I, Librarian is a web-based application for managing scientific publications, bibliographic references and PDF documents. It allows researchers to build searchable libraries of academic literature and organise associated research material.
The software combines document management with bibliographic searching, PDF annotation and tools for retrieving publication information from scientific databases. Researchers can import documents, examine their contents and maintain collections organised by custom categories.
I, Librarian is designed for individual users and collaborative research groups, including academic departments and research laboratories. Its browser-based interface provides access to scientific literature from different computers without requiring a dedicated desktop client. The software can be self-hosted, giving organisations control over their research collections and associated documents.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Create and maintain searchable libraries of scientific publications.
- Import PDF documents individually or in batches.
- Search scientific literature using databases including PubMed, arXiv and IEEE Xplore.
- Retrieve bibliographic metadata from academic sources.
- Import bibliographic records using BibTeX, RIS and other supported formats.
- Export references for use with external bibliography managers.
- Search bibliographic metadata and the full text of PDF documents.
- Organise publications using custom categories.
- View PDF documents within the application.
- Add annotations and rich-text notes to research material.
- Attach supplementary files to individual publications.
- Identify and manage duplicate bibliographic records.
- Support collaborative research libraries with multiple users.
- Optional OCR functionality for scanned documents.
- Cross-platform support – runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Website: github.com/mkucej/i-librarian-free
Support:
Developer: Martin Kucej
License: GNU General Public License v3.0

I, Librarian is written in PHP. Learn PHP with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Reference Management Tools | |
|---|---|
| KBibTeX | Reference management software primarily for BibTeX |
| Zotero | Powerful online/offline research tool for the Firefox web browser |
| JabRef | Graphical frontend to manage BibTeX databases |
| WIKINDX | Bibliography, notes, and article authoring system |
| BibLaTeX | Programmable bibliographies and citations |
| Docear | Academic literature suite |
| I, Librarian | Build an annotated library of scientific PDF articles |
| Citations | Manage your bibliographies using the BibTeX format |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
LinuxLinks helps you discover the best free and open source software for Linux. Explore our extensive collection of recommended applications, including alternatives to popular proprietary software.We also publish software reviews, Linux tutorials, hardware reviews, free programming books and articles covering the wider open source community. Browse our Linux resources to discover more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application we haven't covered? Suggest a program for inclusion. Has your software been featured on LinuxLinks? Display one of our Featured on LinuxLinks badges on your website or GitHub README. |


Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.