With the recent announcement about the end of the University of Alberta’s subscription to RefWorks on October 1, 2021, we wanted to give those interested in trying a new reference manager some information about alternatives to RefWorks. During the last three weeks we have been sharing information about three commonly used citation managers. This final post is about EndNote…
This post was written by Megan Kennedy one of our librarians from the Scott Library
EndNote is a reference management software that helps you to collect, organize and cite references in your library. There are two different versions EndNote: 1) Paid desktop version (referred to and EndNote X9); 2) Free web-based version (referred to as EndNote Basic or EndNote Web). EndNote X9 requires a moderate amount of training in order to use the software effectively, but EndNote Basic is fairly user friendly and requires a minimal amount of training in order to effectively use the software. EndNote is owned and operated by Clarivate.
EndNote X9 is an excellent option for users who need to store 50,000+ references and want unlimited attachment storage. Many researchers conducting synthesis reviews use EndNote X9. EndNote Basic is a good choice for users looking to collect and organize references for small to medium scale projects (eg. capping projects, thesis/dissertation work) and users who want to automate the citation process in their writing.
EndNote Training Resources: YouTube, EndNote Knowledge Base
Positives:
- EndNote X9 offers 7000+ citation styles and ability to edit existing styles and add new styles as needed. “Cite while you write” feature compatible with Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, and Apple Pages
- EndNote Basic allows storage of 50,000 references and 2GB of attachments. EndNote X9 offers unlimited storage
- Both EndNote Basic and EndNote X9 offer access to Manuscript Matcher
- EndNote X9 offers option for bulk import of PDFs when working with Covidence
- Option to send references directly from popular databases (both EndNote Basic and X9)
- EndNote X9 allows annotation, note taking and searching full-text PDFs
- EndNote app available for iPad
- EndNote Capture Reference tool makes it easy to “grab” PDFs and other documents with the click of a button BUT non-traditional sources, such as web pages, may need manual adjustment to citation metadata and you cannot snapshots of the web page
- Very easy to access support via EndNote Support page and EndNote Community page
Drawbacks:
- EndNote X9 not compatible with DropBox and other cloud storage. This issue can be resolved by saving database files locally to your computer and turning off sync
- EndNote Basic offers only 21 citation styles (but these are the 21 most commonly utilized citation styles)
- Cost of EndNote X9 is significant ($135 CAD)
- Limited PDF storage using EndNote Basic (unlimited local storage using EndNote X9); BUT when we say “limited” you should be able to store 1000+ PDFs in the cloud (number is dependent on the size of your PDFs)
Are you looking for information on how to transition reference data from your RefWorks account, or a comparison of various RefWorks alternatives? Visit our RefWorks Transition Guide.
