GB free, etc.) NAS 3 via WebDav Linux BSD Unix Dropbox (2 GB free storage) Linux - 1 - GB --- --- --- Internet based, OS independent
REFERENCE CAPTURE Primary method Alternative method(s) Attach Single click icon in address bar: Journal articles Newspapers Magazines Books Import RIS/BibTex/ Endnote In- PDF capture Webpage capture Import file Import most recent PDF via Zotfile plugin Manually import any file Bookmarklet (2 clicks) Watch folder Import PDF Import BibTex Import from CiteULike Import from Zotero Via integrated Direct Export Via integrated online search Direct Export from IE and Firefox Watch folder Import file --- Manually Manually Webpage snapshot Manually Via covert to PDF --- --- Additional file types --- --- --- Images Images Documents Audio Videos Any file type - 2 -
REFERENCE/DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT PDF annotations/ highlighting Via external PDF Reader e.g. PDF-XChange, Built-in Built-in --- Built-in Webpage annotations/ highlighting Foxit, etc. Built-in Built-in Via PDF --- --- OCR --- --- Text and Images --- --- Hierarchical Text search Full text Full text Full text --- Collaboration Private groups Public groups Social network RSS Newsfeeds Private groups Public groups Social network RSS Newsfeeds Private groups RSS Newsfeeds Private groups WORD PROCESSOR INTEGRATION processor(s) Google Docs RTF scan - 3 - RTF scan Citation styles 1600+ styles 1600+ styles 1600+ styles 3000+ styles 4500+ styles Create new citation Output style editor styles
INTERFACE OPTIONS Desktop app Web access Mobile access 1. Firefox add-on 2. Standalone app for Firefox, Chrome & Safari 3. Qnotero (quick access to Zotero ) Access to Zotero 1. Zandy (Android) 2. Scanner for Zotero (Android) 3. BibUp (iphone) 4. Mobile Standalone app with support for IE, Firefox, Chrome & Safari Access to Mendeley Standalone with integrated Access to Qiqqa Not applicable All s supported via web interface Any Standalone All s supported Access to EndNote Web via any web ipad app Mobile RefMobile Mobile PLUGINS Mind mapping VUE 3 --- --- --- --- Visualization Zotero Maps --- --- --- --- Other ZotFile (auto rename/move/ attach to Zotero items) ZotFile Reader (Dropbox/cloud integration) --- --- --- --- - 4 -
SUMMARY Strengths Weaknesses Single click capture of references, and web snapshots Single click capture for many online newspaper and magazine articles Lack of GUI style editor for creating new citation styles. Lack of Blackberry Best web/social networking interface Lack of GUI style editor for creating new citation styles Lack of Android and Blackberry mobile apps Brainstorming and mind mapping Recommends citations while you write Limited options for capturing references OS independent Too many clicks to capture references Does not automatically attach for creating custom citation styles Does not automatically attach mobile app 1 50% personal space; 50% shared 2 Does not support shared libraries 3 Network attached storage (NAS) devices. Recently, personal and office NAS systems (e.g. Synology series NAS) have begun to offer WebDav support. Although NAS backup and file synchronization does not support shared libraries, a similar effect can be achieved by controlling file/folder permissions at the NAS. 4 Citation style language (CSL) 1.0 is an open XML-based language for describing the formatting of citations and bibliographies. CSL 1.0 is currently used by Zotero, Mendeley, Qiqqa, and Papers. - 5 -