Configuration of reference software to import references from the Digital Library

When writing a scientific paper, you need to refer to results of other scientific works by citing correctly the source used (e.g. books, journal articles, web sites). These references help the reader to retrieve the sources you employed.

For more complex research projects, collection, organization and management of bibliographic references can become very confusing. So-called reference management programs facilitate this organizing effort. You can import your citations, store centrally, organize and edit them. Furthermore, you also have the option of creating a bibliography automatically and exporting it.

Configure a connection with the reference program

To facilitate the import of information from the digital library into your reference management program, we recommend connecting the program with our digital library. For this, you need to add the OpenURL resolver (also called “base URL”) in most cases. An OpenURL resolver is used in search engines and library catalogues to link to documents on the internet.

Several reference management programs include an option to directly select different library catalogues and search them. At present, Citavi and EndNote, amongst others, offer this service. EndNote even offers an integrated search in the scientific databases PubMed or Ebsco. In most cases, it is enough to install the so-called “picker” of the reference software for your browser. It will then add the bibliographic reference, the citation or the image of a scientific database with one click to the library of your reference program (e.g. Zotero).

The following looks at a selection of common reference management programs. It is possible in all of them to import references and/or PDF files: