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Sciwheel : About Sciwheel

Created by Health Science Librarians

Sciwheel Set to Rebrand as Lean Library Marketplace

  • The Sciwheel website is rebranding to Lean Library Workspace and the domain will change from sciwheel.com to workspace.leanlibrary.com. Automatic redirects are being set up on the domain, so none of your links or bookmarks will break.
  • The Sciwheel browser extension will be replaced with the Lean Library browser extension, where there will be like-for-like functionality of the key Sciwheel extension features (plus other great features!).
  • The Sciwheel Google Docs and Microsoft Word add-ons will be rebranded to Lean Library – with compatibility improvements, bug fixes and old versions decommissioned coming next.

We will update this guide as soon as we have more information about the rebranding and other updates to the current Sciwheel interface.

About Sciwheel

Sciwheel logo

Sciwheel is a citation management program designed for researchers to: 

  • Collect, organize, and save citations. 
  • Annotate and highlight PDFs. 
  • Collaborate with others by sharing projects. 
  • Create and format references in Microsoft Word or Google Docs. 

Sciwheel is a web-based platform and is compatible with both Windows and Mac. They offer two types of plans: 1.) a free account with limited features and storage, or 2.) a premium account with added features and storage. All UNC-CH students, faculty, and staff have free, premium access through our institutional subscription. 

Comparing Reference Managers

Choosing a Citation Manager

We offer support and instruction for 3 citation managers at UNC: Sciwheel, Endnote, and Zotero. We recommend different citation managers based on your needs.

The table compares Endnote, Zotero, and Sciwheel (from left to right) based on a number of features.

All of the citation managers support: Annotating PDFs, all major citation styles, and adding citations from a PDF. 

Feature: Endnote Zotero Sciwheel
Cost $108 for students, faculty, & staff through UNC Free Free through UNC-CH
How is it used Computer + Online Computer + Online Online
Classes available at UNC Yes Yes Yes
Collaborate with others in a shared document Difficult Easy Easy
Add references with a browser extension No Yes Yes
Locate full-text using UNC-CH Subscriptions Yes Yes  Yes 
It is very easy to transition from one citation manager to another by exporting your references and importing them into a new program. View our Switching Citation Managers guide for more details. 

We recommend Sciwheel if you want to:Sciwheel Logo

  • Store and share references
  • Collaborate with others in shared documents
  • Collaborate mostly with other UNC Affiliates - UNC Affiliates have free access to a premium subscription. A free version is available with limited projects.

Sciwheel is the most user-friendly and easy to learn platform.  

We recommend Zotero if you want to:Zotero Logo

  • Store and share references
  • Collaborate with other in shared documents
  • Collaborate often with people at other institutions OR you are graduating soon and will no longer be at UNC.

Zotero is somewhat user-friendly and freely available for anyone.  

View our Zotero guide for more details about getting started in Zotero. 

We recommend EndNote if you want to:EndNote Logo

  • Conduct bibliometric analysis
  • Perform systematic review searching
  • Create custom citation styles

View our Endnote guide for more details about getting started in EndNote.

There is a significant learning curve with EndNote and it is not easy to collaborate in shared documents. Since it is not free, we only recommend EndNote if you need advanced functionality not available in other programs.