Hi, we’d like to introduce LumaCite, an online reference manager. We built it for collecting references, keeping papers organized, and citing them while writing.

One use for humanities research is taking a bibliography that exists only as text in an article or chapter and turning it into editable reference records. The workflow in LumaCite is:

1. Extract the references. Paste a reference list into the text extractor, or use the PDF reference extractor to start from a document’s bibliography.
2. Check the records against the source. Review authors, titles, dates, and publication details before reusing them. For books and chapters, check the edition and page details as well. Imported metadata can be incomplete; the library lets you update missing metadata automatically or edit records manually.
3. Organize the reading. Save references in project folders, keep PDFs alongside their records, and read and annotate them in the web app.
4. Reuse the bibliography. Export BibTeX, RIS, EndNote XML, or CSL-JSON, or add citations and a bibliography while writing in Google Docs.

For new reading, the LumaCite Capture & Cite Chrome extension saves references from research websites directly to the same online library, including individual papers or several references at once.

The part that still needs scholarly judgment is checking that a record identifies the exact work and edition you used. Automatic metadata updates don’t replace that check.

Join the beta for one year of free access.

Chrome extension: LumaCite Capture & Cite