Citation Management 

Citation Management

Managing citations for theses, scientific articles, projects and other publications can be a time-consuming, tedious task. There is no one proper method for managing or formatting citations, but this guide will provide you with a basic introduction to some tools for managing citations , as well as an overview of common citation styles.

Please do not hesitate to contact us via email (info@techlib.cz) or to schedule a consultation for more detailed assistance.

New books about Citation Management

Citation management tools allow you to import citations from eResources and websites. Such tools help you organize and easily import citations into documents as footnotes or bibliographies formatted in the appropriate style. Many of these tools can also assist you in organizing personal PDF libraries of documents discovered during the research process. Most also allow you to organize your citations into folders and/or projects.

Further information in English about the pros and cons of different citation managers and how to use them can be found online (e.g. PennState, MIT, Temple University Libraries).

CitacePRO.com

The library provides all registered patrons with access to CitacePRO.com (in Czech), a simple and intuitive tool for creating, managing, and sharing citations. In addition to the web application, there is an MS Word toolbar plugin that enables you to insert citations into your documents when writing and conducting research.

Citace PRO is particularly helpful when writing in Czech because it uses the ČSN ISO 690 citation standard. There are many other citation styles available as well (e.g. APA, IEEE, Chicago).

Accessing Citace PRO

  • Go to Citace PRO
  • In Přihlášení pro instituce do Citace PRO nebo Pablikado section choose NTK: Národní technická knihovna (3rd column)
  • Log in with your library username and password
  • Switch to English - upper right corner - Username/Settings

Citace PRO Free: free, limited version of the software with basic functions (only for ČSN ISO 690)

Citavi

Citavi is a commercial citation management tool with many advanced functions. CTU offers its students and employees free access.

EndNote

EndNote is widely used commercial citation manager often provided by universities (UCT Prague, for example) for use by their communities. EndNote Basic is a free, limited online version, in contrast to the EndNote Desktop paid version.

If you are a member of the UCT Prague/ChemTK community, instructions and other information is available online:

JabRef

JabRef is an open source bibliography reference manager; its native file format is BibTeX, the standard LaTeX bibliography format and can be helpful if you are working in LaTeX and writing in English.

Mendeley

Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network for organizing research, collaboration with others online users, and exploring research trends.
We strongly recommend using older version of Mendeley Desktop 1.19.8. instead of the new Mendeley Reference Manager, as the old Mendeley Desktop has some features that are not yet available in Mendeley Reference Manager and it works without flaws

Zotero

Zotero is free up to 300MB; it has collection management capabilities, citation management functions, and offers a wide variety of citation styles as well as many language versions.

Czech Citation Standard ISO ČSN 690

The Czech citation standard (ISO ČSN 690) is the Czech version of the international standard ISO 690:2011 commonly used in the Czech Republic. This standard recommends three possible citation methods: numerical, as footnotes, or according to the author-date (Harvard) system. It recommends formats for bibliographic citations (in the list of references). A full version of this standard can be found on dedicated computers in the Periodicals Reading Room (third floor) or you can purchase a copy of it (e.g., at ÚNMZ).

English Citation Styles

There is no single preferred citation style in English publications and there are different preferred styles for British and American English, so you will need to check with your professor, supervisor, or with the publisher of your work to see which citation style they prefer.

Chicago Style and its Variants

The most common citation style used worldwide is the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS; most current: 17th edition), and its variants. Citation styles based directly on CMS include:

American Psychological Association (APA) Style

Writing and citation style commonly used in socal sciences. It is described in detail in its manual (most current: 7th edition), but many examples of its use can be found in style and grammar guidelines as well.

Harvard Style

Harvard referencing (also: the Harvard system) refers to the author-date citation method. The Harvard citation style applies this method and it is common in the UK and Australia.

There are many interpretations of it, so the institutions that use this method usually provide online guidelines (e.g., Anglia Ruskin University, University of Lincoln, University of Sydney).

There is no offical institutional connection with Harvard University and the offical manual.

Modern Language Association (MLA) Style

Writing and citation style widely used in the US and Canada, especially in the humanities. The Modern Language Association publishes the detailed MLA Handbook (most current: 9th edition) and many guidelines are available online (e.g. MLA Style Center, Texas A&M Writing Center, Purdue Online Writing Lab).

Journal Publisher Styles

Different publishers typically use different styles, which may be modified versions of the US and UK styles listed above. This information is always mentioned at the instructions for authors. When in doubt, don't hesitate to contact our specialists.

Sample of publisher styles:

  • ACS - American Chemical Society, used in ACS journals.
  • AIP - American Institute of Physics, used in Physics and AIP journals.
  • IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, used for IEEE journals.
  • ISA - International Studies Association, used for ISA journals.

Original Authors: Pavla Francová, Stephanie Krueger

Editor: Kristina Millerová Last modified: 10.2. 2023 08:02