Reference Managers for Scientists: Pros and Cons of the Most Popular Programs

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The internet has provided us with simpler and quicker access to the latest research published in science, allowing us to view and download articles to keep for future reference.

But how do you manage to keep such a mountain of papers organized, ensuring that you can easily find that paper you read the other week when cornered in a meeting with your supervisor? Luckily for you, there is software that can keep all your papers organized, preventing those awkward supervisor meetings where you hectically search your computer for that crucial article.

Not only can this software help organize your literature, but they also enable you to easily cite any article in your library, making the writing process much less frustrating. But which of these fantastic programs is the one for you? Over the next several weeks we are going to discuss different features of several of these programs, hopefully allowing you to pick the one that is right for you.

Reference Managers for Scientists: An Overview

As an introduction to this series, we have compiled a table of the important features of the reference managers.

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CHECKLIST

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CHEAT SHEET

There are some lab math calculations that almost all molecular biologists need to perform, and often on a regular basis. Make sure you never mess up a solution or miscalculate your DNA concentration again, with our handy lab math cheat sheet. Print it out and stick it on your bench.

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How To Get Organized With Reference Managers for Science - An Overview

Stay tuned for our next post on Mendeley.

Want an on-hand checklist to help you analyze papers efficiently despite being busy with research? Download our free article summary and checklist template.

For more tips on keeping track of the scientific literature, head over to the Bitesize Bio Managing the Scientific Literature Hub.

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Laura Grassie

Laura holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Dundee. She has worked several different roles in scientific publishing and now works as a Managing editor at Bitesize Bio.