Definition · Plain-language
Mendeley
Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network developed by Elsevier, designed for organising research papers, annotating PDFs, and collaborating online.
The step most authors miss
Doing CRediT right? Don’t stop at the statement.
A CRediT statement credits you inside one paper. The recognition CRediT was built for happens when those roles are tied to you, persistently. Sign in with your ORCID — free — and claim your CRediT contributions on casrai.org, the home of the standard. They become a verified, portable part of your identity, not a line that disappears into one PDF.
Free: claim your contributions, then export a journal-ready CRediT statement, schema.org structured data, JATS XML, CSV or BibTeX — and preview your public profile. A membership publishes that profile publicly and verifies the journals you serve.
PDF Handling and Automated Metadata Extraction
Mendeley was originally developed as a specialised tool for managing local PDF files. When a researcher drags and drops a PDF document into the Mendeley client, the software automatically parses the document's layout and text to extract key bibliographic metadata, such as the title, authors, journal name, and publication year. It features a built-in PDF viewer that allows users to highlight text, add sticky notes, and keep their custom annotations synchronised across desktop, web, and mobile environments. This focus on document management helps scholars build organised libraries quickly from folders of unindexed articles, though researchers must occasionally verify the accuracy of the extracted metadata manually.
Mendeley Cite and Writing Integration
Writing integration in Mendeley is powered by Mendeley Cite, a modern add-in for Microsoft Word that operates via the Microsoft AppSource store, ensuring compatibility with Office 365. Mendeley Cite enables researchers to insert citations directly from their synced cloud library. It supports over eight thousand distinct citation styles and updates bibliographies dynamically as new citations are added. Additionally, Mendeley supports exporting reference libraries in BibTeX format, making it popular among computer scientists, mathematicians, and engineers who author documents in LaTeX using editors like Overleaf, thereby providing flexibility across different academic writing platforms and publishing formats.
Elsevier Ecosystem and Research Network
Since its acquisition by academic publisher Elsevier, Mendeley has been closely integrated with Elsevier's broader scholarly ecosystem, including Scopus and ScienceDirect. The online Mendeley Web portal acts as an academic social network, allowing researchers to create profiles, showcase their publications, track citation metrics, and search for datasets. The platform analyses the papers in a user's library to deliver personalised literature recommendations, helping researchers discover relevant new studies. While some academics express concern over Elsevier's commercial data practices, the integration makes Mendeley an excellent discovery hub for researchers seeking to identify trends and connect with collaborators globally.
Key facts
At a glance
- Mendeley is free to use with two gigabytes of cloud storage for PDFs and citation data.
- It is owned and developed by Elsevier, a major publisher of scientific journals.
- Mendeley Cite is the dedicated cloud-based citation plugin for Microsoft Word.
- It features automatic metadata extraction from PDF files, speeding up library creation.
- It includes an online catalog to search millions of papers and import them directly.
Common misconceptions
What people often get wrong
Often heard: Mendeley is a community-owned, open-source project.
Actually: Mendeley is a proprietary commercial product owned by Elsevier; while free to use, its source code is closed and it is part of a commercial publishing ecosystem.
Often heard: The Mendeley Desktop client is still the active, supported version.
Actually: Elsevier has deprecated the legacy 'Mendeley Desktop' application in favour of the cloud-native 'Mendeley Reference Manager' client.
Often heard: Mendeley does not allow you to export your data to other tools.
Actually: You can export your Mendeley library at any time using RIS, BibTeX, or XML formats, ensuring your reference data remains portable.
Common questions
FAQ
How do I import PDFs into Mendeley?+
You can import PDFs by dragging them directly into the Mendeley window, using the "Add new" button to select files from your computer, or setting up a "Watched Folder" that automatically imports any PDF saved in it.
What happens when Mendeley extracts incorrect metadata?+
If automated extraction fails or makes mistakes, you can manually edit any field in the right-hand details pane. You can also lookup the article by its DOI or ArXiv ID to auto-fill details.
Does Mendeley support collaborative folders?+
Yes, Mendeley offers "Private Groups" where users can share references and full-text PDFs. Members can annotate the shared PDFs collectively, and annotations are colour-coded by contributor.
Going deeper
