Zotero It is probably the best open source tool for making bibliographic citations, since in addition to helping us to make the citations, it allows us to store and classify our bibliographic catalog in the cloud.
As if this were not enough, there is no need to install the program independently but it can be used directly through their respective Extensions for Firefox, Chrome and Safari, thus allowing you to save Internet bibliography quickly and almost effortlessly. Added to this is the fact that the aforementioned Internet browsers are multi-platform.
In addition, Zotero allows you to make appointments using different standard formats (the best known being the APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard formats, among others). This procedure, which may seem simple, I assure you that it saves the end user a not inconsiderable amount of time. In case you have ever prepared a scientific or academic paper you will surely know what I am talking about.
Standalone program installation
En Ubuntu and derivatives, it is necessary to install it through the corresponding PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa: smathot / cogscinl sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install zotero-standalone
En Arch Linux and derivatives:
yaourt -S zotero
or we can download the .tar.bz2 file, unzip it and install it.
Installing the extensions
We can also install the extensions for our favorite browser by clicking here. They are very well developed, especially for Firefox, because from the browser itself we can see our libraries without having to have the independent program installed. In addition, we can also add citations to PDF files opened in Firefox (with 'right click'> Zotero> 'Create a new item from the current page').
Generally, it is recommended to install the 2 available extensions:
- Zotero
- Zotero integration for OpenOffice / LibreOffice
The first extension provides the user interface in order to organize your local library (which will magically sync with your Zotero account). From there you can add the complete information of the references as you consult them on the Internet. In some cases, such as when visiting Amazon or Google Scholar pages, the auto-completion of most of the fields (Title, Author, edit date, URL, etc.) is almost magical. Finally, it is also possible to generate a bibliographic reference based on a certain selection, which can be exported in RTF or HTML, as well as to the clipboard.
The second extension facilitates the installation of the OpenOffice / LibreOffice components and installs all the necessary packages so that you can use Zotero directly from your favorite office suite. Of course, it is also possible to manually install the Zotero plugin in OpenOffice / LibreOffice but this extension for Firefox automates the whole process, without having to worry about dependencies and so on, which makes life much easier.
Without a doubt, Zotero (along with Latex) is a mandatory tool for those who carry out scientific or academic research work.
Excellent tool. I used it in my old job (in a Library) and the integration with GNU / Linux is great.
I needed thank you very much!
It looks interesting, I will have to try it, although it seems to me an application similar to Evernote
No man! Evernote is for taking notes. This is to have your bibliography organized and to be able to cite in texts in a very comfortable way. They pursue different objectives.
A greeting!
At first I did not understand how it worked, but I have spent a while and now yes, what a good program! It makes the hard work of making bibliographies much easier.
Thanks for sharing partner.
The lack of a program like this when I was doing my thesis. There is nothing more frustrating than adjusting the bibliography manually according to the system they require.
Very good tool. I have been using it for several months to make the deliveries of my master's degree and it is luxurious.
Hug! Paul.
I use BibTeX to cite scientific texts and the truth is that I have never seen the need to use these programs. I guess I don't have a large enough bibliography yet to need it.
For some time I tried to use Pybibliographer, which was very simple and accurate.
Congratulations on the article. The scientific community uses GNU / Linux quite a bit and these articles are appreciated!
I had no idea that Zotero from FLOSS, I'll have to try it. In any case, I manage perfectly with Mendeley, which is multiplatform and my database is synchronized over the internet. The bad thing to my taste is that it is not FLOSS, but hey, better than EndNote is ...
I like Mendeley better, but the great thing about the world in Linux is that there are always alternatives 😀
Excellent article.
I use Bibus, although in the end I always end up doing the bibliographies by hand. Make no mistake, bibus is an excellent tool, the problem is LibreOffice / Openoffice that adds some labels between square brackets that I don't know what they do.
Hi hi… I need help installing zotero standalone on ubuntu 14.04 64 bit. I intend to use it with chrome and libreoffice, I have tried everywhere but I cannot install it… they are also quite new in Linux, any help is welcome
I'm surprised I haven't seen this before 🙁
I am currently using Zotero. And I must say that it is a great tool. Which saves a lot of time when making the citations at the foot of the pages and the bibliography.
So if someone has to do academic or scientific work. Zotero will definitely be a very useful tool for you.