← Back to Directory
Mendeley
Mendeley is a popular free reference manager (and academic social network) that helps researchers and students organize their research papers, generate citations and bibliographies, and collaborate with others.
Key Features
- Desktop and web-based reference library
- Import papers from databases or PDFs
- PDF organization and annotation (highlighting, notes)
- Citation plugin for Microsoft Word and LibreOffice
- Generation of citations and bibliographies in thousands of styles
- Cloud synchronization across devices
- Private groups for collaboration.
Pros
- Comprehensive reference management capabilities
- Free to use with generous storage for individuals
- Seamless integration with word processors
- Good for organizing and annotating PDFs.
Cons
- Owned by Elsevier, which has faced some criticism from parts of the academic community
- Some advanced collaboration or institutional features might be tied to institutional subscriptions.
Best For
Students and researchers needing a robust tool to organize their academic literature, manage PDF documents, and easily generate citations and bibliographies for their papers and theses.