Upgrade StorageZotero integration with database manager
Hi all,
I have been using Zotero for quite a while now and I love it. At the current moment I am looking for a database-management-like system which can be coupled to Zotero. My question in fact has two aspects:
1. My first question is actually not really Zotero specific, but connected to my second question and therefore important too. As said, I am looking for a kind of database management system. I am not sure if there is a name for what I want, but the idea is more or less as follows:
I want to be able to make overviews of available scientific knowledge about e.g. bioactive compounds. Such an overview could easily be created in a spreadsheet, but I want to be able to connect entries at various levels.
As an example, suppose I have an overview of what is known about the biological roles of magnesium. Such an overview could be created in one spreadsheet i e.g. Excel. But I may also want to have a similar overview of clinical research with magnesium supplementation. Most importantly, I want to be able to connect some entries of this second overview to entries of the first. This is probably something that can be done in some sort of database management system. Does anyone have tips for a system that could be used for this (preferable open source)?
2. Here is where Zotero comes in. For the entries in the various overviews described above, I want to list the references where the information stems from. In Excel this may be done with an additional column referring to an overview of articles on a separate sheet, but this is not really efficient and makes it very difficult to link to e.g. PDFs of these cited articles.
So what would be more appealing is if these references could be connected to the Zotero database. So my second question is if anyone knows a kind of database management system that can be integrated with Zotero. Such setup would allow users to add new references in the Zotero database, access them and open PDFs through the Zotero GUI, but also add these references to the above described overviews.
I hope that some of you may have an idea how to tackle this.
Thanks,
Dennis
I have been using Zotero for quite a while now and I love it. At the current moment I am looking for a database-management-like system which can be coupled to Zotero. My question in fact has two aspects:
1. My first question is actually not really Zotero specific, but connected to my second question and therefore important too. As said, I am looking for a kind of database management system. I am not sure if there is a name for what I want, but the idea is more or less as follows:
I want to be able to make overviews of available scientific knowledge about e.g. bioactive compounds. Such an overview could easily be created in a spreadsheet, but I want to be able to connect entries at various levels.
As an example, suppose I have an overview of what is known about the biological roles of magnesium. Such an overview could be created in one spreadsheet i e.g. Excel. But I may also want to have a similar overview of clinical research with magnesium supplementation. Most importantly, I want to be able to connect some entries of this second overview to entries of the first. This is probably something that can be done in some sort of database management system. Does anyone have tips for a system that could be used for this (preferable open source)?
2. Here is where Zotero comes in. For the entries in the various overviews described above, I want to list the references where the information stems from. In Excel this may be done with an additional column referring to an overview of articles on a separate sheet, but this is not really efficient and makes it very difficult to link to e.g. PDFs of these cited articles.
So what would be more appealing is if these references could be connected to the Zotero database. So my second question is if anyone knows a kind of database management system that can be integrated with Zotero. Such setup would allow users to add new references in the Zotero database, access them and open PDFs through the Zotero GUI, but also add these references to the above described overviews.
I hope that some of you may have an idea how to tackle this.
Thanks,
Dennis
2) You can use the Zutilo plugin to copy "Zotero select links" that will open your Zotero library to the item when clicked. You can add these to any database management system you set up.
I totally agree with your advice against Excel. That is why I asked for any suggestions regarding a database solution. I checked Geneious Prime, and it is indeed tailored for genetic data. Do you have any suggestion for alternatives that may be able to do what I described in my original post (e.g. for vitamins, drugs, etc.)?
I have also tried your suggestion to use Zutilo, but the link that is being copied refers to the online Zotero database. It takes me to the user login page on Zotero.org. What I would like is to link to a local database. If the link opens in the local standalone version it would be a feasible solution. Any ideas on how to do that?
Thanks,
Dennis
Zutilo has two link options. “Zotero select link” will open the item in your local Zotero database. “Zotero item URI” will open the item on zotero.org, as you’ve noticed.