Guide to work with mendeley for publication (not a promo)

I have relied on Mendeley for the last 3 years to proceed with the organization of my own library, which allows me to create folders to better reach some article/book whenever I need it (as we may call it the virtual shelves).

As the experience grows, I have been scrutinizing the utilization of this software, and now, as soon as I download anything to review, I immediately create a folder on the Research field of the corresponding download (e.g.: Business Management, Hospitality Management, etc.), within which, I will then start to organize and divide the slots, so the second step is to create a folder inside this last one, corresponding to the publisher of the work (can also be a database name, when articles, e.g.: SCOPUS, WOS, others). Now, this makes sense to organize like this, to me, as then we must differentiate between Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 and it might be tougher to do it the opposite way, from Quartiles to publishers, because then inside of the quartiles’ folders’ I create a new folder where I name the corresponding journal and then another folder with the subject of the article, here it is a full example, explained of the final result:

1. Hospitality Management

a. SCOPUS

i. Q1

1. Tourism Management

a. Consumer Behaviour

This is easier when proceeding to a research when we intend to use bibliometrics, as we can then select the articles used on the article and download a RIS.file and import it to VOSViewer and see patterns among the several articles reviewed and used, but we may also extract a CSV.file and analyze other quantitative metadata on excel, this because, when we are writing our essays on word and using the Mendeley cite and reference manager, maybe only on the end we look to the dates of publication and sometimes we might be using outdated articles when we have better intel to use (in our own possession), this may lead us to several insights: 1) place the classic literature “speaking” with the modern literature; 2) are we using the actual articles downloaded to the article proposed or are we looking to “the same old literature”?; 3) have I forgot to mention/cite someone?

Being this said, bear in mind that Mendeley does not work for us, but it works with us if you apply it correctly, so please be the (virtual) rat labs we need to be!

Mendeley is also a major help to us, when researching in group, as we already use cloud computing to work on word, excel, SPSS, Nvivo, and others to review what other team members provide as insights but also to work at the same time in the project… Well, on Mendeley we can create private groups where we can include the people involved on a research/project, and then, through this group, all members may review and use the articles uploaded on the library (fantastic, isn’t it? – well, specially for those who are not freaks like me that need to know where there is “that” article, even knowing that you can use the *search tab* – also because it empowers team work, as I may miss one article that one of the colleagues find in other research), worths mentioning that the articles uploaded to this groups can then be moved/copied to other private-owned folders, if you intend to do it.

If by now you haven’t felt the love story between me and Mendeley, I will then emphasize the work efforts that you have when writing the references. As you know, each time that you cite a work on you essay, you need to place the corresponding reference in the end, and you can do it manually, for sure, with 10 times the effort, for sure, as well. Although, as we are in 2022, I am kind of millennial, understanding other millennials, I am telling you one thing, if you cite through mendeley, when you need to organize references, is WAY better to do it automatically, for this two reasons: 1) on word you give it 2 clicks and there you go, all references are placed on spot; 2) If you need to change the style of references, you only press 1 button. Tell me, am I not your friend? Well, we can be, but only if you work properly with mendeley, otherwise this will not work, for our friendship nor your research.

And that’s a wrap for mendeley, hope it became useful for you in the near future.