Keeping your references up to date in your Zotero reference manager can help you stay organized and makes it easy to include your ResearchRabbit finds in your literature review.
Your collections in your Zotero reference manager are also a powerful way to explore your topic in ResearchRabbit to find any papers you might be missing. Keeping your Zotero references automatically synced with ResearchRabbit means when you find a new paper, or create a new collection in Zotero, you can hop right into your next rabbit hole of discovery.
🐇⚡️ Two way sync is part of RR+. You'll also need a Zotero account, which is free to sign up for.
Using ResearchRabbit's free forever tier? You can use the Zotero importer.
Setting up the ResearchRabbit ↔ Zotero two way sync
Step 1: Link your Zotero account
Head to your preference or on your home page, under Getting Started, click Zotero Sync.
A Link Zotero Account window pops up. Click Continue.
Zotero opens in a new tab. Log in with your Zotero username and password.
Zotero asks if ResearchRabbit can access your account. Click Accept Defaults. ResearchRabbit needs to read and update your library to keep things in sync, so changing these permissions can stop your sync working.
You’ll see Zotero Linked Successfully. Close the tab and head back to ResearchRabbit.
Step 2: Choose what to sync
The Import from Zotero window opens with your Zotero library and collections. Everything is ticked to start.
You can choose to Sync your personal libraries or your group libraries.
Untick any collections you don’t want in ResearchRabbit. Click the arrow next to a collection to see what’s inside it.
At the bottom, choose Sync Collections.
Click Create Sync.
Step 3: Open your synced library
A Syncing with Zotero... bar appears at the top of the page while your papers come in. Large libraries can take a little while.
When the bar says Sync Ready, click Open Library.
Scroll down your Collections to the Zotero Sync section. Each synced collection has a sync icon next to it.
You can open, read and search from these like any other collection. Click Search from Collection to use one as Seeds for a new search. You can also use these Collections for finding Seeds in your Search Journey.
Step 4: Send papers from ResearchRabbit to Zotero
Found a new paper? Move it into one of your Zotero Sync collections and it will appear in the matching collection in Zotero.
Select the papers you want to send.
Save them to a collection under Zotero Sync.
Your notes sync too, so any notes you’ve added to a paper go with it.
💡 Tip: Only collections in the Zotero Sync section of your library sync with Zotero. Your other ResearchRabbit collections stay in ResearchRabbit.
What happens if I remove or delete a paper?
Changes carry across both ways. Removing a paper from a collection is different from deleting it:
Remove a paper from a collection: it’s taken out of the matching collection in Zotero, but stays in your Zotero library. In ResearchRabbit, it stays in All Articles.
Delete a paper in ResearchRabbit: it’s removed from ResearchRabbit and moves to your Trash in Zotero, so you can restore it there.
Delete a paper in Zotero: it’s removed from ResearchRabbit too.
Collaborate across ResearchRabbit and Zotero
If you are working with other researchers (or want to share progress with your advisor) you can sync your Zotero group library and use ResearchRabbit’s collection sharing. Everyone in the collaboration will be able to access the same, automatically up to date view of the review.
Using ResearchRabbit’s free forever tier?
You can still integrate with Zotero, here’s how: