How to Import References Into Mendeley

You can only export citations from Google Scholar one at a time. Repeat these instructions for each citation you want to export.

In Google Scholar:

1. Run a search on your topic in Google Scholar.
2. Under each reference in the search results you will see a "Cite" link. This will open a "Cite" pane that shows a variety of citation formats.
3. At the bottom of the pane, you will see four links to export your citation to different citation management systems.
4. Click the "RefMan" link. You will be prompted to save the file as "scholar.ris".
5. Save the "scholar.ris" file to your computer desktop or download folder so you can find it again in Mendeley.

In Mendeley:

1. Login to Mendeley if you are not already.
2. In your Mendeley library, click the "Add" button. Select "Import RIS (.ris)".
3. Browse your computer for the "scholar.ris" file that you saved from Google Scholar.
4. Highlight and "Open" it to import the references into your Mendeley library.

Review the Results

The citation quality in Google Scholar is highly variable and depends on the source of the citation. You may find errors or omissions in the citations. Review each citation while you still have the citations up on the screen to more easily correct any errors after you import them into Mendeley.

To cite articles, you need at a minimum, the article's author(s), the article title, the journal it appeared in (the name may be abbreviated or not, depending on the database), the volume number, the issue number (usually), the year of publication, and the page numbers or document identifier if the journal doesn't use page numbers. Consult the rules for the citation style you have been instructed to use so you know what is needed.

Google Scholar does not include the full-text of the articles that it indexes. If you want to add article PDFs to your Mendeley database, you will need locate them outside of Google Scholar. You may find links in the right column for each reference to the publisher site or, if you are working on-campus, to "Find @ Le Moyne Library". For the latter, if the Library subscribes to the journal the article appears in, it will retrieve it through the Library's Citation Linker. Download the PDF of the article and manually add it to your Mendeley citation.