Wikipedia

Mendeley

Mendeleyis areference managersoftware founded in 2007 byPhDstudents Paul Foeckler, Victor Henning, Jan Reichelt and acquired by the Dutchacademic publishingcompanyElsevierin 2013. It is used to manage and share research papers and to generatebibliographiesfor scholarly articles.

Mendeley
Original author(s)Paul Foeckler, Victor Henning, Jan Reichelt[1]
Developer(s)Elsevier
Initial releaseAugust 2008;16 years ago(2008-08)
Stable release
2.108.0[2] /17 January 2024
Operating systemWindows,macOS,Linux
Available inEnglish
TypeReference management software
LicenseProprietary
Websitemendeley.com

History

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The company Mendeley, named after the German-Czech biologistGregor Mendeland the Russian chemistDmitri Mendeleev,[3]was founded in London in November 2007 by three GermanPhDstudents. The first publicbeta versionof the software was released in August 2008. The company's investors included some people previously involved withLast.fm,Skype,andWarner Music Group,[4]as well as academicians fromCambridgeandJohns Hopkins University.

Victor Henning and Jan Reichelt receiving the Plugg "European Start-up of the Year" award, 2009

In 2009, Mendeley won several awards including Plugg.eu "European Start-up of the Year 2009",[5][6]TechCrunch Europas "Best Social Innovation Which Benefits Society 2009",[7]andThe Guardianranked it #6 in "Top 100 tech media companies".[8]

In 2012, Mendeley was one of therepositoriesforgreen Open Accessrecommended by the American philosopherPeter Suber,a leading voice in theopen accessmovement.[9]This recommendation was revoked after Elsevier bought Mendeley andlicensedit as aproprietary software.[10]

Mendeley was purchased by theacademic publisherElsevierin early 2013. The deal price was speculated to be €50 million (US$65 million).[11]The sale led to debate on scientific networks and in the media interested inOpen Access,[12]and upset members of the scientific community[13]who felt that the Mendeley's acquisition by Elsevier wasantitheticalto Mendeley's open sharing model.[14]

David Dobbs, inThe New Yorker,suggested Elsevier's reasons for buying Mendeley could have been to acquire its user data and/or to "destroy or co opt anopen-scienceicon that threatens itsbusiness model."[14]This was contrasted to anon-profitservice likeUnpaywall,which marketed itself as not susceptible to a sell-out to Elsevier.[15]

Products evolution

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After the acquisition, the Mendeley team extended its product line while continuing to iterate on its core reference manager application (Mendeley Desktop).

On 23 September 2013, Mendeley announcediPhoneandiPadapps.[16]AnAndroidapp followed shortly after.

On 12 January 2015, Mendeley announced the acquisition of Newsflo, a service which provided links to press coverage of researchers' work.[17][18]The functionality was subsequently incorporated into Mendeley Feed and Mendeley Profile.

In April 2016, Mendeley Data, a platform for sharing citable research datasets online, was promoted out of beta.[19]

In October 2016, Mendeley Careers was launched. The service is intended to help researchers locate job opportunities.[20]

On 24 May 2019, Elsevier announced two new products: Mendeley Reference Manager and Mendeley Cite.[21]

On 15 March 2021, the Mendeley mobile app was removed from theApple App StoreandGoogle Play,leaving the only way to access the services via the web site, or using Mendeley Reference Manager (desktop app).[22]The literature search function in the desktop application had also been removed.

In September 2022, Elsevier discontinued the downloads of the legacy "Mendeley Desktop" application as part of a transition to the newweb-basedsolution (still accessible from the desktop with the more recent "Mendeley Reference Manager" ). The company plans to permanently stop the signs-in to "Mendeley Desktop" in a longer term.[23]

Mendeley components

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Mendeley is based on a web service requiring to first create a personal account on the Mendeley site. On the local computer side, it works in conjunction with a word processorplug-in,oradd-in(mandatory), and a desktop application (now facultative for the latest current version).

The new "Mendeley Reference Manager library" iscloud-based.On 7 September 2020, it replaced the former "Mendeley Web Library". This guarantees that the latest changes are always saved in thecloudand that references are accessible on several devices.

The table here below provides an overview of the different Mendeley components and allows to compare the discontinued and the current applications. While the deprecated "Mendeley Desktop" is still active, it needs to be used in conjunction with the legacy "Cite-O-Matic" Wordplug-in.The new "Mendeley Reference Manager" works with the "Mendeley Cite" Wordadd-in.The "Mendeley Cite" Word add-in being a stand alone plug-in, it can also be directly used with Word without requiring "Mendeley Reference Manager" (desktop app) to be open, or even installed.

Overview of the Mendeley software components (discontinued and currently developed) and their compatibility
Function of the Mendeley component Discontinued Currently developed
Mendeley Web account always required "Mendeley Web Library" "Mendeley Reference Manager" (web)
Desktop application (allowing to work off-line) "Mendeley Desktop" "Mendeley Reference Manager" (desktop)
Citation Word*plug-in/add-in "Cite-O-Matic" Word*plug-in "Mendeley Cite" Word*add-in (stand alone app)
Add-onto web browser to discover references Mendeley Web Importer for Chrome and Firefox (current)
Compatibility withWindows ForWindows 7+ For Windows 7+
Compatibility withmacOS For macOS versions older than 10.15
(Catalina,already incompatible)		 From macOS 10.10 (Yosemite)
and more recent
Note:Microsoft Word*,or otherword processorssupported by Mendeley such asLibreOffice.

Mendeley requires first to create a free account on its web site. Institutional, or premium, accounts also exist providing extra storage space to their users (academics, universities, research organisms, subscribing companies…). Free accounts can be upgraded to institutional accounts provided the user logs in with their institutional email address. If preferred, after the add-in "Mendeley Cite" has first been installed in the word processor, Mendeley can also be used entirely online, without downloading the "Mendeley Reference Manager" desktop app. Then, the library of references is simply accessed by logging into the Mendeley account with a web browser.

The new citation Word add-in "Mendeley Cite" is astandalone application,which means that it can be used without having to open, or even to install, "Mendeley Reference Manager", as well as being used with online versions of Word (for Windows or macOS). This points out to the predominant importance of the cloud-based database which should always be considered by the user as the "master" prevalent reference database in order to anticipate known and potential issues when switching back from off-line to on-line, after a period of disconnection with the desktop application.

Both the legacy and the new desktop applications allow to work off-line when no web connection is available, and also offer extra features. To properly function, they need to be regularly synchronised (synced) on-line with the "master" database stored in the cloud, and some operations with the desktop app, such as importing references fromtext files(.ris,.bibtex,,xml…) require to be connected on-line to avoid issues. Both desktop applications support various additional functionalities such as multiple PDFs local annotations, and ideas organisation, using the Mendeley Notebook.[24]Only the desktop apps (Windows, macOS, and Linux) allow to export all the references in one shot as a text file.

Limitations and known issues

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Not all the features available in the legacy "Mendeley Desktop" application have been yet implemented in the new "Mendeley Reference Manager" desktop application and it is unclear if they will be, because the "master" reference database of Mendeley is the on-line database available in the cloud, not the local database (a copy of the master) temporarily stored on the personal computer for working off-line. To avoid problems while being off-line with the recent "Mendeley Reference Manager" desktop version, new references directly imported from text files (.ris,.bibtex,.xml…) must always first be added to the "master" web database when being connected on-line.[25]When being off-line, only small changes manually applied to the local database by using the keyboard (i.e., typos corrections, or hand-typed references) are properly synced with the "master" web database.

It is not possible to export as a text file (.ris,.bibtex,.xml…) all the references stored in a library in one shot with "Mendeley Reference Manager web". The complete set of all the references can only be exported from the "Mendeley Reference Manager" desktop app (preferably when being connected on-line).[26]However, the web version allows to export selected references or collections.

Mendeley lacks a function to control thecapitalisationof words in the reference title, so that the list of references generated in a document may contain a mix of titles presented in differentletter caseformats such as "Sentence case"or"Title Case".

The "Mendeley Reference Manager" desktop app works fine withmacOSrecent versions (Ventura,Sonoma), but as it is not yetoptimizedfor thenew mac familyequipped with theApple siliconM-seriesSoC processors,it requires the automatic installation ofRosetta 2to run.Rosetta 2is adynamic binary translatorwhich convertson the flytheinstructionswritten for theIntelx86-64processor family to the SoC (System on a Chip) of the new Apple M-series. Rosetta 2 silently works in the background, and as it does not require any interaction from the user, has even nographical user interface.After the automatic installation of Rosetta 2, the correct handling of theApple Disk Image(.dmg file) containing thedrag and drop installercan be confusing, and quite disturbing, for the user unfamiliar with this kind of installer, if he does not immediately realise that he has todrag and dropthe app icon (left) onto the shortcut of the Applications folder (right) to correctly copy the Mendeley desktop program at the right place on the Mac. After opening the disk image containing the installer, simply doubly clicking on the "Mendeley Reference Manager" desktop app icon only launches the desktop program and initiates the online registration procedure without copying the program into the Mac Applications folder as anticipated. However, a furtherdrag and dropoperation is sufficient to complete the installation without problem.

Features

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The software can track reader counts, a readership statistic which has been asserted to predict citation impact,[27]whereasjournal-level metricsare poor predictors of reliability.[28]An automaticmetadataextraction from PDF files is also available. The platform can integrate withMicrosoft Word,OpenOfficeand other platforms. The platform intends to becopyright-compliant by allowing users to share files in private groups.

Incidents

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In 2018, an update to Mendeley resulted in some users losing PDFs and annotations stored in their accounts.[29]Elsevier fixed the issue for most users after a number of weeks.[30]

See also

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Notes and references

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  1. ^Elsevier (24 July 2013)."Victor Henning's brief guide to Mendeley".Elsevier Connect.Retrieved2 July2019.
  2. ^"Stable Releases: Mendeley Reference Manager v2.108.0".Mendeley.17 January 2024.Retrieved2024-01-19.
  3. ^Henning, Victor (2008-04-23)."How our name evolved from B-movie monster to Mendeley".Mendeley Blog.Archivedfrom the original on Oct 1, 2015.Retrieved2023-12-26.
  4. ^"Case study – Mendeley shares scientific research to build a better future".gov.uk.1 August 2014.Retrieved2017-12-29.
  5. ^Wauters, Robin (2009-03-12)."Winners for Plugg Start-Ups Rally 2009 announced".Plugg.Archived fromthe originalon 2009-03-18.Retrieved2009-03-25.
  6. ^Butcher, Mike (2009-03-12)."Plugg wraps with two very capable winners".TechCrunch.Retrieved2009-03-25.
  7. ^Butcher, Mike (2009-07-09)."The Europas: The Winners and Finalists".TechCrunch.Archivedfrom the original on Dec 6, 2021.
  8. ^"The top 100 tech media companies".The Guardian.London. 2009-09-07. Archived fromthe originalon Nov 29, 2014.
  9. ^Suber, Peter (2012).Open Access.MIT Press Essential Knowledge. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.ISBN978-0-262-51763-8.Archivedfrom the original on Dec 30, 2015.
  10. ^Peter Suber (2013-04-09)."Elsevier bought Mendeley".Archived fromthe originalon October 21, 2016.
  11. ^Lunden, Ingrid (2013-04-08)."Confirmed: Elsevier Has Bought Mendeley For $69M-$100M To Expand Its Open, Social Education Data Efforts".TechCrunch.Archivedfrom the original on Dec 2, 2021.
  12. ^Elsevier takes over Mendeley: And you, what do you think?,MyScienceWorkArchived2013-05-24 at theWayback Machine
  13. ^"The Empire acquires the rebel alliance: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover".paidContent. Apr 9, 2013. Archived fromthe originalon 17 December 2013.Retrieved13 March2014.
  14. ^ab"When the Rebel Alliance Sells Out",David Dobbs,The New Yorker,April 12, 2013
  15. ^"Unpaywall: a beautiful way to help everyone Get The Research".2018-10-28.Retrieved2020-04-25.
  16. ^stevedennis (2013-09-23)."The New Mendeley for iPad and iPhone".Mendeley Blog.Retrieved2019-08-29.
  17. ^Bonasio, Alice (2015-01-12)."Newsflo brings new impact metrics to Mendeley".Mendeley Blog.Retrieved2019-08-29.
  18. ^"Elsevier Acquires Media Monitoring Company Newsflo".www.elsevier.com.Retrieved2019-08-29.
  19. ^Josh (2016-04-28)."Mendeley Data is out of beta".Mendeley Blog.Retrieved2019-08-29.
  20. ^Desai, Shruti (2016-09-30)."Search thousands of science and technology jobs at Mendeley Careers – launching in October".Mendeley Blog.Retrieved2019-08-29.
  21. ^sallyransom (2019-05-24)."Supporting researchers with the new Mendeley Reference Manager".Mendeley Blog.Retrieved2019-08-29.
  22. ^"Accessing your Mendeley library after the mobile app is no longer available".Mendeley Support Center.
  23. ^"Introducing Mendeley Reference Manager – designed for today's researcher workflow".Mendeley Blog.16 February 2024.
  24. ^Guide to Mendeley Reference Manager (2021)."Reading and annotating your documents".Mendeley.Retrieved2024-01-15.
  25. ^Guide to Mendeley Reference Manager (2021-03-01)."Known issues when working offline".Mendeley Support Center.Retrieved2024-01-15.
  26. ^Guide to Mendeley Reference Manager (2021)."Exporting references".Mendeley.Retrieved2024-01-15.
  27. ^Thelwall, Mike (2018-06-01). "Early Mendeley readers correlate with later citation counts".Scientometrics.115(3):1231–1240.doi:10.1007/s11192-018-2715-9.hdl:2436/621193.ISSN1588-2861.S2CID4352809.
  28. ^Brembs, Björn (2018)."Prestigious Science Journals Struggle to Reach Even Average Reliability".Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.12:37.doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00037.PMC5826185.PMID29515380.
  29. ^"Thousands of researchers hit by Mendeley update glitch".Times Higher Education (THE).2018-06-15.Retrieved2018-07-04.
  30. ^"Update on the missing PDF issue".Mendeley Blog.2018-06-27.Retrieved2018-07-04.
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