Need plugin or solution to reference management system
Asked by Rosa Gleave:

A number of my colleagues are looking to use their spaces within Confluence to store and share files such as journal articles, links to videos and news stories on specific topics. This library of information will need to be sub-categorised into many levels and needs to be searchable (just within that page, not the whole of our confluence). This is NOT a database for interrogation, rather it will be a curated reference library for laypeople.

I understand that Confluence isn't specifically designed for this purpose but there is a real need for this type of Confluence functionality within our organisation.

I have tried the **file list blueprint macro** but it is unsuitable, it's too simplistic (you can't subdivide content into categories). A plugin is probably needed. Do you know of any suitable plugins on the Atlassian Marketplace?

Failing that, do you know of any reference management systems that don't require multiple logins, and could be accessed by e.g. private link? I would provide a link to whatever we use within our Confluence space.

I'm considering Confluence, Dropbox, Google Drive and Mendeley, but a system that doesn't require a login each time would be ideal.

Many thanks!


Answers:
author: SNA
body: Hi,

This is not an answer, but more of a support for this thread. I would like to know if there are any integrated reference managing systems (e.g. Mendeley) available for Confluence. They would be very useful for institutions that are reliant on scientific literature for their work, i.e. citing and referencing with links to exact documents.

I look forward to any updates.

Best,

Shaman

comments: author: mjsudol
body: Where you ever able to find a decent solution?


author: Stella Schneider -Smateso-
body: Hi there!

If anyone is still searching for a solution on how to manage your bibliography in Confluence here it is!

We just released our new app "[Bibliography for Confluence](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/1229558)".

So feel free to give it a try and let us now, if you like it or what you need.

Kind regards

Stella

comments: author: clare
body: Hi Stella, we're currently trialing Bibliography.

A big gap in functionality for us is that the list isn't searchable.

An additional field for links would also be useful so we can easily navigate to online, open access versions of the reference source.

Any plans to add this functionality?

Thanks.

Clare


author: Stella Schneider
body: Hi Clare,

thanks for reaching out and testing our app! :)

I talked to our developrs ans unfortunately a searchable list is currently not possible due to restrictions in the Atlassian Forge Kit, which we use for the app.  
The Forge Kit has numerous restrictions and we hope that Atlassian will improve it soon, so we can improve our app.

An additional field for Links is possible and can be implemented.

Please let me know what you think and if the app would be still usable without the search functionality.

If you have any feedback/suggestions in the future, feel free to use our [Service Desk](https://smateso.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/9).

Best regards

Stella


author: Robert Reiner _smartics_
body: You could write your own [blueprint](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/blueprints-323982376.html) using [page properties](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/page-properties-macro-184550024.html) to select. This could meet your requirements, but requires to create a blueprint add-on.

With the [projectdoc Toolbox](https://www.smartics.eu/confluence/x/1YEp) (a commercial add-on for Confluence server, [available on the Atlassian Marketplace](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/1212629); I'm one of the authors). There is a description for this use case on our website: [Library](https://www.smartics.eu/confluence/x/5w1NAg)

We also have a very tiny library on our site that may serve as an example: The entries of this library are listed on [Resources on Agile Documentation](https://www.smartics.eu/confluence/display/ADOC/Resources). Here is an [example of a single entry](https://www.smartics.eu/confluence/x/QISLAw) of this library.

![sample-entry.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/3879i1DA6CCDDFA93181B/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "sample-entry.png")

The example uses the [Resource](https://www.smartics.eu/confluence/x/6gdk) blueprint together with [Category](https://www.smartics.eu/confluence/x/zwdk) and [Tag](https://www.smartics.eu/confluence/x/7Adk) blueprints for organization (there is a short introduction **how to categorize with the projectdoc Toolbox as a blog article [Finding without searching - applied!](https://www.smartics.eu/confluence/x/4oMhAg)** ). Note that these pages all use the [Document Properties Marker Macro](https://www.smartics.eu/confluence/x/rgNk) to specify properties to select on (and this table holds any information you need to categorize your content). Listing resources can be done for instance with the [Display Table Macro](https://www.smartics.eu/confluence/x/wgNk) or you could use transclusion with the [Transclude Documents Macro](https://www.smartics.eu/confluence/x/7ADe).

Note that our blueprint wizards are currently very simple. As you can see by the [Share Link blueprint](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/shared-links-blueprint-407724258.html) provided by Confluence, the blueprints could be more sophisticated.


Tags: library