| Criteria | End Note | Mendeley | Zotero |
| Platforms | Mac, Windows | Mac, Windows, Linux | Mac, Windows, Linux |
| Browsers | Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari | Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari | Chrome, Firefox, Safari |
| Browser Plug-ins | Internet Explorer (Windows Only), Firefox (Windows & Mac) | Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari | Chrome, Firefox, Safari |
| Mobile Apps | iOS (iPad only) |
Android, iOS |
3rd party iOS and Android apps |
| Word processing integration | Microsoft Word (Windows & Mac) | Microsoft Word (Windows, Mac), Libre Office (Linux, Mac, Windows) | Microsoft Word (Windows, Mac), Libre Office (Linux, Mac, Windows) |
| Importing References | Refer/BibIX, tab-delimited, RIS, ISI-CE, filters for hundreds of databases. | BibTeX, EndNote, XML, RIS, Zotero library, txt, Ovid (Medlars reprint), PubMed/MEDLINE (nbib), Mendeley web catalog | Bibliontology, RDF, BibTeX browser bookmarks, Citavi 5 XML, CSL JSON, EndNote XML, MAB2, MARC, MARCXML, PubMed/MEDLINE (nbib), MODS, Ovid tagged, Primo normalized XML, PubMed XML, RDF, Refer/BibIX, RefWorks tagged, RIS, Web of Science tagged, XML ContextObject |
| Add reference by Identifier | Available by searching external databases in the application | ArXiv ID, DOI, PMID | ISBN, DOI, PMID |
| Offline availability | Yes, references and files stored locally | Yes, references and files stored locally | Yes, references and files stored locally |
| Add notes to references | Yes, in “notes” field | Yes, via “notes” tab in desktop version | Yes, notes can stand alone or be attached to references |
| Annotate PDFs | Yes | Yes | No, but will sync PDFs annotated with 3rd party software |
| Attachment limits | Max of 45 attachments per citation; no limit on file size or total cloud storage | No limit on attachments per citation; Attachment file size limited to 250MB; total (free) attachment cloud storage limited to 2GB |
No limit on attachments per citation; no limit on file size; total (free) attachment cloud storage limited to 300MB |
| Auto-complete data entry | Yes, for author(s), keyword(s), and journal title | Yes, for journal title, tags, keywords | Yes, for author(s), journal title, tags |
| Collaboration and sharing | Free sharing of citations and attachments with up to 200 EndNote users |
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| Creates formatted bibliographies and in-text citations in a word processor | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Direct export from online databases | Yes: List (Connection files) or EndNote Click | Yes, via web importer | Yes, via web translators |
| Direct search of online databases | Yes, if RIT libraries subscribe to them | Can search the Mendeley database (papers in the libraries of other users) | No |
| Duplicate detection | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Number of reference types | 50 pre-defined(customizable); 3 user-created | 20 pre-defined | 38 pre-defined |
| Google Docs integration | No | No | Yes, through the Zotero Connector browser extension |
Use of RIT resources is reserved for current RIT students, faculty
and staff for academic and teaching purposes only.
Please contact your librarian with any questions.
