Mendeley = paper management + collaboration goodness
Some months ago, I was looking for software to manage the papers I had been consulting for a large group project I had been working on. At the time, the best (aka cheap or free!) available options where either for Mac or Linux, nothing for Windows.
Mac users have an award winning software application called Papers (not free) that is all the rage or even Yep (free?), the Linux gang have some options like Referencer that did a decent job of organizing and downloading metadata for the files. But Windows users were stuck with… well, expensive software packs like Endnote. Oh, and maybe Zotero that is a Firefox addon.
Well, it seems that this is not an issue anymore, someone has been hard at work and there is now a real option for Windows users (Mac & Linux too (sort of…)), it is called Mendeley.
Mendeley is still in closed beta but it is already packing a punch with some features that make it much more than just a paper manager. In their words:
Mendeley Desktop helps you to manage your research papers as easily as MP3s. When you import your research papers (in text PDF format), Mendeley Desktop will try to automatically extract the metadata (authors, title, journal, etc.), thus giving you a hand in setting up your digital library. In the next versions, we will also introduce Microsoft Word integration, OCR for converting your image PDFs, sharing and collaboration features, and exciting 3D visualizations of your library.
But Mendeley Desktop is just the starting point to get more out of your research papers. In the coming weeks and months, Mendeley Web will begin to provide you with personalized reading recommendations, statistics about your own publications, up-and-coming topics in your academic discipline, a network of fellow researchers, and much more
One of the cool features here is that there is a Desktop and a Web component that leverage the strengths of each platform. It will be interesting to see how the collaborative features in Mendeley Web work.
I’ve just began to use the software today so I can’t really get into any technical issues I may have noticed, but from what I’ve seen so far, it looks great. The user interface is functional and the overall design is also quite pleasant, on both Mendeley Desktop and Web.
The friendly folks at Mendeley have given me access to beta test their reference management application along with 20 no more invites for my readers. If you are interested in being a beta tester, feel free to comment below and I’ll send out invites first come, first served.
I’m sure we’ll be hearing much more about Mendeley in the near future as the features start rolling out. Meanwhile, take a look at this demo (youtube) and let me know what you think about this app.
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Can you send me an invite if you still have one. It looks interesting.
I’d like an invite, if you still have one. This sounds promising, thanks for the post.
Hello,
I am a avid reader of your blog. I found very interesting Mendeley software for managing papers and I would like to try it out, if it´s still possible.
Thank you so much,
A.
I would love a beta invitation!
I just spent 30 minutes playing with Papers, until I realized they don’t have a winux version and I don’t have a Mac at work!!! Grrrrr! :D If it’s half as good as papers, I’ll be all over it!
Great post!
I’d like an invite. I’ve been looking for the Linux manifestation of something like Papers for a long time. Hopefully this will hit the spot.
Hi,
I’ve been using papers but have been somewhat let down by its development. I would love to give this a try :-)
Hi,
I’d really like to give it a try. I’ll let you know my feelings!
Nicolas
Sounds worth a shot … I do Wine and CrossOver Office … could I have an invite pretty pretty please ?
Thanks for the kind words!
Just came by to mention that there are native Linux and OS X versions in the works and we should have an Alpha release of them hopefully this month and a Beta shortly afterwards.
I always have trouble managing papers and references, and this seems like the perfect solution. Can I get an invite please? Thanks!
Sounds nice so I would like to give it a try.
I use Bibus in Windows and Linux, so i maintain a synchronized library and it’s free – a bit like Endnote.
If you still have one, can you send it to me, please?
Hi,
It would be superb to test good stuff :)
Sign me on, too, if you’re still only collecting potential beta-test candidates from your comments. Thanks!
Hi. Would you mind sending me an invitation? This looks very nice.
I’d love an invitation also. Does it have Bibtex support?
Thanks everyone for the nice feedback – very encouraging!
Jorge: Yes, it supports BibTex import and export.
I’d like an invite too please.
cheers,
John
I’d like an invite, please.
I think I’ve managed to send invites to everyone. I have about 3 more left. Hope to hear/read everyone’s opinion soon
If you could please send me an invite I’d be delighted :)
I’d like one of the last two as well, if you could spare!
I’d love that last invite. Many thanks!
And that’s it. My 20 invites all gone. Hope you all enjoy this promising software.
Too bad. I just found it but no more invitation left. :( If anyone has a spare invitation, could you give it to me? Thanks.
Hi all – if you want you can join Mendeley now without an invitiation code. We just launched into Public Beta and welcome you all to test and give feedback!
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