Citation Management Tool Review: CiteULike

I chose to review CiteULike for my citation management tool simply because the ease of access to register. For all websites in general, I’m a big fan of the embedded “Log in with Facebook” button. All information included on the website would indicate the CiteULike is independently produced and operated. According to Wikipedia, the site was created in 2004 and in 2006 another company founded by the same person was established to handle the development and support of the website. The website is completely free, but the software is closed source.

CiteULike functions in a similar way to most citation management tools. You are able to amass a library of your cited articles and sources. To create a citation, you can: post a URL, manually input information, or import a file from your computer. All of these functions can be completed directly from the website without the need to download an application at: www.citeulike.org. Because the functionality is completely browser-based it is compatible with all operating systems, and also compatible with Chrome, Firefox, and most importantly, Internet Explorer.

The site is very comparable to more widely-known citation management tools like EasyBib, but it also includes a social media aspect where you are able to connect and share with other users to establish a community among researchers. From my initial tests, all of the functionality works well (web URL, manual input), but the option to input a file from your computer did not work completely. When uploading random .pdf files I found some inconsistent results. Aside from that, I would definitely recommend using this site to those interested. The functionality to have all of your citations in one place and also to be able to access other people’s research (for example, someone in your class) is a huge advantage when conduction research.