Information resources and technologies provider ProQuest, US, has announced that it will demo its new RefWorks Flow, a cloud-based collaboration platform for research materials, at the UKSG and Association of College and Research Libraries conferences. Attendees at the conferences can expect to get a look at the next generation of document and reference management.
RefWorks Flow was created to provide a better solution for the changing workflow of researchers, who are increasingly working in team environments and want seamless access to full text documents, rather than citations alone. Built with user experience as its primary development driver, Flow reportedly features an intuitive interface that needs little training to use and simplifies the management of research materials. It enables users, whether they are students or scholars, to organise full text documents and references, keeping them together, accessible and usable for a variety of needs -- team collaboration, class reading scenarios, etc.
Users can save web page content and metadata, create collections to organise documents and citations, and upload PDF and Office documents. Once saved to the cloud, these documents can be read, highlighted and annotated on multiple devices. Flow has built-in recognition of documents and citations so users don't have to enter metadata manually.
The platform is also designed to be easy for institutions to use. A cloud-based service, it requires no installation or updates. Flow is compatible with all modern web browsers on computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. The product is available immediately.
