RefWorks is a citation management platform from ProQuest that allows researchers to save, annotate, and reuse information about articles, books, or other materials. Adelphi Libraries' support for RefWorks ended on September 1st, 2022.
RefWorks was made available for use by Adelphi affiliates courtesy of a licensing agreement between Adelphi University Libraries and the provider. After careful consideration the Libraries have determined that this product does not provide the best value for our students and faculty in comparison to other products in this space, and ceased institutional support as of September 2022.
This guide provides information on how to export, save, and migrate your citation data out of RefWorks and into another reference management system, of which there are many. After September 1st you may lose access to your saved citation data. If you have used RefWorks while at Adelphi, action is required to preserve your citation data!
To export your data you will need to log into RefWorks with valid credentials. You may have credentials for one or both of the currently supported versions of RefWorks. It is important to determine where your most up-to-date data is stored. If you have credentials for both, you can export both and merge the data later.
Most users either started in the new platform or migrated to it once available. If you are not sure which version you are using, try this one first.
If you started using RefWorks a number of years ago you may still be using the legacy system.
It is a good idea to save a copy of your bibliographic data in the same way you would back up other files and data.
Now that you have exported your reference data, you may want to move it to another citation management system that works best for you. Adelphi University Libraries recommend Zotero, a free, open-source tool widely used by students and researchers across academia. Zotero is cross-platform compatible, allows syncing across devices, and offers many other advantages. Importing data into Zotero is simple, and Zotero supports a wide range of interchange data formats including RIS and RefWorks Tagged Format. Here are a few resources for importing and organizing your data in Zotero:
There are other options you may wish to consider, some free and some paid, including Mendeley and PaperPile. Most systems support the RIS data interchange format, so importing your data should not be difficult.
If you have used RefWorks via Adelphi, please export your data before September 1st, 2022. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact David Hodges, Associate Dean for Digital Initiatives at Adelphi University Libraries.