Arab Educational Information Network

This paper analyzes and compares a number of reference management software products that can be used by various groups of researchers, such as graduate students, school teachers and faculty members. The paper provides a definition of reference management systems and highlights their importance, the different functions they perform and how they can be selected. This study analyzes sixteen systems according to a set of criteria that include thirty seven evaluation elements. These elements are grouped under eight major categories: system requirements, searching and retrieving features, security, data import and export, file management features, citation and bibliographies, sharing and collaborative work, and help and support. The results of this study reveal that the best reference management systems available online are Mendeley, Colwiz, Bibsonomy and Zotero. (Published abstract)