Zotero

Zotero is a reference management tool that helps researchers collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research. The tool emphasizes ease of use and the ability to handle research across various sources and formats, with an emphasis on control over personal data.

Zotero works by sensing research as you browse the web, allowing users to capture items from JSTOR, arXiv.org, or other sources. It supports organizing research into collections, tagging with keywords, and creating saved searches that populate materials automatically. Collaboration and sharing features enable group work and distributed libraries without cost.

References and bibliographies can be generated in different editors, including Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs. Zotero supports more than 9,000 citation styles, helping align documents with many style guides and publication requirements. Syncing options keep data across devices, with access from any web browser when enabled.

The project is open source and developed by a nonprofit organization that emphasizes user data control. Users can download Zotero to start collecting and organizing immediately, with optional cloud syncing and collaborative features that support group work and shared libraries. The tool is available for multiple platforms and aims to simplify research workflows by integrating browsing, organization, and citation tasks.

Use cases

• Researchers who collect sources and take notes across many projects
• Students creating bibliographies for papers