Move references between EdCitation, Zotero, EndNote and Mendeley

Zotero, EndNote and Mendeley transfer references between one another as files in two plain-text formats, RIS and BibTeX: export from one tool, import the file into the next. The reference usually arrives; what sat around it often does not. This guide covers both formats from their own documentation, each tool's import and export, what a move loses, and the check afterwards.

EdCitation publishes this guide, and every fact about Zotero, EndNote and Mendeley was read on their own help pages on 24 September 2026. EdCitation works at both ends of a move: a list built with Cite a source downloads as RIS or BibTeX made from the publisher's record, a free account keeps the list, and Verify references checks every entry that arrived against that record, free and with no account.

What are RIS and BibTeX?

RIS and BibTeX are plain-text formats for bibliographic records: RIS carries references into reference managers, and BibTeX feeds them to LaTeX. Both open in any text editor.

RIS, as its documentation describes it

The fullest specification we could read is Thomson Reuters' "RIS" Format Documentation, dated 2008 on its cover and May 2009 inside, which survives in archived copies; we found no current copy on Clarivate's sites (Thomson Reuters, 2009). Zotero's documentation says the official specification was last updated in 2001, and that files in circulation often depart from it (Zotero, 2020). The dates disagree; the rules below come from the 2009 document.

• Each field sits on its own line behind a six-character tag: two capitals (the second may be a digit), two spaces, a hyphen and a space.
• TY opens a reference and names its type; ER closes it. Other tags come in any order.
• Each author, surname first, gets a line of their own, and so does each keyword.
• Types run from JOUR, BOOK and CHAP to ELEC, a web page. A type the importing program does not recognise becomes Generic.
• There are tags for an abstract (AB), notes (N1), keywords (KW) and file attachments (L1), if a tool chooses to write them.
• The characters allowed are those from 32 to 255 in the ANSI set, so accented names are the first thing to check after an import.

BibTeX, as its documentation describes it

BibTeX's own manual is BibTeXing, dated 8 February 1988 and still distributed on CTAN. Patashnik (1988) sets out 14 entry types, from article and book to misc, the type for a work "when nothing else fits"; none is for a web page.

• An entry starts with @, its type and a citation key (the word you type inside \cite), then its fields.
• Authors share one field, joined by the word "and". A page range takes a double hyphen.
• A month is written as the bare three-letter abbreviation, month = jan, so the style can print it its own way.
• A style may lower the capitals in a title; anything inside braces is left alone.
• The standard styles ignore fields they do not know, so an abstract field is kept but not printed. The manual lists no DOI, URL or ISBN field, so whether those print depends on your style.

How do Zotero, EndNote and Mendeley import and export RIS and BibTeX?

All three read and write RIS. Zotero and Mendeley handle BibTeX as well, while EndNote relies on a filter and an output style listed on its download pages.

Zotero

Zotero imports 20 formats through File, Import and "A file", RIS and BibTeX among them, and recommends EndNote XML for a library leaving EndNote (Zotero, 2018). It exports a library, a collection or selected items from a right-click menu (Zotero, 2025b), and says it writes "fairly strict RIS" while tolerating the commonest departures on import (Zotero, 2020). Import from Clipboard takes raw RIS or BibTeX copied from anywhere: Cmd-Option-Shift-I on a Mac, Ctrl-Alt-Shift-I on Windows and Linux (Zotero, 2021).

Zotero is candid about limits: reimported items get new dates, lose their links to citations in existing word-processor documents, and in some formats lose fields (Zotero, 2025b). A RIS export from EndNote drops italics and bold, and Zotero's RIS import skips tags it does not know unless a hidden setting is changed (Zotero, 2022).

Zotero is the better tool for holding a library. EdCitation is the better tool for the check after the move: no Zotero page we read describes comparing an imported item with the publisher's record, which Verify references does for every entry.

EndNote

EndNote 2025 imports RIS through File, Import, File, with the "Reference Manager (RIS)" option (Clarivate, n.d.-b). The dialog also asks how to treat duplicates (by default, a match on author, year, title and reference type) and for a Text Translation, the file's encoding; new references land in a temporary Imported References group, and the help says to check those with extended characters (Clarivate, n.d.-c). BibTeX is not among the options that page names, but EndNote's downloads offer a "BibTex (Sample)" import filter (Clarivate, 2021b) and a BibTeX Export output style (Clarivate, 2021a). For RIS out, the help suggests the RefMan (RIS) Export style (Clarivate, n.d.-a). A text export carries no italics, bold, superscripts, subscripts or images (Clarivate, n.d.-d).

EndNote is the stronger tool for a large library and for catching duplicates on arrival. Its import page describes a comparison with your own library, not with the publisher's record; EdCitation's Verify references makes that second comparison, free.

Mendeley

Mendeley Reference Manager imports BibTeX, EndNote XML or RIS through Import library in its + Add new menu (Elsevier, n.d.-a). Export All, in the File menu of the desktop app only, writes the same three formats, and the guide says only the reference information is exported (Elsevier, n.d.-b), so PDFs stay behind.

Mendeley is the better tool for a library of PDFs. Its guide says it extracts a dropped PDF's metadata from the file (Elsevier, n.d.-a); EdCitation's Cite a source builds each entry from the publisher's record instead, the better start for a new library.

What gets lost when references move between tools?

Usually the reference survives and what surrounds it does not: abstracts, notes, tags, attachments, item types and capitals.

Abstracts, notes and attachments

An abstract travels only if the exporting tool writes it. In our runs on 24 September 2026, the RIS that Cite a source made for Walters and Wilder (2023) carried the abstract on an AB line; the BibTeX had no abstract field. A RIS file is text, so it can only name an attachment: move PDFs yourself. Expect tags set in EdCitation to stay behind too, since the records in our runs had no keyword or note lines.

Item types and article numbers

An unrecognised type becomes Generic in RIS (Thomson Reuters, 2009), and in BibTeX a work with no matching type goes under misc, so check that books are still books. In our runs, an ISBN came out as TY - BOOK and @book, a journal DOI as JOUR and @article. BibTeX's field list has no article number, and nor does the part of the RIS list we could read. For Waldeyer et al. (2025), EdCitation put article 105394 in the page fields (SP - 105394), where EdCitation's own APA 7 entry prints "Article 105394": make sure the number survived.

Capitals and italics

Zotero's documentation says no tool converts titles to sentence case reliably, advises storing them in sentence case, and says its APA style prints titles as stored (Zotero, 2025a). In BibTeX, braces decide. For a 2020 New England Journal of Medicine paper whose record is in title case (DOI 10.1056/NEJMoa2002032), EdCitation's BibTeX read title = {Clinical {Characteristics} of {Coronavirus} {Disease} 2019 in {China}}. Every capital the record held is braced, so a sentence-case LaTeX style leaves it in title case: remove the braces from words that are not names, and keep {China}. Italics, such as a species name, are lost in EndNote's RIS text export (Clarivate, n.d.-d).

How do I move a reference list out of EdCitation?

Download the list as RIS for a reference manager, or as BibTeX for LaTeX and Overleaf, then import the file on the other side.

1. Build the list with Cite a source, from each source's DOI, PubMed ID, ISBN, title or web address. A free account keeps it.
2. Download it as RIS or BibTeX.
3. Import it. Zotero: File, Import, "A file". EndNote: File, Import, File, "Reference Manager (RIS)", with a Text Translation that suits the file. Mendeley: + Add new, Import library.
4. Check what arrived, as described below.

A worked example: one record in both formats

On 24 September 2026 we gave Cite a source the DOI of Orben and Przybylski (2019). Alongside the six styles, it returned Crossref's record as RIS:

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Orben, Amy
AU  - Przybylski, Andrew K.
DA  - 2019/01/14/
PY  - 2019
DO  - 10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1
ID  - Orben2019association
IS  - 2
J2  - Nat Hum Behav
LA  - en
SN  - 2397-3374
SP  - 173-182
T2  - Nature Human Behaviour
TI  - The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1
VL  - 3
ER  - 

And as BibTeX:

@article{Orben2019association,
	author = {Orben, Amy and Przybylski, Andrew K.},
	journal = {Nature Human Behaviour},
	doi = {10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1},
	issn = {2397-3374},
	number = {2},
	year = {2019},
	month = jan,
	pages = {173--182},
	publisher = {{Springer Science and Business Media}},
	title = {The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use},
	url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1},
	volume = {3},
}

The RIS follows its specification: TY first, ER last, one AU line per author, and the page range in SP, as in the specification's own sample (Thomson Reuters, 2009). The BibTeX joins the authors with "and", uses a double hyphen, and gives the month as the bare abbreviation month = jan, as Patashnik (1988) asks.

How do I bring references from Zotero, EndNote or Mendeley into EdCitation?

By pasting or uploading, not by file: EdCitation does not import RIS or BibTeX. A list comes in as text pasted into Verify references, or inside the paper, uploaded to Verify references or, with Pro, to References from a file, which also matches every in-text citation to the list.

1. Copy a formatted list. In Zotero, select the items and use Edit, Copy Bibliography (Zotero, 2025c). EndNote exports a bibliography as RTF or HTML (Clarivate, n.d.-d). Or copy the list from a paper you wrote with any of the three.
2. Paste it into Verify references. Every entry gets one of three verdicts: verified, "check this" (doubtful) or not found. Retractions are marked, and when an index does not answer, the entry says so rather than calling the paper missing.
3. Keep what stands. Signed in to a free account, cite each entry again from its DOI or ISBN with Cite a source; it joins your reference list, ready to tag.

Slower than a file import, this rebuilds every entry from the publisher's record rather than copying the old tool's.

How do I check a reference list after moving it?

Compare the counts, open a sample field by field, then run the whole list against the publisher's record. A clean import message only means the file was read.

1. Count the entries before and after.
2. Open one of each type and compare every field with the original: all the authors, year, title, journal, volume, issue, pages or article number, DOI.
3. Look for items that became Generic or misc, garbled accents and new duplicates.
4. Recreate the tags, notes and attachments the export left behind.
5. Paste the list into Verify references, or upload the paper.

On 24 September 2026 we pasted lists with entries altered on purpose, the way a hand edit or a poor import can alter them.

A year one away passes only where the record holds a date in that year, as it does for a paper online in one year and in print the next.

Where is EdCitation the better tool for a list that moves?

At both ends, because EdCitation takes each reference from the publisher's record and writes none of them itself. The worked example's files came from Crossref's record, not from a PDF or a typed entry, and Verify references caught the co-author missing from the Waldeyer entry, a check none of the three tools' import pages describes.

• Free, no account: Find sources across about 300 million published works, Cite a source in six styles with a retraction screen, Verify references, and Check your paper.
• Free account: reference lists with tags, a filter by tag and a style for any single reference, copied with italics or downloaded as Word, BibTeX or RIS; a reading list; sharing with classmates.
• Pro, $8 a month, adds References from a file, Mechanics QA, Check AI and Check plagiarism, and Max, at $24 a month, puts Theoretics QA and the Library on top; both plans are set out on the Pricing page.

EdCitation keeps no PDFs, has no Word plug-in and imports no RIS or BibTeX files; a reference manager does those jobs, with RIS as the bridge. EdCitation vs Zotero and ZoteroBib and EdCitation vs Mendeley and EndNote compare them job by job; keeping your references from course to course is about where the list itself belongs across a degree.

Quick questions

Which is better for moving references, RIS or BibTeX?

RIS for another reference manager, since EndNote reads it with a built-in option and Zotero and Mendeley read it too. BibTeX for LaTeX and Overleaf. An EdCitation reference list downloads as either.

Can EdCitation import a RIS or BibTeX file?

No. A list comes in by pasting it into Verify references or uploading the paper; each entry that stands is cited again from its DOI or ISBN with Cite a source and kept on a free account.

Can EndNote import BibTeX?

Not through the import options its 2025 help page names. EndNote's download pages offer a "BibTex (Sample)" import filter; a RIS file, through the Reference Manager (RIS) option, is the simpler route.

Does Mendeley export PDFs and notes?

Mendeley's guide says only the reference information is exported, as BibTeX, EndNote XML or RIS, and only from the desktop app. Move the PDFs separately.

Why did my titles change capitals after importing?

BibTeX styles may lower any title text outside braces, and Zotero says no tool converts titles to sentence case reliably. Store titles in sentence case, with braces around proper nouns in BibTeX.

References

• Clarivate. (n.d.-a). Exporting for other bibliographic applications. EndNote 2025 user help guide for Windows. Retrieved 24 September 2026, from https://docs.endnote.com/docs/endnote/2025/v1/windows/en/content/15independentbibs_export/export_biblio_apps.htm
• Clarivate. (n.d.-b). Import options. EndNote 2025 user help guide for Windows. Retrieved 24 September 2026, from https://docs.endnote.com/docs/endnote/2025/v1/windows/en/content/08import/import_options.htm
• Clarivate. (n.d.-c). Importing text files. EndNote 2025 user help guide for Windows. Retrieved 24 September 2026, from https://docs.endnote.com/docs/endnote/2025/v1/windows/en/content/08import/import_text_files-win.htm
• Clarivate. (n.d.-d). Supported formats for export. EndNote 2025 user help guide for Windows. Retrieved 24 September 2026, from https://docs.endnote.com/docs/endnote/2025/v1/windows/en/content/15independentbibs_export/supported_formats.htm
• Clarivate. (2021a, July 15). BibTeX Export [EndNote output style]. EndNote. https://endnote.com/downloads/styles/bibtex-export/
• Clarivate. (2021b, July 19). BibTex (Sample) [EndNote import filter]. EndNote. https://endnote.com/downloads/filters/bibtex/
• Elsevier. (n.d.-a). 02. Adding references. Mendeley. Retrieved 24 September 2026, from https://www.mendeley.com/guides/mendeley-reference-manager/02-adding-references
• Elsevier. (n.d.-b). 08. Exporting references. Mendeley. Retrieved 24 September 2026, from https://www.mendeley.com/guides/mendeley-reference-manager/08-exporting-references
• Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use. Nature Human Behaviour, 3(2), 173–182. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1
• Patashnik, O. (1988). BibTeXing [PDF]. CTAN. https://mirrors.ctan.org/biblio/bibtex/base/btxdoc.pdf
• Thomson Reuters. (2009). "RIS" format documentation: Adding a "Direct Export" button to your web page or web application [PDF]. Archived March 4, 2016, at http://web.archive.org/web/20160304070416/http://refman.com/sites/rm/files/m/direct_export_ris.pdf
• Waldeyer, J., Hoogerheide, V., & Roelle, J. (2025). Learning by explaining through digital devices: The role of the modality of oral explaining and extraversion. Computers & Education, 237, Article 105394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2025.105394
• Walters, W. H., & Wilder, E. I. (2023). Fabrication and errors in the bibliographic citations generated by ChatGPT. Scientific Reports, 13, Article 14045. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41032-5
• Zotero. (2018, November 4). How do I import BibTeX or other standardized formats? Zotero Documentation. https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/importing_standardized_formats
• Zotero. (2020, December 2). Bibliographic data formats. Zotero Documentation. https://www.zotero.org/support/dev/data_formats
• Zotero. (2021, January 25). How does the Import from Clipboard feature work? Zotero Documentation. https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/import_from_clipboard
• Zotero. (2022, September 1). How do I import from EndNote? Zotero Documentation. https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/endnote_import
• Zotero. (2025a, September 16). How do I get titles to show up in sentence case in bibliographies? Zotero Documentation. https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/sentence_casing
• Zotero. (2025b, November 24). How do I export my Zotero library? Zotero Documentation. https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/exporting
• Zotero. (2025c, December 12). Creating bibliographies. Zotero Documentation. https://www.zotero.org/support/creating_bibliographies