Features Influencing Researchers’ Selection of Reference Management Software

Abstract

Reference management software (RMS) is the most important aspect that is essential for all levels of researchers. They are established as research tools to help scholars in organising their work, improving workflows, and ultimately saving time. Choosing an appropriate RMS for managing records and utilising the bibliographic citation has been a challenge among researchers. They always seek for the features of an appropriate RMS prior to making an investment to buy the software. In this paper, a fuzzy logic approach is adopted for assessing the features of RMS from the researchers’ perspectives. Accordingly, a web-based survey was conducted and data collected from the researchers who had experience with different types of RMS. Then, we analyse the effects of RMS features on researcher perception in selecting an appropriate reference management program and find the importance level of those features. This study provides a toolset for RMS developers to identify the importance level of RMS features and accordingly consider these important features in developing the next generation of citation management software.