# Reference Manager

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Reference management software

Reference Manager Developers Research Information Systems, later acquired by Thomson ISI ResearchSoft Release 1984 (42 years ago) (1984) Stable release 12 / 02-09-2008 Operating system CP/M MS-DOS Windows Macintosh Available in English Type Reference management License Proprietary Website www.refman.com

**Reference Manager**[1][2][3] was the first commercial [reference management software](/source/Reference_management_software) package sold by [Thomson Reuters](/source/Thomson_Reuters). It was the first commercial software of its kind,[4] originally developed by [Ernest Beutler](/source/Ernest_Beutler) and his son, [Earl Beutler](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Earl_B._Beutler&action=edit&redlink=1), in 1982 through their company Research Information Systems. Offered for the [CP/M](/source/CP%2FM) operating system, it was ported to [MS-DOS](/source/MS-DOS), then [Windows](/source/Windows), and later [Macintosh](/source/Macintosh). Research Information Systems was acquired by Thomson Business Information (later Thomson Reuters) in 1994. Subsequently, Thomson acquired EndNote and ProCite, the other two leading bibliographic management programs. Rich Niles, founder of EndNote, joined Thomson Reuters as head of that division, and put all development focus on EndNote. Sales of Reference Manager continued until December 31, 2015, and support ended on December 31, 2016.

## Operation

Reference Manager is most commonly used by people who want to share a central database of [references](/source/Reference) and need to have multiple users adding and editing records at the same time. It is possible to specify for each user read-only or edit rights to the database. The competing package [EndNote](/source/EndNote) does not offer this functionality.

Reference Manager offers different in-text [citation](/source/Citation) templates for each reference type. It also allows the use of [synonyms](/source/Synonym) within a database. Reference Manager Web Publisher allows the publication of reference databases to an intranet or internet site. This allows anyone with a [web browser](/source/Web_browser) to search and download references into their own bibliographic software. It includes the functionality to interact with the [SOAP](/source/SOAP) and [WSDL](/source/Web_Services_Description_Language) standard services.

Research Information Systems also created the "[RIS Format](/source/RIS_(file_format))" which is now a standard for interchange of bibliographic information.

## Updates

After abandoning the development of Reference Manager in 2008, Thomson Reuters discontinued its sale on December 31, 2015, to focus exclusively on [EndNote](/source/EndNote).[5] In 2018, the Science division, which owned EndNote, separated from Thomson Reuters to become Clarivate. EndNote X7 can import Reference Manager databases and convert Word documents formatted with Reference Manager into EndNote formatting.

## See also

- [Comparison of reference management software](/source/Comparison_of_reference_management_software)

- [EndNote](/source/EndNote)

- [RIS format](/source/RIS_(file_format))

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Beutler, E. (1987-08-21). "Reference manager". *Science*. **237** (4817): 824. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[1987Sci...237..824B](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1987Sci...237..824B). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1126/science.237.4817.824](https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.237.4817.824). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0036-8075](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0036-8075). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [17771371](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17771371).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** van Gijn, J.; Overbeke, A. J. (1998-03-28). "[Reference manager: a personal database on literature for consultation and word processing]". *Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde*. **142** (13): 724–733. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0028-2162](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0028-2162). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [9623148](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9623148).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Matus, N.; Beutler, E. B. (June 1989). "REFERENCE UPDATE and REFERENCE MANAGER: personal computer programs for locating and managing references". *BioTechniques*. **7** (6): 636–639. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0736-6205](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0736-6205). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [2698652](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2698652).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Schmid, K.; Böhmer, G. (January 1987). "Reference master: A microcomputer-based storage and retrieval system for bibliographic references". *International Journal of Bio-Medical Computing*. **20** (1–2): 107–121. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1016/0020-7101(87)90019-5](https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0020-7101%2887%2990019-5). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0020-7101](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0020-7101). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [3549574](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3549574).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Thomson Reuters Reference Manager web page urging switch to EndNote](http://refman.com/)

## External links

- [Reference Manager Email List Archive via the last scrape available in the Internet Archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20170323120850/http://lists.adeptscience.co.uk/refman/)

- [Issues with Word 2007](http://www.refman.com/rmword2k7.asp)

v t e Reference management software Open source BibDesk BibSonomy JabRef KBibTeX Pybliographer refer Referencer Zotero Retail Biblioscape Bookends Citavi EndNote Mendeley Paperpile Papers ProCite (discontinued) Qiqqa Reference Manager (discontinued) Web-based BibSonomy KnightCite Mendeley Paperpile Qiqqa refbase RefWorks WizFolio (discontinued) Zotero Category Comparison

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Reference Manager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_Manager) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_Manager?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.