Rebekah Miller, Research & Instruction Librarian, rebekah.miller@pitt.edu
Last reviewed December 2023
EndNote, Sciwheel, and Zotero are comparable on some but not all major features. Choose based on those most important to you, but keep in mind that these citation managers are all interoperable, so you can always switch to a new one. Note that HSLS does not support Mendeley; if you are interested in that citation manager, please see ULS's Mendeley guide.
| EndNote | Sciwheel | Zotero | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website | EndNote.com | sciwheel.com | zotero.org |
| Where to get it | Pitt's Software Download Service | HSLS A-Z Databases | zotero.org |
| Library help guides | Sciwheel (UNC) | ||
| Access to your references | References available on computers that have access to your library and the EndNote desktop program installed. EndNote Online provides web access to your references, but can only be synched with one library at a time. | Web-based, so you can access your references as long as you have internet. | Available wherever you have web access and on computers with the desktop application installed, which can be synched with a Zotero web library. |
| Cost | No cost to users for Pitt faculty, students. $50 for staff. | No cost to Pitt affiliates | Free up to 300MB storage |
|
Search databases directly from the reference manager? (Note: You can also search databases directly, then send your results to your reference manager.) |
Yes. Search PubMed and some HSLS subscription resources (i.e. Web of Science) directly from within EndNote. | Use the Word 365 plug-in to search PubMed from inside Word. Can also look up articles via DOI, PMID, ISBN, or URL. | No, but can look up a known item by ISBN, DOI, PMID, or ArXiv ID. |
| Download references easily from PubMed search? | Yes. Download using PubMed's Send to Citation Manager option. | Yes, use the browser plug-in to select articles. | Yes. Download .nbib file type and import into Zotero OR use Zotero Connector (browser plug-in). |
| PMCIDs included in citation records? | Yes. | Yes. | Yes. |
| Ability to find and remove duplicate citations? | Yes, using user criteria to define duplicates. Removal can be done automatically or manually. | Yes, can find and merge duplicates. | Yes, can find and merge duplicates. |
| Works with Word to insert formatted citations into your document? | Yes, using Cite While You Write (CWYW) in Word. CWYW is automatically installed when you get EndNote. | Yes, using the Word plug-in (for Word 2019 or Word 365). | Yes, using the Word plug-in. |
| Works with Google Docs? | Yes, there is now a CWYW add-in for Google Docs for users of EN21. For users of earlier versions of EN, you can use Google Docs as long as you also have Word. Drag and drop citations from EndNote desktop into your Google Doc. Then download as RTF, open in Word, and click update citations in the CWYW tab. | Yes, a plug-in allows you to insert citations and search PubMed. | Yes, Zotero Connector now includes Google Docs support for Chrome and Firefox. |
| Edit existing citation styles or create your own | Yes. Can also download additional styles from EndNote. | Yes, using Citation Style Language (CSL). | Yes, using CSL. Zotero provides documentation on how to use CSL. |
| PDF storage capacity | Not limited by program itself, though your computer may have limited storage capacity. | Unlimited. | Up to 300MB for free; paid account allow greater storage. Option to store PDFs in the cloud and link to them in order to maximize space. |
| Automatic renaming of stored PDFs | Yes. You can tell EndNote to automatically rename downloaded PDFs using your choice of elements (such as author, year, title). | No. PDFs are web-based, though you can download them from Sciwheel if you want. | Yes, but only with the ZotFile plug-in. |
| Annotate PDFs? | Yes. | Yes (and webpages as well). | Yes. |
| Find full-text | Yes; you can also edit your preferences to have EndNote look for full text available via HSLS. | No. | Yes, but only for open access items. |
| Can you share references with others? | Yes. You can sync and share one library with other EndNote users, share groups using EndNote online, or create a compressed library to share. | Yes. Make a Shared Project and invite others. You can upload shared manuscripts and create shared notes as well. | Yes, using Group Libraries. |
| Includes research discovery tools | No. | Yes, suggests articles on your dashboard. Also suggests citations in the Word plug-in. | No. |
| Includes social networking features | No. | No. | Yes. When you create an online account, you are given a profile. You can search for other people. Zotero.org also has very active forums for users. |
| Features for accessibility | ADA compliant; see the report from EndNote for details. | Should work with browser accessibility add-ons. | Works with screenreaders; allows users to enlarge text and use keyboard navigation. Additional free plug-ins are available to further enhance accessibility. Known accessibility issues and potential solutions can be found here. |
| Privacy Policy |
Note: Clarivate is EndNote's parent company |
Note: SAGE purchased Sciwheel in 2022 |
Zotero privacy policy |
| App for mobile devices | iOS only | iOS and Android | iOS only |
| Supported by HSLS? | Yes | Yes | Yes |