This article highlights the most reliable and user-friendly NLM citation generators for students in 2025. Explore our top picks and discover how to cite academic sources in your dissertation accurately.
Have you ever spent hours perfecting your research only to feel lost in formatting and citations? Imagine completing your biology or medical sciences dissertation only to realise improper referencing could weaken your work. Managing in-text citations and bibliographies can be challenging, especially without prior expertise in academic formatting.
Proper citation, whether NLM or APA, is essential in academia and scientific communities to avoid plagiarism and maintain credibility. Following an NLM referencing style can ensure that every quote, passage, idea, or thought is correctly cited, guaranteeing that real credit goes where it belongs.
However, citing references manually consumes your time more and increases the chances of a discrepancy between in-text references and a detailed bibliography. In this detailed guide, we will list the top 8 NLM citation generators so you can complete your dissertation timely and error-free.
A List of 8 Best NLM Citation Generators for 2025
Think about a dedicated student who meticulously follows the seven NLM citation rules for a dissertation. He knows that missing even one detail is an error. As he types, he carefully lists author names as they appear in studies, so the first and middle initials are written without periods. Accuracy matters, a single mistake could mean tiring revisions.
Considering all these rules, a student or novice scholar can easily miss a guideline, leading to flaws that may cause penalties. Therefore, professionals recommend getting help from dissertation writing services, which will be a beneficial option for students, enabling them to complete their writing without delays.
Nevertheless, if you think you can effectively use an NLM citation generator online, we have compiled a list of tools that students and scholars equally love to use. Let’s shed some light on these tools and make citation generation hassle-free.
1. Mendeley
Mendeley has been helping students and scholars manage in-text citations and bibliographies for over a decade. It was founded by PhD students in 2007 and later acquired by Elsevier, a Dutch academic company handling multiple forms of content, from humanities to life and biological sciences. Not only does Mendeley allow you to create references by downloading a referencing manager on your laptop, but its Web Importer also enables you to import data by searching titles or authors.
A student overburdened with research papers discovers Mendeley and finds a solution. With a few clicks, he visits the official website and downloads the desktop version. Adding studies and sources becomes effortless, streamlining in-text citations and bibliographies. Best of all, he can share his Mendeley library with peers and supervisors, making collaboration smoother than ever.
Ensuring synchronisation between in-text references and a bibliography always remains challenging for students. Most new researchers can successfully add references for sources between the text as it doesn’t require in-depth expertise. However, the real problem begins when reaching the bibliography, which includes specific rules for different academic sources, such as books, research articles, and websites.
Mendeley allows students to overcome this issue by ensuring coherence between in-text citations and bibliographies, reducing the chances of discrepancy.
Here are some features of Mendeley that make students use it:
- Desktop Version: It’s a simple version that you can download and manage your references and other academic data in PDF form.
- Mendeley Web: This is a web-based version that students can access with just an internet connection. It is easy for students to use with some simple clicks.
- Mendeley Cite: It is a perfect extension for MS Word to import all the references from the Mendeley reference manager freely.
2. RefWorks
RefWorks is a free NLM citation generator that can streamline your research, avoiding the hassle of writing complex citations and detailed bibliographies. You can effortlessly collect, organise, and share all the references with anyone anytime. Its simple interface makes it a go-to for students and scholars to use on any device. In addition, not only can you generate references in English, but also it allows you to write bibliographies in eight other languages.
This tremendous tool follows all the guidelines defined in the book “Citing Medicine, the 2nd Edition”, whether writing a dissertation to complete your degree or a research paper to establish your authority as a renowned academic scholar. Some tools still follow the rules set by the first edition and can lead to issues when submitting a dissertation for final approval. What will occur if your references and bibliographies are not following the latest version? However, you will not face this issue when using RefWorks to create references and bibliographies.
Unlike other options, this NLM citation generator can be connected with the latest writing tools, such as MS Word and Google Docs. Furthermore, several students can simultaneously manage references and other formatting guidelines from a single account. Here’s why you need to use this tool for your dissertation references and bibliography:
- Citation-Sequence System: It uses superscript numbers between the text and detailed references in the bibliography.
- Citation-Name Sequence: The numbers are assigned to authors by alphabetical order. For instance, 1 will be for Alex, and 2 will be for Bob.
- Name-Year: This approach is a bit different because it includes the author’s last name and the publication year.
3. Grafiati
Grafiati is designed on the idea to save the time students and scholars have to spend on writing in-text references and complete bibliographies of every source they cite in their dissertations. This exceptional NLM-style citation generator follows the guidelines of the latest editions whether creating references for the sources to be cited in-text or detailed bibliographies to be added at the end of your research paper or dissertation.
Grafiati helps you store your references under the My Bibliographies section. Its interface is simple, so you can access and use it easily regardless of your device type.
Here is a detailed description of how to use Grafiati for your references and bibliographies:
- First, you need to select the source you want a reference for. It can be a book, article, thesis or dissertation, video, or newspaper article. This will allow this tool to generate a reference accordingly. A wrongly selected category may lead to in-text citations or bibliography errors.
- Further, you can select a language for your references and decide whether to detect case errors. You can also choose to turn the Ukrainian language into Roman Script.
- After that, you can select the latest citation style for your research paper or dissertation based on the requirements of your institution or research journal. After completing these three steps, your references will be created. Now, you will have the option to export them in Word dox, BibTex, or BibLaTex. However, these options are only available to premium users.
4. EndNote
EndNote is an easy-to-use NLM citation machine that students and scholars can capitalise on for their academic tasks. The great news is that this tool is going to integrate AI to enhance the reference creation and management, which can enable scholars to complete their articles or other writing tasks quickly and effectively.
A researcher sits amidst stacks of papers, dominated by endless citations. Deadline looms, whether for a dissertation, an essay, or a journal article. The struggle to organise references feels daunting until he discovers a trusted tool relied upon by millions. With a few clicks, he downloads the NLM citation style, effortlessly structuring their sources. Relief washes over and research is now polished, precise, and ready for success.
The efficiency and value offered by EndNote are unmatched, and that’s why most students love using it:
- Going through a lot of research journals and exploring a number of books is common to write in-text citations and detailed bibliographies. However, with this tool, you can cite sources quickly and write the research paper simultaneously.
- Many students unintentionally forget to add references while completing their dissertations. This is because they are unable to track and organise every source they gathered for their studies. EndNote eradicates this issue and keeps every reference and bibliography organised for later use.
- Let’s say you are a group of multiple students working on the same project. Keeping references and bibliographies accessible to everyone can be a challenge. However, this tool allows you to share a file containing citations with up to 1000 people. You can also set permissions, such as who can only view and edit the file.
5. Cite This for Me
Cite This for Me is a free citation generator for NLM, helping millions of students and scholars worldwide, especially from the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia, complete their research papers and dissertations. It was started in 2010 so students don’t get stuck because of the complex nature of the various referencing styles and bibliographies.
Usually, students easily complete their previous chapters, such as the introduction, theoretical work, and results discussion. However, this chapter – a bibliography – becomes an uphill task for them to overcome. Whether you are going to reference an e-book or a magazine article in your dissertation, it guides you on the way to be followed for accurate citation.
This comprehensive guidance will decrease the risk of mistakes in your dissertation, leading to the chances of successful academic journey. Cite This for Me will be a beneficial option for you even if you don’t know the nitty-gritty of the NLM style and what measures you can take to make your references and bibliographies come in line with the rules and guidelines. Always double-check your references before adding them to your thesis with the help of this free tool.
A Pro Hidden Feature: You can run a grammar check on your dissertation with Cite This for Me. This option of checking grammar is completely free and you can use it without the premium plan and making an account.
6. Paperpile
Paperpile is an excellent citation generator for NLM to collect, organise, and use references for your writings, including dissertations and essays. The minds behind this tremendous tool were three computational biologists who put in a lot of effort and eventually succeeded in making it in 2012. Its Chrome extension streamlines your research activities and allows you to import references from multiple sources. You can use these references for your own writing and share them with others so that they can also get help to complete their essays or research papers.
Here are a few reasons why you should be considering Paperpile for in-text references and bibliographies:
- Increase Productivity: This tool increases your productivity by helping you cite sources in-text and write comprehensive bibliographies for a separate section. It can quickly import sources such as websites, books, and research articles and generate references for your dissertation.
- Ensured Accuracy: There is a high chance of mistakes in writing citations or bibliographies in case you don’t have in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience. Even the inappropriate placement of a comma will be considered as a mistake. Nonetheless, Paperpile is built on the latest technology and doesn’t leave room for mistakes.
- Easy Cooperation: Sometimes, students work together on a single project, such as writing an essay for their assignments or a short research article. Therefore, collaboration becomes a must for them. Tools like Paperpile are essential to ensure collaboration, where everyone can access references and bibliographies easily.
- No Referencing Loss: Paperpile helps you keep a track record of all the references you utilised for your dissertation, meaning you will add a detailed reference for every in-text citation. So, we can say that there will be no rejections due to flaws in references.
7. Citation Machine
The Citation Machine is not only an NLM format citation generator but also a writing assistant for students. It allows them to generate in-text citations and bibliographies while considering the nature of the citing source. For instance, citing a book will be different from writing a reference for a podcast or movie. This tool clearly understands it and generates references accordingly based on your selection. You can choose the category and search for a keyword on the user interface or paste the URL.
When generating a reference for a research article, you can find its title or the DOI number. Similarly, the approach to generating a reference for a book will be different, i.e., you will find it by the title, publisher name, or ISBN. Along with writing bibliographies for dissertations, The Citation Machine can also help check grammatical mistakes and plagiarism. Citation and grammar runs will be free; however, the plagiarism report will come with the premium feature.
8. Scispace
Scispace is the most effective and easiest way to cite your sources, whether in-text or in the bibliography. It is a free NLM citation-style generator, presenting you with a list of all the references to be used in your dissertation. You can start writing in-text references section after section and then add them to the bibliography at the end. This tool saves all the work, and you will be able to use it later. Moreover, Scispace focuses on providing a clutter-free experience to its users, meaning there will be no ads while using this tool for references.
Even if you don’t make the account and sign up, you will still not see any ad because it pays special attention to customer satisfaction. However, buying a monthly, quarterly, or yearly plan will give you access to more features. These features include exporting data in a variety of options, including BIB and XML.
NLM vs APA Citation
NLM and APA are two distinct styles for citing previously published studies, research articles, books, movies, podcasts, newspaper articles, etc. Scholars and students in different fields of study use them to complete their articles or assignments.
For instance, intellectuals of social sciences, including humanities and media studies, use APA when writing theses, research articles, or dissertations. On the contrary, the NLM style is used in biomedical and health sciences, focusing on numbering citations and numbered references.
Referencing Method in NLM
The NLM referencing method, developed by the National Library of Medicine, uses a citation-sequence system to cite sources in in-text citations and the bibliography. It means that this method will not follow the alphabetic order throughout a research paper or dissertation.
Here is an example of the NLM method to help you better understand it: “80% of patients go through stress at some point in their lives.” A number will be at the end of this sentence, explaining that we are citing it. Following this approach, the numbers will continue numerically, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. This is how a researcher or student will cite sources in the text.
The same method or formula will be applied in the bibliography. A bibliography will contain references based on the numerical approach; for example, the reference for “1” comes first, and references for “2” and “3” will appear later.
However, the format for each reference is different. The way a researcher cites a book will differ from how he writes a bibliography for research articles. You can ask the editors of a journal or your supervisor for specific guidelines to be followed.
APA Referencing Style
The American Psychological Association was founded in 1892 and later developed as a referencing style for students studying social sciences or researchers writing articles in the same domain. APA follows the author-date system, meaning the last name of the author and the year of publication will appear in the reference.
There are two more styles in the author-date system, and both are acceptable for dissertations and research articles. Sometimes, research journals and educational institutes pass on specific guidelines to follow a style. The first style is a parenthetical citation in which you must mention the author’s last name and publication year in round brackets. First, the name will appear and then the year; however, a comma will separate them (Smith, 2023).
The second type of the author-date system is the narrative citation. Contrary to the parenthetical citation, a researcher mentions the reference at the beginning of a sentence and then adds the stats or any other data. Nevertheless, the comma here, will not separate the author’s name and year of publication, “Smith (2020) states that cigarettes are bad for physical and mental health”.
Hopefully, you understand the difference between NLM and APA. To conclude, there are different referencing styles used in different branches.
Final Thoughts
Writing a research article or dissertation in biomedical or health sciences requires a complete understanding of the rules of referencing and formatting. Ignoring these rules can lead to policy violations set by educational institutes or research journals.
Following these guidelines can be a bed of thorns for students working on their papers for the first time. However, dissertation writing agencies in the UK guide them about these rules and help them write and complete their papers on time. Under their guidance, there will be fewer chances of repetitive revisions. You can contact them anytime as their representatives are available around the clock. Let’s write a dissertation that will help you earn your degree and establish your authority as a research scholar!
Author Bio
John Muller is a professional dissertation writer specialising in curating articles and dissertations for biomedical students. He loves reading the latest published articles in NLM to stay updated year-round.