Citation Managers

Access to RefWorks will cease on August 31, 2020.

The library's decision to cancel the subscription to the citation management tool, RefWorks, is based on thorough assessment of usage patterns, cost, and the prevalence of free and low-cost alternatives. A task force conducted a survey to understand the use of citation management tools at UWM and a focus group to determine how to meet current RefWorks users' needs for the transition away from this resource.

Fortunately, other citation management tools are readily available at low and no cost.

This guide is designed to help you make an informed decision about which tool to use and how to transfer your library from RefWorks.

After August 31, 2020, your RefWorks account will no longer be accessible.

If I miss the August 2020 deadline to get my citations out of RefWorks, is there anything I can do?
No. You will be unable to access your account after the deadline.

If I am a UWM alumni or professor emeritus who has been using RefWorks, will I also lose my access?
Yes. You will have to migrate your RefWorks citations to one of the other citation managers by August 31, 2020, even if you changed your login e-mail address to a non-UWM e-mail account.

I know former UWM students and current colleagues who use RefWorks. Will they be alerted that their access is ending?
All users, who originally signed up to RefWorks through UWM's subscription by creating an account, will receive e-mail notifications at whatever address their account is currently affiliated with. This includes everyone, even users who later changed their login e-mail a address to a non-UWM account (Gmail, Hotmail, etc.). They will also receive reminders about the need to transfer their citations by August 31, 2020. 

Can I sign up and pay for an individual account with RefWorks?
No. RefWorks does not offer individual accounts.

Can I export all of my PDFs from RefWorks at once?
RefWorks can't export groups of PDFs, so you will need to download them to your computer and re-import them to a new citation management tool.

Can I maintain the folders I have in RefWorks when exporting references?
Unfortunately, there is no way to directly export all your references with a folder structure intact. In the New RefWorks (blue), you can export folders one-at-a-time, however, and import them into a new citation management tool in the same way.