Reference Management

6 Best Free and Open Source Linux Reference Management Tools

Reference management software is software for academics and authors to use to record and use bibliographic citations. This type of software typically uses a database to store the bibliographic references, together with a system for filtering the list in a format needed desirable to scholarly journals and publishers.

This category of software is one of the most useful digital tools for a researcher today. It enables users to import references from sources, manage and edit the references, export the references, format the bibliography, and in accordance with international standards. Researchers and academics appreciate the essential functions offered by reference management tools, minimising the tedious task of collecting, organising and citing their sources.

There are a number of different types of software packages that you can use to manage the bibliographic details of information and the documents you find during your degree or research. All of the software featured in this article is available to use without charge, and with the exception of Mendeley Desktop are released under an open source license.

To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of the finest reference management tools that run under Linux. We highlight our favorite 6 reference management tools.

Ratings chart for the best free and open source reference management software

Click the links in the table below to learn more about each tool.

Reference Management Tools
KBibTeXReference management software primarily for BibTeX
ZoteroPowerful online/offline research tool for the Firefox web browser
JabRefGraphical frontend to manage BibTeX databases
BibLaTeXProgrammable bibliographies and citations
DocearAcademic literature suite
I, LibrarianBuild an annotated library of scientific PDF articles

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The software collection forms part of our series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. There are hundreds of in-depth reviews, open source alternatives to proprietary software from large corporations like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk.

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