Graphical Java application for managing bibtex (.bib) databases

JabRef

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JabRef

  -  196 MB  -  Open Source
  • Latest Version

    JabRef 5.13 LATEST

  • Review by

    Juan Garcia

  • Operating System

    Windows XP / Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8 / Windows 10

  • User Rating

    Click to vote
  • Author / Product

    JabRef Team / External Link

  • Filename

    JabRef-5.13.msi

JabRef is an open-source bibliography reference manager. The native file format used by JabRef is BibTeX, the standard LaTeX bibliography format. JabRef runs on the Java VM (version 1.8 or newer) and works equally well on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

BibTeX is an application and a bibliography file format written by Oren Patashnik and Leslie Lamport for the LaTeX document preparation system. General information can be found on the CTAN BibTeX package information page. The app also supports BibLaTeX.

Bibliographies generated by LaTeX and BibTeX from a BibTeX file can be formatted to suit any reference list specifications through the use of different BibTeX and BibLaTeX style files.

Features and Highlights

Search the Web
Entries can be searched in external databases and BibTeX entries can be fetched from there. Example sources: arXiv, CiteseerX, Google Scholar, Medline, GVK, IEEEXplore, and Springer

Import of various formats
RIS, Medline/Pubmed (xml), Refer/Endnote, INSPEC, BibTeXML, CSA, ISI Web of Science, SilverPlatter, Scifinder, OVID, Biblioscape, Sixpack, JStor, and RIS.

Automatic download of full texts
Jab Ref can be instructed to search for the full text of a reference, download it, and directly link it to the BibTeX entry.

Search the bibliography
Search a pattern in the whole bibliography.

Classification of entries
You can group entries explicitly, by keywords or any other fields.

Integrates to your environment
Launch external applications: PDF viewers, web browser. Insert citations into TeXstudio, LyX, Kile, LatexEditor, Emacs, Vim, and WinEdt.

Automatic Key generation
BibTeX keys can be automatically generated in a customizable way from document data, e.g. using author names, title, and year.

Support for XMP Metadata in PDFs
Improve the workflow of sharing PDFs and bibliography information.

Built-in and custom export formats
HTML, Docbook, BibTeXML, MODS, RTF, Refer/Endnote, and OpenOffice.org as well as LibreOffice.

Customization of the JabRef interface
Fonts, displayed fields, etc.

Customization of BibTeX fields
You can add your own fields to any BibTeX entry type.

Also Available: Download JabRef for Mac

  • JabRef 5.13 Screenshots

    The images below have been resized. Click on them to view the screenshots in full size.

What's new in this version:

Added:
- We converted the "Custom API key" list to a table to be more accessible
- We added a "refresh" button for the LaTeX citations tab in the entry editor
- We added the possibility to show the BibTeX source in the web search import screen
- We added a fetcher for ISIDORE, simply paste in the link into the text field or the last 6 digits in the link that identify that paper
- When importing entries form the "Citation relations" tab, the field cites is now filled according to the relationship between the entries
- We added a new integrity check and clean up option for strings having Unicode characters not encoded in Unicode "Normalization Form Canonical Composition" (NFC)
- We added a new group icon column to the main table showing the icons of the entry's groups
- When deleting an entry, the files linked to the entry are now optionally deleted as well
- We added support to move the file to the system trash (instead of deleting it)
- We added ability to jump to an entry in the command line using -j CITATIONKEY. koppor#540
- We added a new boolean to the style files for Openoffice/Libreoffice integration to switch between ZERO_WIDTH_SPACE (default) and no space
- When pasting HTML into the abstract or a comment field, the hypertext is automatically converted to Markdown
- We added the possibility to redownload files that had been present but are no longer in the specified location
- We added the citation key pattern [camelN]. Equivalent to the first N words of the [camel] pattern.
- We added importing of static groups and linked files from BibDesk .bib files
- We added ability to export in CFF (Citation File Format) #10661.
- We added ability to push entries to TeXworks
- We added the ability to zoom in and out in the document viewer using Ctrl + Scroll
- We added a Cleanup for removing non-existent files and grouped the related options #10929
- We added the functionality to parse the bibliography of PDFs using the GROBID online service
- We added a seperated search bar for the global search window
- We added ability to double-click on an entry in the global search window to select the corresponding entry in the main table
- We added support for BibTeX String constants during copy & paste between libraries
- We added the field langid which is important for hyphenation and casing in LaTeX
- Event log entries can now be copied via a context menu

Changed:
- The "Automatically open folders of attached files" preference default status has been changed to enabled on Windows. koppor#56
- The Custom export format now uses the custom DOI base URI in the preferences for the DOICheck, if activated forum#4084
- The index directories for full text search have now more readable names to increase debugging possibilities using Apache Lucense's Lurk
- The fulltext search also indexes files ending with .pdf (but do not having an explicit file type set)
- We changed the arrangement of the lists in the "Citation relations" tab. Cites are now on the left and Cited by on the right #10572
- Sub libraries based on aux file can now also be generated if some citations are not found library
- We rearranged the tab order in the entry editor and renamed the "Scite Tab" to "Citation information"
- We changed the duplicate handling in the Import entries dialog. Potential duplicate entries are marked with an icon and importing will now trigger the merge dialog #10914
- We made the command "Push to TexShop" more robust to allow cite commands with a character before the first slash. forum#2699
- We only show the notification "Saving library..." if the library contains more than 2000 entries
- JabRef now keeps previous log files upon start
- When normalizing author names, complete enclosing braces are kept
- We enhanced the dialog for adding new fields in the content selector with a selection box containing a list of standard fields
- We store the citation relations in an LRU cache to avoid bloating the memory and out-of-memory exceptions
- Keywords field are now displayed as tags
- Citation relations now get more information, and have quick access to view the articles in a browser without adding them to the library #10869
- Importer/Exporter for CFF format now supports JabRef cites and related relationships, as well as all fields from the CFF specification
- The XMP-Exporter no longer writes the content of the file-field
- We added notes, checks and warnings for the case of selection of non-empty directories while starting a new Systematic Literature Review
- Text in the import dialog (web search results) will now be wrapped to prevent horizontal scrolling
- We improved the error handling when invalid bibdesk-files are encountered #11117

Fixed:
- We fixed an issue where the fulltext search button in entry editor used to disappear on click till the search is completed
- We fixed an issue where attempting to cancel the importing/generation of an entry from id is ignored
- We fixed an issue where the preview panel showing the wrong entry (an entry that is not selected in the entry table)
- We fixed an issue where HTML-reserved characters like '&' and '<', in addition to HTML entities like '&' were not rendered correctly in entry preview
- The last page of a PDF is now indexed by the full text search
- The entry editor respects the configured custom tabs when showing "Other fields"
- The default owner of an entry can be changed again
- We fixed an issue where the duplicate check did not take umlauts or other LaTeX-encoded characters into account
- We fixed the colors of the icon on hover for unset special fields
- We fixed an issue where the CrossRef field did not work if autocompletion was disabled #8145
- In biblatex mode, JabRef distinguishes between "Optional fields" and "Optional fields 2" again
- We fixed an issue where exporting@electronic and @online entry types to the Office XMl would duplicate the field title #10807
- We fixed an issue where the CommentsTab was not properly formatted when the defaultOwner contained capital or special letters
- We fixed an issue where the File -> Close library menu item was not disabled when no library was open
- We fixed an issue where the Document Viewer would show the PDF in only half the window when maximized
- Clicking on the crossref and related tags in the ent...

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