We will update this guide as soon as we have more information about the rebranding and other updates to the current Sciwheel interface.
Sciwheel is a citation management program designed for researchers to:
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.
We offer support and instruction for 3 citation managers at UNC: Sciwheel, Endnote, and Zotero. We recommend different citation managers based on your needs.
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. |
Sciwheel is the most user-friendly and easy to learn platform.
Zotero is somewhat user-friendly and freely available for anyone.
View our Zotero guide for more details about getting started in Zotero.
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.