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EndNote21 Desktop: 3. Add References

Created by Health Science Librarians

Adding References to EndNote

The process of adding references to EndNote is very similar across databases and follows two main steps: 

1. Download the references from the database.

 We have created step-by-step instructions on exporting references from the most commonly used databases. 

2. Open or import the file into Endnote.

Method #1: Open reference file with EndNote

1. Locate the file in your downloads and right click. Hover over Open With and select EndNote. If you do not see EndNote on the dropdown shortlist, select Other and choose EndNote from the options provided. 
Open file with Endnote21

2.Your citations will automatically appear in your EndNote library.  If you do not already have EndNote open, your computer will open your EndNote library.

Method #2: Import file to EndNote

If you have a Mac, please see alternate instructions.

  1. Follow steps 1-3 listed under Beginning Steps (above). 
  2. In EndNote, locate the Import option and select File. 
    Import File
     
  3.  Select the reference file downloaded from the database.
  4. Select Import Option to match the file type. This be one of 3 file types: 
    1. Reference Manager (RIS)
    2. PubMed (NLM) (if the file type is .nbib)
    3. EndNote Import (if the file type is .enw) 
    4. If you do not see the file type in the dropdown, select Other Filters and search for the file type the list. 
      Import RIS File
       
  5. Select Import. Your citations should now load into EndNote. 

Exporting Citations from PubMed

Export PubMed Results as an .NBIB file. 

1. Conduct a search in PubMed. 

2. Select the articles you wish to download.

  • Check the boxes next to articles for the citations you wish to download.
  • If you wish to download all of the citations: click Save > All Results
  • If you're conducting multiple searches, save items to your Clipboard, a temporary storage space in PubMed.  You can do this by selecting Clipboard from the Send to menu. If you do this, a Clipboard icon and the number of items on it will be displayed at the upper right of the page. To view the items on your Clipboard, click on the items link next to the icon.

3. Send citations to Citation Manager

  • Once you are ready to export your results, click the Send to menu at the upper right corner of your results page or Clipboard. 
  • Select Citation manager.  You can download up to 10,000 citations at a time in the new PubMed.
  • Click Create File. Your computer will download a .NBIB file.
  • Send To Citation Manager in PubMed    ->  Create a file for external citation management software PubMed   

4. Import the PubMed file to EndNote using either Method #1 or Method #2

Exporting References from CINAHL & PsycInfo

Note: These instructions apply to all EBSCOhost databases.

 

There are different ways to export references from EBSCOhost databases based on the number of citations you want to export.

Exporting a Single Citation

1. Conduct a search in CINAHL or PsycInfo.

2. Click on the title of the record that you wish to export to your EndNote library.

3. On the right side of your screen, select Export.

4. In the window that pops up, select the first radio button Direct Export in RIS Format. Click Save.

5. Import the .RIS file to EndNote using either Method #1 or Method #2

 

Exporting Multiple Citations

1. If you want to export several citations, click the blue folder icon next to each citation you want to export. This will add the citation into your Folder. 

2. If you want to save an entire page of results, click Share on the right side of your screen and under Add to folder select Results. You can display up to 50 citations on a single page. To change the number of citations on a page, click Page Options. 

3. Once you have added all the citations you want, click the Folder icon at the top right of your screen.

4. In your folder, select all the citations you want to export. Then click Export on the right side of your screen. 

 

5. On the right side of your screen, select the first radio button Direct Export in RIS Format. Then on the left side of your screen, click Save.

6. Import the .RIS file to EndNote using either Method #1 or Method #2

 

Exporting a Large Number of Citations

Sometimes you'll need to export hundreds or thousands of citations at a time, especially if you're doing a systematic review or a big literature review. You can export up to 25,000 citations at a time in EBSCOhost databases. 

1. After conducting your search, click Share on the right side of your screen and then click Email a link to download exported results. 

2. The following screen will appear. On the left side, enter your email address in the Email To box. On the right side, select the first radio button RIS Format. Then click save.

3. You will receive an email with a link to download the RIS file. This may take a while, depending on how many citations you're exporting. Make sure to check your Spam folder if you don't receive the email. 

4. Import the .RIS file to EndNote using either Method #1 or Method #2

 

Exporting References from Scopus

Export References from Scopus as an RIS File

1. Conduct a search in Scopus.

2. Check the boxes next to articles for the citations you wish to export to your EndNote library. If you want to export an entire page of results or the entire results list, select All and then either Select all or Select this page. You can download up to 20,000 citations at a time in Scopus. 

If you're conducting multiple searches, save items to My List, a temporary storage space in Scopus.  You can do this by selecting Add to List in the More menu on top of your results list. To view the items in your list, click on the Lists link in the menu bar at the top of the page. 

Search page in Scopus with the arrow neaxt to All selected above the search results

3. Once you are ready to export your results, click Export at the top of your results. Choose EndNote (RIS) as the export format.

Search page in Scopus with Export selected under the search bar

4. A pop-up box will appear. Select the desired information to export from the drop-down menu. Select Export.

Export page in Scopus with Citation Information column selected

6. Import the .RIS file to EndNote using either Method #1 or Method #2

 

Exporting References from Embase

Export References from Embase as an RIS File

1. Conduct a search in Embase

2. Select the articles you wish to export. 

  • You can check the box next to individual articles or select the box next to Results at the top of the results list and use the dropdown menu to select the number of items to export. 
  • Select Export
  • Export results in Embase

3. Select RIS format

  • Select RIS format (Mendeley, EndNote) from the file type dropdown menu in the pop up window
  • Select Export
  • Export Records window in Embase

4. Download your exported results

  • Export ready in Embase

5. Import the .RIS file to EndNote using either Method #1 or Method #2

Exporting References from UNC-CH Library Catalog

Need to import a citation of a physical item, like a book? UNC's catalog makes it easy to do that! As long as the resource you're citing is part of our collections, you won't have to fill out any information manually. 

Exporting Citations From the Catalog as an RIS File

1. Conduct a search in UNC-CH Library Catalog. 

2. If you want to export a single citation, click on the title of the record that you wish to export to your EndNote library. Click the RIS File button at the top of the record. The citation will be downloaded to your computer as an .ris file.

 

3. If you want to export multiple citations, check the Add to List box next to each item you want to cite. Once you have added all the citations you want to export, click the View List button at the top right of your screen. 

4. Click the RIS File button at the top of the list. All of the citations will be downloaded to your computer as a single .ris file.

5. Import the .RIS file to EndNote using either Method #1 or Method #2

 

Exporting References from Google Scholar

Exporting out of Google Scholar

Step 1: Set-up 

Go to Google Scholar at UNC. We recommend that you access Google Scholar from this link, or from any UNC-CH library page, so that you can link to full-text journal articles. On the left side of your screen, click the three horizontal bars next to the Google Scholar logo. Then click Settings.

Scroll down to the Bibliography manager section. Select the Show links to import citations into radio button. Choose EndNote from the dropdown menu. Click Save. You will not need to perform this step on subsequent visits to Google Scholar.

 

Step 2: Exporting Citations Out of Google Scholar

Exporting a Single Citation

1. Conduct a search in Google Scholar. Click Import into EndNote link under the citation you wish to import to your EndNote library. The citation will download as a .enw file.

2. Proceed to Importing Citations into EndNote.  

Exporting Multiple Citations

Note: You cannot download more than 20 citations at a time in Google Scholar. If you anticipate downloading a large number of citations, try using the library's databases first.

1. Click on the small star below each citation you want to export. This will add the citation to the My Library folder. 

2. When you are done adding the citations you want to export, click on My Library at the top right of your screen. 

3. Check the boxes next to all the citations you want to export, or check the "select all" box at the top. Then click the Download icon and select EndNote from the drop down menu. This will download a .enw file containing your citations. 

 

3. Import the .ENW file to EndNote using either Method #1 or Method #2

Importing References from a PDF File or Folder

EndNote is often able to extract metadata from PDFs during the import process and create citations from that metadata. The process utilizes Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) to capture bibliographic data, so this method will not work for older articles (particularly articles that have been scanned). Please note that this process is not always successful. If unsuccessful, you'll need to edit the metadata for each citation manually or you'll need to export the citations from a database and attach the PDFs individually.

1. Open the EndNote library into which you wish to import your references.

2. Under File, go to Import and then File if you want to import a single PDF, or Folder if you want to import a folder of multiple PDFs. A dialog box will appear.

3. If you are importing a single PDF file, choose the file and set the Import Option to PDF. If you do not see PDF in the dropdown, select Other Filters and search for PDF in the list. 

Import PDF File

4. If you are importing a folder of PDFs, the dialog box will look slightly different. Choose the folder you want to import and set the Import Option as PDF. If the folder you are importing contains subfolders with PDFs, you can check the first box to include them -- otherwise EndNote will only import the PDFs contained in the main folder. If you wish to keep the citations generated from this import separate from previously imported citations, select the second box to create a Group Set.

Import PDF Folder

5. Select Import. Your citations should now load into EndNote. If you do not already have EndNote open, your computer will open your EndNote library.

  • Last Updated: Feb 7, 2025 10:58 AM
  • URL: https://guides.lib.unc.edu/EndNote21