Mendeley

Elsevier provides authors and readers with some excellent tools to promote their work, post supplementary material, and learn more about a topic. This letter will focus on Mendeley, a free reference manager and academic social network that readers can use to discover the latest research on a topic and that authors can use to organize research projects, collaborate with others, and post supplementary material so that readers and other researchers can learn more about a topic of interest. It functions as a web-based program to manage and share research material, join social networks, and promote further interest and discussion around a topic. Windows (Microsoft, Redmond, WA) and Mac (Apple, Cupertino, CA) as well as both iOS (Apple) and Android (Google, Mountain View, CA) versions are available to maximize access to the platform. Most readers and authors will first experience Mendeley as the platform where additional images, tables, and other supplementary material can be posted to provide additional valuable information to readers. It can also be used to create a virtual journal club around an article of interest, add various types of course material, and promote discussion on a topic. Although basic citation data are stored on Mendeley, other documents are at the authors discretion, with 2 gigabytes of free webspace and additional available for a fee. Within the platform, authors can compile a bibliography, organize references, and even start work on a paper with imported citations. The platform allows authors to search text across a group of papers and extract metadata from PDF documents. The site allows for private workgroups to facilitate collaboration and allows authors to invite advisors and reviewers to comment on their work. It organizes the commentary and allows authors to respond. Authors often use their private groups to collaborate, to share drafts of papers with commentary, and to annotate documents. Mendeley also allows individual authors to build a research profile, search the directory for researchers sharing common interests, and join public groups for both commentary and collaboration. It is a great platform to promote work on a topic, debate controversial topics, and plan future projects. Mendeley allows individual authors to export their research profile, track readership and commentary on their articles, and build research relationships. The platform has been around since 2008, when it was launched by a small group of German PhD students, and in 2009, TechCrunch Europas cited it as the “Best Social Innovation Which Benefits Society.” Mendeley was acquired by Elsevier in 2013 and became the publisher's main platform for academic collaboration and promotion of research. Academic centers and local societies can use the platform to create courses, share reading lists, and share commentary on topics of interest. What Mendeley can do for you:•Host supplementary material•Promote discussion and debate•Compile and organize references•Extract metadata•Build social networks Mendeley continues to evolve based on feedback from users. At time of writing, new versions of Reference Manager and the Mendeley Cite plug-in are available in a public beta release (https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/reference-manager-beta).