Google scholar, a popular web resource that indexes journal article citations, can be used to obtain citations in RIS (Refman) format to import into Endnote.

Downloading from Google Scholar

  1. To export a single citation in Google Scholar, click on the 'cite' link under the entry for the item you are trying to cite.
  2. Choose the Refman option at the bottom of the pop-up screen.

  3. Allow it to save the file scholar.ris (or scholar(1).ris, etc) to your computer.
  4. Go to EndnoteWeb to "collect" the citation.
  5. To export more than one citation at a time, save the citations to a list in "My Library,"  as shown below. 
  6. Begin by clicking the star under each citation of interest.

  • In the pop up screen, select the list (or create a new one) in which you wish to aave each item. 


  • When ready to export your list, click on "My Library" in the upper right hand corner of the GoogleScholar webpage.

  • Click on the List you wish to export to EndnoteWeb


  • On the resulting screen, click on the "Export all" icon at the top of the page.

  • Click RefMan and a  citations().ris file will download with the citations from the selected list.


  • Collect in EndnoteWeb as shown below


Importing into EndnoteWeb


  1. Login to EndNoteWeb.
  2. Click on the Collect tab
  3. Click on "Import New References" 
  4. Next to File, Click on "Choose File" the  button and find the citations().ris file for GoogleScholar... file you downloaded (look in F:\My Documents\Downloads)
  5. Next to "Import Option," choose RefMan RIS.
  6. Click Import.
  7. If you chose a New Group, you'll be prompted to create the group name:

    Type in a name for the group and click OK.
  8. Endnote will report back "Numberreferences were imported to "Group Name".

Updated 2/21/23 by Margery Ashmum and reviewed June 23, 2023