Extract text from Citation files (RIS)
To convert RIS Citations to another format, you need EndNote or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Citation Data File" file type, you need software like EndNote or a similar tool.
The .RIS file extension stands for Research Information Systems. It is a standardized, tag-based plain text format used to exchange bibliographic citation data - such as authors, publication titles, dates, and journal names - between digital library databases and reference management software. Academic tools like EndNote, Zotero, and Mendeley rely heavily on this format to import and export publication metadata seamlessly. You can read more about its specific tagging syntax on Wikipedia.
Despite being an industry standard, .RIS files are raw data arrays, not formatted bibliographies. They are difficult to read manually. The format uses a rigid syntax (e.g., TY - JOUR for journal type or AU - for author) that is easily corrupted if edited by hand in a basic text editor. To utilize a .RIS file for a thesis or academic paper, you typically need a dedicated, sometimes expensive reference manager. You cannot simply paste a .RIS file into a DOCX document and expect a properly formatted APA, MLA, or Chicago-style bibliography.
To make citation data readable or usable in other academic and administrative workflows, conversion is often necessary. Convert .RIS to BIB (BibTeX) if you are typesetting documents in LaTeX. Convert to CSV or XLSX if you need to analyze or audit a large database of literature using Microsoft Excel. If you simply need a human-readable list of references, converting directly to PDF or DOCX is ideal. Just drag and drop your file here to analyze and convert it - free, online, and without installing software.
Convert.Guru analyzes your RIS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted ENW, BIB, BIBTEX, CSV, TXT, NBIB, PDF, DOCX, IRS, XLSX, SPV, ZIP and TSX files.
If you want to convert RIS file to BIBTEX, PDF, CSV, APA, TXT, XML, RTF, DOC, DOCX, ODT, PAGES or TEX, you can use EndNote or similar software from the "Bibliographic Citation Data Exchange" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert PDF, DOC, ASC, TODO, NFO, MEMO, README, DOCX, JPG, TXT, NOTE or RTF files to RIS, try EndNote or another comparable tool in the "Bibliographic Citation Data Exchange" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our RIS converter.