What is .ris citation?

RIS Citation: A Simple Citation Format

The RIS format is a standardized file format developed by Research Information Systems (RIS) and primarily used for exchanging citation information between citation management software like EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley, and others. It's a plain text format making it easy to read and edit.

Key Features:

• Plain Text: Human-readable and easily processed by computers.
• Tagged Structure: Employs two-letter tags (e.g., TY, AU, TI) to identify different data fields (e.g., type of reference, author, title).
• Standardized Tags: Consistent tags ensure interoperability between different software applications.
• Flexible: Can represent a wide range of resource types, including books, journal articles, websites, and patents.
• Export/Import: Used for exporting citation data from databases and importing it into citation management software.

Basic Structure:

An RIS file consists of a series of records, each representing a single citation. Each record starts with a TY (type of reference) tag and ends with an ER (end of reference) tag. Between these tags are other tags specifying the various attributes of the citation, such as the author (AU), title (TI), publication year (PY), and so on.

Example:

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Smith, John
TI  - The Impact of RIS Format on Citation Management
JO  - Journal of Information Science
VL  - 45
IS  - 2
PY  - 2019
SP  - 123
EP  - 135
ER  -

Common RIS Tags:

• TY - Type of Reference (e.g., JOUR for journal article, BOOK for book)
• AU - Author
• TI - Title
• JO - Journal Name
• VL - Volume
• IS - Issue
• PY - Publication Year
• SP - Start Page
• EP - End Page
• UR - URL
• AB - Abstract
• KW - Keywords
• ER - End of Reference

Advantages:

• Simple and easy to understand.
• Widely supported by citation management software.
• Facilitates seamless data exchange between different platforms.

Limitations:

• Less expressive than more modern formats like BibTeX.
• Limited support for complex metadata.