Elsevier’s free reference manager and reading tool.
At a Glance
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| Coverage | not a content database — a reference manager for collecting, organizing, annotating, citing, and sharing references, with a web importer that pulls metadata and PDFs |
| Access | free (optional paid storage) |
| Free alternative | Zotero |
| Regional | global. |
Our Take
Mendeley is a capable, free reference manager with solid PDF annotation, a browser web importer, and Cite While You Write for Word — and it’s a natural pick for researchers already working in Elsevier’s ecosystem. Versus Zotero the honest comparison is openness and control: Mendeley is free but proprietary and Elsevier-owned, where Zotero is free and open source, and Mendeley has retired features (like its older desktop and some social tools) over the years. Use Mendeley if it fits your workflow or institution; for most people starting fresh, we still point to Zotero, and either exports cleanly into screening tools.
Power Tips
- Use the Mendeley Web Importer to capture references and PDFs in one click while browsing, then export RIS into your screening tool (Covidence, Rayyan)
- keep one library per project with clean metadata so downstream deduplication and citation counts stay reliable (Issue 3).
Alternatives & Complements
Zotero · EndNote · Covidence · Rayyan.
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