Comments on: A tale of two researchers. How we’re adapting Mendeley to meet your needs.

By: Ellie

Ellie — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 10:26:03 +0000

I’m currently like #1 but trying to work out a way to run something more like #2. The problem for me is I really don’t know what upgrading would actually do for me, and I can’t see any way to find out without committing our funds, which aren’t mine to grant. That is to say, if I persuade our research leader to fork out for Mendeley for Teams, and it doesn’t do what I want it to do, I’m going to look pretty daft. Any thoughts?

By: crash

crash — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 10:59:31 +0000

I’m defenitly a Jane and I would agree with chepec: A better BibTeX integration and custom servers would be ver nice to have. Also I would like to see dynamic folders displaying documents that fit an array of criteria (e.g. unread documents with tags x, y, & z).

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:49:13 +0000

A third use case would be enterprises, which need to ensure there is no option for anything leaving the company – i.e. the mendeley cloud option is ruled out. Anything needing tight control of IP-related resources precludes use of Mendeley. Unfortunately!! The Desktop part is fine – the idea to synchronize libraries and use group functionality – all very welcome and useful – but not if synchronization is via the Mendeley cloud.

By: chepec

chepec — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:36:00 +0000

Nice analysis. It seems I fit the first bill quite well, as a grad student with an extensive collection of papers. I do pay for extra storage space, but more to support what I consider a very useful product than for actual usage, since I use a home-made solution to sync Mendeley’s database and pdf-files across my computers.
Although my sync-solution is currently working fine, it would be nice if Mendeley supported syncing via custom servers. Better BibTeX integration would also be nice. Well-done so far, Mendeley!

By: Martin John Hadley

Martin John Hadley — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:25:52 +0000

I’m a doctoral researcher and use Mendeley primarily as a Reference Manager, and am really glad this use case won’t be impacted by the new fees structure.

I’ve tried to encourage my group to use a private group for sharing papers, but workflows and inertia are the main stumbling blocks. I know for a fact our PI would happily pay if everyone used the service.

On the future of Mendeley, the reference manager component is so powerful and saves me so much time I would happily use an ad-supported version. Ads in the collections window, but not when reading papers.

By: James Carow

James Carow — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 15:34:44 +0000

I actually fit into both categories as I am a PhD student doing independent research and also am working as part of an engineering team in a major corporation. Mendelely fills both really well. I must put in a formal request for “custom server installations” which would place the private teaming capabilities more in line with corporate enterprise use.