Migrating from RefWorks to a Replacement: Home

RefWorks Announcement

The MGH Treadwell Virtual Library has discontinued its institutional subscription to RefWorks, effective December 31, 2018. 

We recommend the following alternatives:

• EndNote: available for purchase (at a deep discount) through Research Information Science & Computing (RISC). EndNote also offers a 30-day free trial available at https://endnote.com/downloads/30-day-trial/.
• Mendeley: freely available at https://www.mendeley.com/
• Zotero: freely available at https://www.zotero.org/

This guide will assist you with the selection of your new reference manager and provide instructions on how to migrate from RefWorks to each of our recommended alternatives.

Library staff are available to answer your questions about selecting and transitioning to any of the alternative reference managers. Contact us via our online Ask Us! service.

Using This Guide

This guide is organized by reference management product, with pages devoted to getting your references out of RefWorks and into one of our three recommended alternatives.

Start with one of these pages, depending on which version of RefWorks you're currently using:

• Legacy RefWorks Export
• New RefWorks Export

Once you've completed the export process and saved your file(s), proceed to the instructions for importing your references into your new reference manager of choice:

• EndNote Import
• Mendeley Import
• Zotero Import

See below for help in selecting a new reference manager.

Choosing a Reference Manager

The following chart highlights some of the key differences between our recommended reference manager alternatives. If you have any questions or need additional assistance in making your selection, please contact us via our online Ask Us! service.