There are numerous citation tools in the market. This article will explore the only citation tool that goes beyond the traditional functions of citation tools for facilitating better research.
nXr.iCite aims to support researchers/scientists to write well-substantiated research assignments/papers which can win over the intensive assessment or peer review before acceptance/publication by facilitating the peer review process!
Does it sound like a very different citation tool? Yes, it is. nXr.iCite is different and most probably the best in its functions as it just doesn’t make a reference list from your citations, it does a lot.
The following comparison among traditional citation tools (EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero) and nXr.iCite (a new one) will make it very clear.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the comparison!
How easy to find information for citing
| | EndNote | Mendeley | Zotero | nXr.iCite |
| Finding articles | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Finding quotes/notes | ⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Finding images | ⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
In nXr.iCite, you can search down to quotes/notes/images and view them in separate panes besides articles. In the article view, there is also a quick access icon to view all collected quotes for each article and cite them. You can also filter them according to the article grouping labels.
See it in action. Playtime: 1 minute 11 seconds
Can you do these in other citation tools and avoid frustration while searching through a pile of PDFs?
Type of contents available for citations
| EndNote | Mendeley | Zotero | nXr.iCite | |
| Articles | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Quotes in Articles | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Images in Articles | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Besides articles, you can cite directly based on quotes and images. As nXr.iCite links all quotes and images to their original articles, once cited, it automatically inserts the articles in the reference list.
Definitely, only nXr.iCite can do it. See it in action. Playtime: 1 minute 11 seconds
Support for writing well-substantiated research manuscripts
| | EndNote | Mendeley | Zotero | nXr.iCite |
| Removal of quotation/citation errors | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅Cite based on quotes and images ✅Provide quote/image page number in the reference article PDFs |
| Citation intent | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Specify: ✅where (e.g., in the Introduction section) the citation is ✅the reason (e.g., motivation) citation was made |
See how. Playtime: 46 second
References (i.e., citations) play a critical role in substantiating the claims in research papers during peer review. Citation malpractices (e.g., excessive self-citation, quotation, and citation errors) are common in science journals and pose a threat to the quality of scientific works.
Therefore, to overcome this challenge, nXr.iCite provides these strong but easily implementable tools which users can utilize side by side with their documents.
Accelerating peer review of research manuscripts
| | EndNote | Mendeley | Zotero | nXr.iCite |
| Share with reviewers: 🟩cited quotes and images 🟩quote/image page number in references’ PDFs 🟩 citation intent 🟩cited articles’ links and their PDFs | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅Sharable demo access for nXr.iCite Reference Validation module for validating cited claims in documents with references side by side. ✅Sharable dashboard (also contain insights on the citations) link |
See it in action. Playtime: 1 minute 13 seconds
Peer reviewers and mentors are busy scientists/researchers with limited time. They voluntarily do peer review, which is the cornerstone of scientific progress, without any payment. Therefore, though checking references is a critical part of peer review, they don’t check the references until they feel something is wrong based on their expertise.
Still checking a few references is time-consuming as the researcher need to locate and access the referenced articles, then skim through them to find the quotes the authors are referring to. And finally, correlating the quotes and claims in the research manuscript.
nXr.iCite make the whole process easier.
Others
| | EndNote | Mendeley | Zotero | nXr.iCite |
| Online search and cite | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅Search article by using Semantic Scholar, a leading AI search engine to find highly relevant articles ✅Cited article automatically add to the core library (nXr.iLibrary) |
| Guided writing | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅Paste quotation marks enclosed quotes with citation ✅Paste notes and tags … coming soon … 📆 |
| Available citation styles | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ ✅ Users can request support |
| Reference article information correction | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ ✅ Update with CrossRef database ✅ Correct information from the citation tool without going to the library |
See it in action. Playtime: 1 minute 17 seconds
Limitations
Work only with Office 365
Currently, nXr.iCite can only integrate with Microsoft Word in Office 365. We are working to deliver add-ins for Google Docs, Neo Office, or OpenOffice.
Final words
It would be a biased act for nXr team to declare the nXr.iCite the most advanced and best citation tool. So, we will let you be the judge of that. Let us know your opinion (good or bad) by email at info@nxref.com or Contact Us. Also, if you find this article helpful anyhow, please share it with your friends.