Zotero -- a free, open source research tool

July 26, 2007 6:55 AM

Zoterois one of several free, open source research tools developed by the previously mentioned Center for History and New Media. It runs within Firefox and allows you to easily capture bibliographic information from a variety of online databases and catalogs, insert in-text citations and generate properly formatted bibliographies... if you're into that. (Also check out CHNM's fantastic projects page.)
posted by cog_nate (13 comments total)

That looks pretty useful! Direct output to Bibtex format, excellent. Any ideas why it seems to pick up all information from e.g. ScienceDirect articles, but not from others? Or do I need to actually read the documention?
posted by swordfishtrombones at 7:48 AM on July 26, 2007

Wow, I'm surprised this isn't a dupe (not accusing it of being such, just figured it would've been here before). I've heard great things from colleagues about Zotero, but I can't stand it. Google Scholar's "Save to EndNote" is enough for me.
posted by aaronetc at 8:23 AM on July 26, 2007

aaronetc, I owe you one for mentioning the "Save to..." feature for scholar.google (available in preferences). How could I not know about that one? I've been copying the stuff by hand all this time!
posted by swordfishtrombones at 8:30 AM on July 26, 2007

Wow, this could so help me navigate the quagmire of APA style. So would "save to...," which I also didn't know about. Thanks cog_nate and aaronetc!
posted by sneakin at 8:32 AM on July 26, 2007

I found that Google Scholar feature for endnote after completing most of my major research. Would have saved me days of work.
posted by idb at 8:39 AM on July 26, 2007

I've been using Zotero for about 8 months. It's pretty good. Mainly it streamlines the process of culling bibliographical information from a database. You can use it to replicate some of the functions of EndNote, but I don't trust Firefox to organize my citations.

If they ever come out with a version that lets you search databases from within the Zotero pop-up window, that would be really revolutionary. As it is, it's a nice addition to the toolbox.
posted by felix betachat at 9:14 AM on July 26, 2007

I'm surprised this sexy beast had not been on the blue until now. I feel like this is one of those concepts that the initial internet pioneers had been dreaming about for the internet's potential.
It's still a bit rough around the edges and a few disadvantages.
A lot of websites and a few article databases (academic/research and non) are not zotero-enabled or the information captured by zotero is not correctly formatted (for example, all of the relevant info that zotero saved in a reference is in title section). There was formatting lost when I exported to BibTeX though.
Its snapshot feature is nifty saved a copy of the webpage to your collection, in case the page would move later.
For saving citation info of books on Zotero, I go to amazon and put in the isbn, and then save the information to zotero.

Zotero + Skim + BibTex + TeXshop = Academia Porn

I've used it (and the other mentioned tools) for a quarter at undergrad (anthro) and have loved it.
posted by fizzix at 9:24 AM on July 26, 2007

i've used citeulike.org to some success, and i'll try this out.
posted by eustatic at 9:29 AM on July 26, 2007

zotero is the first thing to make me wish I was back in school. grad school, even.
posted by eckeric at 9:39 AM on July 26, 2007

omg. save to endnote in google scholar? changed my life.
posted by k8t at 11:02 AM on July 26, 2007

eckeric,
Same here, except Zotero is probably the #2 thing to make me wish I was back in school. #1 is the free and beautiful assignment planner and homework manager, Schoolhouse. It's ridiculous how well designed and functional it is for free Mac software.
posted by junesix at 3:02 PM on July 26, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Also check out LibX - if your university's library has its own customized version of LibX available, it makes Zotero even more awesome.
posted by needled at 4:37 PM on July 26, 2007

eckeric,
Same here, except Zotero is probably the #2 thing to make me wish I was back in school. #1 is the free and beautiful assignment planner and homework manager, Schoolhouse. It's ridiculous how well designed and functional it is for free Mac software.

junesix you have no idea how much I love you right now
posted by Rubbstone at 11:44 PM on July 26, 2007