Reviewed by R. Glenn Wooden
Acadia Divinity College
Acadia University

General Aspects

ProCite 4.0.1 (P4) is a bibliographic database program for Windows 95 and NT. It began as a program oriented for librarians and information specialists, and has become a program that is useful for researchers or professionals in any discipline. It can produce a bibliography directly or work in conjunction with Microsoft Word 7 and Microsoft Word 97 or Corel Word Perfect versions 7 and 8. Within a document the researcher can either allow the program to find and replace brief citations when a document is finished or use the cite-while-you-write(c) feature that links references directly to any of the researcher's P4 databases. Bibliographies can be rendered into the styles of all the major journals in the fields of science, social science and humanities. Unfortunately, P4 is unable to render citations in the full range needed for some disciplines, especially those in the humanities. The user is able to import files directly from all the major database services.

The User's Guide is well written. It includes a tutorial that uses the sample databases provided with the program. The remainder of the User's Guide takes one through each aspect of loading the software, using it, and its special features. The on-line documentation is not as complete as the User's Guide, but it is context sensitive.

Data Entry / Text Editing

P4 is fully Windows compatible providing all the expected editing features and fonts (unfortunately, however, non-latin fonts appear as latin letters in certain windows!). In an established database, consistency of titles, names and key words is ensured through drop-down lists linked to the appropriate fields.

The researcher with access to database services such as Current Contents, DIALOG, MEDLARS, Melvyll, OVID, PROQUEST, RIS, Silver Platter and STM will find the conversion of their search results into records a very convenient, time-saving feature. Should the user require a format that is not covered by those provided, the program Biblio-Link II for Windows, which accompanies this program, can be used to compose a new configuration file or, if required to modify one. Those with access to the internet can also automatically capture the text contents of a Web page and have the URL automatically inserted in the appropriate field.

System Requirements:
PC, Windows 95.

Version:
Latest: 4.0.1
Reviewed: 4.0.1

Availability:
Commercial software available at retailers and from the publisher. Directly from Research Information Systems: $395.95 (non-student, non-faculty, non-government). Upgrades: $69.95-$99.95; for 4.0 users: free. The suggested educational price for ProCite is $99.95 for students and $199.95 for staff and faculty. These prices are available from college and university bookstores in the US and Canada.

Demo:
Demos are available via the demo page.

Screen Capture:
(Click for larger image)

View 1: Browsing Keywords

View 2: Editing a Reference