Reference Management

Reference management involves collecting, reviewing, and integrating references into a scholarly work, such as a manuscript, research proposal, and thesis. Managing references can be a tedious process because it involves ensuring that the references are cited appropriately in the scholarly text and organized in a list at the end of the document in a specific format. Integrating references manually can be time-consuming, especially in a document that cites tens or hundreds of references and when transferring manuscripts between different journals.

The following resources discuss strategies and software that are available to simplify reference management:

Articles

• Gilmour, R., and Cobus-Kuo, L. (2011). Reference management software: a comparative analysis of four products. Issues Science and Technology Librarianship, 66.
• Lorenzetti, D.L., and Ghali, W.A. (2013). Reference management software for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: an exploration of usage and usability. BMC Med Res Methodol 13, 141.

Book chapter

• Fenner, M., Scheliga, K., Bartling, S. (2014) Reference Management. In: Bartling S., Friesike S. (eds) Opening Science. Springer, Cham. 

Videos

• Balasubramani, R. (2020). Reference Management and Sources, Indian Academic Researchers’ Association (IARA) Online Workshop on Reference Management. 
• Chrisle, D. (2018). An Overview of Reference Managers, Elsevier Research Academy. 
• Patwardhan, K. (2020). Reference Management, Banaras Hindu University. 
• University of Reading Library (2019). How to compile a bibliography.

Websites

• Ref-N-Write (2018). Top Referencing Tools and Reference Management Software for Academic Writing.