Mendeley

Mendeley is a reference management tool owned by Elsevier that combines PDF management, citation generation, and social networking features for researchers. The platform stores PDFs in the cloud, provides robust annotation tools, generates citations in Word and LibreOffice, and connects researchers through a social network for discovering papers and colleagues.

Best For: Researchers who want cloud-based PDF storage with annotations, social discovery of relevant papers, and integration with publisher workflows (especially Elsevier journals).

Key Features

What PDF management does Mendeley provide?
Cloud-based PDF storage syncs across devices. Inline annotation with highlights, notes, and sticky notes. Automatic metadata extraction from PDFs. Full-text search across entire PDF library. Collections and folders organize papers by project. Tags and favorites for quick access. Mobile apps read PDFs on phone/tablet.

How does Mendeley's social network work?
Public profiles showcase your publications and research interests. Follow researchers in your field to see their reading lists. Discover papers through peer recommendations. Join groups around research topics. Share annotated PDFs with collaborators privately. Institution integration connects you with colleagues.

What citation features does Mendeley include?
Word and LibreOffice plugins for inserting citations. 9,000+ citation styles including APA, MLA, Chicago. Bibliography generation automatically formatted. Style editor creates custom citation formats. In-text citations and footnotes. Switch styles and bibliography updates automatically.

Can Mendeley integrate with research workflows?
Browser extension (Web Importer) captures references from databases. Watch folder imports new PDFs automatically. Export to BibTeX for LaTeX users. Integration with institutional repositories. Elsevier journal submissions can pull from Mendeley library. API for custom integrations.

Pricing & Plans

Free: 2GB cloud storage, unlimited local library, PDF annotation, citation plugin
Premium: $5/month or $55/year - 100GB storage, priority support, unlimited groups

Free tier suitable for many researchers. Premium mainly adds storage for large PDF collections.

Limitations

• Owned by publisher Elsevier (privacy concerns for some academics)
• Desktop app can be slow with large libraries
• Sync conflicts occasionally corrupt library
• Social features underutilized by research community
• Less actively developed than competitors

Getting Started

1. Create free Mendeley account
2. Download desktop app (Windows, Mac, Linux)
3. Install Web Importer browser extension
4. Add papers from web or import PDFs
5. Install citation plugin for Word or LibreOffice

Learn More: mendeley.com