What is the RIS file format?
A .ris file contains information about cited publications or references to them, saved in text format developed by Research Information Systems in the early 1990s. The format was created to standardize data exchange between various citation software tools and is now widely associated with Clarivate and EndNote. It uses human-readable syntax and can be opened using any text editor. A single .ris file can hold information about one or more publications. Each publication referenced in .ris files must be tagged using two required tags:
TY- type of publication,ER- end of record, signaling the transition to the next publication.
The format is based around a 6-character structure for each new line. The first two characters define the type of field (tag), the next two are space characters, followed by a hyphen and a space. Each line must end with MS Windows newline characters - CR and LF. There are various types of tags used in .ris files, for example:
AU,A1,A2,A3,A4- authors of the given publication,AB- an abstract,L1,L2,L3- various types of links,SP,EP- start and end page numbers,TI,T1,T2,T3,TT- titles,VL- volume number,Y1,Y2- dates.
Some tags are constrained by length limits or the type of data they may hold, but there are no restrictions on tag order. For types of publications, the shortcuts listed in the specification can be used - such as JOUR for journal article or BOOK for a monograph. Many applications and systems use .ris citation files, including digital libraries and library catalogues. The format is closely related to .BIB (BibTeX) and .ENW (EndNote export), which serve similar purposes in academic workflows.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWRIS files are plain text metadata - no code, no macros, effectively zero direct risk. The only practical concerns are hygiene-level: a URL field could point anywhere (reference managers don't auto-open them), and citation files from untrusted sources may simply contain wrong or spammy metadata. Safe to open in any text editor.
Format details
in a nutshellFULL NAMEResearch Information Systems citation file
DEVELOPERResearch Information Systems (creators of Reference Manager; format now associated with Clarivate/EndNote)since Early 1990s (Reference Manager, Research Information Systems); publicly documented tag set, no formal standards body
CATEGORYData Files
MIME TYPEapplication/x-research-info-systems
TYPEtagged plain-text bibliographic data format
STANDARDOpen · royalty-free
Programs that open RIS files
Windows5 apps
EndNote
Paid File - Import - File, choose the RIS import filter (RefMan RIS) - or double-click the file. Commercial standard in many universities; current version EndNote 2025 (Clarivate). 
JabRef
Open-source File - Import into library - reads RIS and converts it to BibTeX entries; ideal for LaTeX users. 
Zotero
Open-source File - Import (or just double-click once Zotero is installed) - references land in your library. Free, the default recommendation for students.
Mendeley Reference Manager
Free Add new - Import library - RIS, or drag the file into the window (Elsevier, free account required).
Notepad / any text editor
Built-in Open with Notepad to read the raw tagged citation data - useful to check what a file contains before importing. 
macOS4 apps
BibDesk
Open-source Mac BibTeX manager; File - Import opens RIS and converts entries to BibTeX. Still maintained.
Zotero
Open-source File - Import the .ris, or let the Zotero Connector capture citations directly in the browser. 
Linux2 apps
iOS1 app
Web2 apps
Paperpile
Paid Browser-based manager (Google Docs/Word integration); upload or drag the RIS into your library.
EndNote Online (EndNote Web)
Freemium Collect - Import References - choose RefMan RIS filter; free basic tier. Technical details
deep spec| File type | Plain-text tagged bibliographic format; fully human-readable with no binary sections |
| Tag structure | Each tag is two uppercase ASCII letters followed by two spaces, a hyphen, and a space (e.g., `TY - `, `AU - `) |
| Mandatory record start | Every record must open with the `TY` tag specifying the reference type (e.g., `TY - JOUR`) as the very first field |
| Record terminator | Each record closes with `ER - ` on its own line; a blank line typically follows before the next record |
| Line endings | Specification requires Windows-style CRLF line endings; modern parsers generally accept Unix LF-only as well |
| MIME type | `application/x-research-info-systems` |
| Reference type codes | Over 40 standardized `TY` values including `JOUR` (journal article), `BOOK` (book), `CONF` (conference paper), `THES` (thesis), `CHAP` (book chapter), `RPRT` (report) |
| Author fields | Multiple author tags supported - `AU`, `A1` (primary), `A2` (secondary), `A3` (tertiary), `A4` (subsidiary); one author per tag line |
| Multi-record support | A single `.ris` file may contain any number of reference records, each delimited by its own `TY`/`ER` pair |
| Tag ordering | No mandatory order for tags within a record, except `TY` must appear first and `ER` must appear last |
| URL and link fields | `L1` stores a local file path or URL, `L2` a full-text URL, `L3` a related URL; all three may appear multiple times per record |
| Date representation | Dates stored in `Y1` and `Y2` tags using the pattern `YYYY/MM/DD/other`; month, day, and the free-text fourth component are optional |
| Abstract continuation | The `AB` tag supports multi-line abstracts; continuation lines begin with six leading space characters per the original specification |
| File identification | No magic bytes or binary header; files are identified by the `TY - ` content pattern at the start of the first record |
| Character encoding | Original specification assumed ASCII/ANSI; current implementations commonly export and import UTF-8 to support non-Latin scripts |
| Interoperability | Native import/export supported by EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley, JabRef, Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, and most institutional repositories |
| Released | Early 1990s (Reference Manager, Research Information Systems); publicly documented tag set, no formal standards body |
| Open standard | Yes · royalty-free |
| Specification | en.wikipedia.org |
RIS conversions
Possible
.RIS .BIBGUIDE
Yes -- the fastest route is to import the .ris file into Zotero (free) and export the library as BibTeX.
How to convert
.RIS .BIBTEXGUIDE
Yes - import the RIS file into Zotero or JabRef, then export as BibTeX (.bib); the whole process takes under…
How to convert
.RIS .DOCXGUIDE
There is no file-to-file conversion from RIS to DOCX - the right approach is to import the RIS file into a…
How to convert
.RIS .CSVGUIDE
Yes -- import the .ris into Zotero (free) and export as CSV. That is the most reliable path.
How to convert
.RIS .ENWGUIDE
Yes -- import the RIS into Zotero (free) and export as Refer/BibIX, or use EndNote's built-in export.
How to convert
.RIS .ENLGUIDE
You do not convert RIS to ENL - you import the RIS file into EndNote, and the references become part of your…
How to convert
Community Q&A
asked by users
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Frequently asked questions
How do I open a RIS file?
Import it into a reference manager - Zotero (free), Mendeley, EndNote or JabRef - which is what the file is for. To merely view it, any text editor works: it is plain text.
Why won't the RIS file open when I double-click it?
Windows has no default app for .ris until a reference manager is installed. Install Zotero (free) and double-clicking will import the citations; or use File - Import inside your manager.
How do I convert RIS to BibTeX?
Import the .ris into Zotero or JabRef and export as BibTeX (.bib). Command line: bibutils ('ris2xml file.ris | xml2bib > file.bib').
What is the difference between RIS and BibTeX?
Both store citations as text. RIS uses two-letter tags and is the universal export of databases and publishers; BibTeX uses @article{...} entries and is native to LaTeX. Reference managers read and write both.
How do I get RIS references into Microsoft Word?
Not by converting the file - import it into Zotero, Mendeley or EndNote, then use the manager's Word plugin to insert citations and an auto-formatted bibliography.
Which free program opens RIS files?
Zotero - free and open-source, with Word/LibreOffice plugins and browser capture. Mendeley (free Elsevier account) and JabRef (open-source, BibTeX-oriented) are alternatives.
Can one RIS file contain multiple references?
Yes - records are simply concatenated, each starting with 'TY -' and ending with 'ER -'. Database exports routinely pack hundreds of references into one file.
References
1Wikipedia - RIS (file format) with tag referenceen.wikipedia.org
2Zotero - free reference managerwww.zotero.org
