is a
Free ,
Open Source scholars' extension for the
Firefox browser, that enables users to collect, manage, and cite research from all types of sources from the browser. It is partly a piece of
Reference Management Software , used to manage
Bibliographies and
References when writing essays and articles. More generally, it aims to be a "next-generation research tool" for students and researchers of all genres. On many major research websites such as digital libraries,
Google Scholar , or even
Amazon.com , Zotero senses when a book, article, or other resource is being viewed and with one mouse click it finds and saves the full reference information to a local reference library. If the source is an online article or web page, Zotero can optionally store a local copy of the source. Users can then add notes, tags, and their own
Metadata through the in-browser interface. Selections of the local reference library data can later be exported as formatted bibliographies for research papers or other purposes.
Zotero is produced by the
Center For History And New Media of
George Mason University and is currently available in public beta. The name is from
Albanian Language "to master".
The Zotero model is aimed at replacing the model of traditional
Reference Management Software which, because it was originally designed to meet the demands of ''offline'' research, tends to make collecting citation information from online sources (as well as locating and accessing cited sources online and sharing bibliographies electronically) a cumbersome process for scholars, libraries and research sites.
Because Zotero is open and extensible, it allows other users to contribute citation styles and site translators, and more generally for others who are building digital tools for researchers to expand the platform.
