RefDB is a reference database and bibliography tool for SGML, XML, and LaTeX/BibTeX documents. It allows users to share databases over a network. It is accessible through command-line tools, through a web interface, from text editors (Emacs, Vim), and it contains a SRU server. Programmers can use Perl and PHP libraries to integrate RefDB functionality into their own projects. RefDB is released under the GNU General Public License and runs on Linux, the *BSDs, OS X, Solaris, and Windows/Cygwin.
The bibliography conversion service lets you convert your BibTeX or EndNote bibliography to BibTeX, EndNote, HTML, or Silva XML. For an example of an HTML bibliography, please visit dret's online bibliography, which has been generated from BibTeX. Note the OpenURLs, which enable users to simply look up the ETHZ library catalog for this particular resource. When generating HTML, this OpenURL resolver (and many other options) can be configured to generate customized HTML.
Bibliographic management and citation formatting are central to the practice of all manner of research. The current bibliographic software landscape is divided broadly between a commercial market characterized by buggy software and glacial innovation, and an open software ecosystem built around BibTeX.
BibTeX’s success is a function of three factors. First, BibTeX was designed to solve real needs: allowing LaTeX users to format their manuscripts according to detailed publisher specifications. Second, it has a dedicated styling language to configure such formatting. Finally, it focuses on a single task: bibliographic and citation encoding and formatting. As a result, a variety of tools have been built around it. A GUI application designer can simply focus on how best to manage references, without having to worry about the obscure complexities of bibliographic and citation formatting.
Nevertheless, BibTeX is otherwise quite limited. Its data model is unsuitable for demanding users in the social sciences and humanities, it has no international support, its styling language is written in an obscure language that is very difficult to work with, and it is limited to LaTeX.
This list provides a quick overview of the landscape of open-source bibliographic software; both where is has been, but more importantly, where it may yet go.