jcb@wucs1.wustl.edu (James Christopher Beard) (09/02/90)
In article <1013@lee.SEAS.UCLA.EDU> roff@mott.seas.ucla.edu (David A. Roff/) writes: >Does anyone know of a GOOD bibliography database/formatter program for a PC? >We want the program to keep a database of all bibliographic information for >scientific papers, and allow for the printing of custom bibliographies in any >number of predefined or custom journal formats. . . . > >Ultimately we'd like it to interface with MS WORD 5.0 but that may be a bit >much to ask of any program. . . . I've been out of the PC bibliography works for over a year now. (I'm using Mac Word and EndNote at this point.) When I was involved, there was a product capable of doing everything you mention and more: RefBase, by Charles W. Mackenzie III. I obtained it from his firm DataChip Corporation 5624 Pierce Street Omaha, NE 68106 (402) 553-4333 The program can maintain as many very large databases as you like, can subset them according to criteria of high complexity since it implements full boolean logic, uses the widely-understood DBase III format, can read references into a database from about any on-line source you can think of (a good number provided with the program, the rest interpreted according to a description you provide to RefBase), does the manuscript alterations you are interested in (creates a new, FULLY-FORMATTED version of the document with the citations in correct form and the bibliography in the order and format desired), etc., etc. At the time I last was involved with the program, beta testing of the Word 4.0 format was going on; Word 3.0 was handled properly. The power and flexibility of the program are enormous. Because of this, one can get a little lost. I found it very useful to make very brief little summaries for myself of favorite sequences of operations, since the various tasks differ so widely. I cannot vouch for the reliability of the commercial version, since I was involved in beta-testing of version pre-2.0. I do know that I was actually able to use the program successfully for 1) processing reference info obtained on-line, 2) creating formatted bibliographies and citations in manuscripts, and 3) outputting subsets of reference databases in custom formats (as for various formats of CV's). I certainly cannot say that about other such products I tried. I suggest contacting Chip Mackenzie to find out the current status. James C. Beard Institute for Biomedical Computing Washington University (beard@informatics.wustl.edu)