Mendeley for Collaborative Research: How to Share Libraries and Work as a Team in 2026

Research is rarely a solo pursuit. Lab teams, co-authors, reading groups, thesis advisors and students, interdisciplinary collaborators across institutions — modern academic and scientific work happens in networks of people who need to share, discuss, and build on the same body of literature. Mendeley Reference Manager’s collaboration features exist precisely to support this reality.

This guide focuses specifically on the collaborative side of Mendeley Desktop (now Mendeley Reference Manager for Desktop), covering how research teams can share libraries, co-annotate papers, coordinate citation workflows, and manage the practical challenges of collaborative bibliography management. If you are setting up Mendeley for a lab group, co-authoring a paper with colleagues, or coordinating a systematic literature review across a team, this guide is for you.

Why Reference Management Collaboration Matters

Without shared reference management, research teams typically experience one or more of these frustrations:

Duplicate literature tracking. Multiple team members independently download the same papers, organize them in their own idiosyncratic systems, and annotate them in isolation. The team’s collective knowledge about the literature is fragmented across multiple computers and never synthesized.

Inconsistent citations in collaborative documents. When co-authors each maintain their own reference libraries and use different citation styles or reference formats, combining sections of a manuscript creates citation inconsistencies that require time-consuming reconciliation.

Poor knowledge transfer. When a team member leaves (a graduate student finishing, a postdoc moving to a new position), their carefully organized literature knowledge often leaves with them.

Siloed annotation. One team member’s insightful notes and highlights on a key paper are invisible to collaborators who are reading the same paper independently.

Mendeley’s group library system addresses all of these problems by creating a shared space where the team’s literature knowledge is collected, organized, and accessible to everyone.

Setting Up a Group Library in Mendeley

Mendeley’s group feature is the foundation of collaborative reference management. Groups allow multiple users to share a reference library, add papers, and access each other’s references.

Creating a New Group

  1. Open Mendeley Reference Manager for Desktop.
  2. In the left-hand panel, look for Groups or find the option under the Library menu.
  3. Click Create Group or the + icon next to Groups.
  4. Enter a descriptive group name — something that identifies the project, lab, or paper. Examples: “Smith Lab Literature,” “Johnson et al. 2026 Manuscript,” “Systematic Review: Climate Adaptation.”
  5. Set the group’s visibility:
  • Private: Only invited members can see the group and its contents. Best for unpublished research, ongoing projects, and sensitive data.
  • Invite-Only: The group can be found by other Mendeley users but only invited members can join.
  • Public: The group is open and visible to all Mendeley users.
  1. Click Create Group.

The group now appears in your left panel and has its own library that is separate from your personal library.

Inviting Collaborators

After creating the group:

  1. Navigate to the group in the left panel.
  2. Click on the group settings or members area.
  3. Select Invite Members.
  4. Enter the email addresses of your collaborators. They will receive an email invitation with a link to join the group through their own Mendeley accounts.

Collaborators need their own Mendeley account (free to create). Once they accept the invitation, the shared group library appears in their Mendeley interface and they can view, add, and organize references within it.

Role-Based Permissions

Mendeley groups support different member roles:

Owner: Full control — can add and remove members, delete the group, and manage all settings. Usually the PI, senior author, or lab manager.

Admin: Can add and remove members and manage group settings but cannot delete the group.

Member: Can add and remove references, create and edit folders within the group, and add annotations.

Assigning appropriate roles ensures that the group structure is maintained by the right people without restricting collaboration for team members.

Adding References to a Shared Group Library

Once a group is set up, adding references to the shared library works through the same methods as adding to your personal library.

Adding From Personal Library

The quickest way to populate a new group library with relevant papers is to move or copy references from your personal library:

  1. Select the references you want to share (Ctrl+click or Shift+click for multiple).
  2. Right-click and select Add to Group or Copy to Group.
  3. Choose the destination group from the list.

The references now appear in the group library and are immediately visible to all group members.

Importing Directly Into the Group Library

To add new references directly to the group library:

  1. Select your group library in the left panel (make sure it is active/selected).
  2. Import references via drag-and-drop of PDF files, the Mendeley Web Importer browser extension, or File > Import.
  3. References added while the group library is active go into the shared library, not your personal library.

Using the Mendeley Web Importer

The Mendeley Web Importer browser extension (available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari) allows any group member to add references directly from journal websites, Google Scholar, PubMed, and other academic databases:

  1. Install the Web Importer extension in your browser.
  2. When viewing a paper you want to add, click the Mendeley extension icon.
  3. In the save dialog, choose your group library as the destination.
  4. The reference (with metadata and PDF if available) is immediately available to all group members.

This is particularly efficient during literature search phases when team members are each searching different databases and databases simultaneously.

Coordinating Literature Search and Review

For systematic reviews and literature surveys, a structured approach to the shared library makes the review process much more efficient.

Division of Search Responsibilities

Assign different databases or search terms to different team members:

  • Member A searches PubMed for clinical trial papers
  • Member B searches Web of Science for basic science papers
  • Member C searches Cochrane for systematic reviews
  • Member D searches grey literature sources

Each member adds their search results to the shared group library, rapidly building a comprehensive collection without duplication.

Using Tags and Labels for Review Status

Mendeley allows you to add custom tags to references. A shared tagging system lets the team coordinate review stages:

Review status tags:

  • to-review — Added, not yet reviewed
  • included — Meets inclusion criteria
  • excluded — Does not meet criteria
  • uncertain — Needs group discussion
  • key-paper — Core reference for the project

Consistent use of these tags allows any team member to see the current status of the literature search at a glance, and facilitates the screening and selection phase of systematic reviews.

Creating Subfolders by Topic or Theme

Within the group library, create folders to organize references thematically:

Group Library: Climate Adaptation Review/
├── Methods/
├── Case Studies - Urban/
├── Case Studies - Agricultural/
├── Policy Frameworks/
├── Economic Analysis/
└── Contested Papers/

Any group member can create, rename, and organize folders. Establishing a shared folder structure at the project’s start prevents disorganization as the library grows.

Annotation Collaboration in Mendeley

Mendeley allows users to highlight text, add sticky notes, and annotate PDFs within the application. In the context of group libraries, annotations serve as a powerful discussion and knowledge-building tool.

How Annotations Work in Groups

When you annotate a paper in a group library:

  • Your annotations are associated with your Mendeley account.
  • Other group members can see your annotations when they open the same paper.
  • Multiple team members can add their own annotations to the same paper, creating a layered discussion visible to all.

This shared annotation system allows a team to build a collective interpretation of key papers, with different members highlighting different relevant passages and adding context notes that benefit the whole group.

Best Practices for Group Annotations

Identify yourself in notes. Since annotations from multiple authors can accumulate, beginning each note with your initials helps collaborators quickly understand whose perspective is being expressed. Example: [JS] This methodology section contradicts what Johnson (2023) found.

Use highlighting consistently. Agree on a color coding system for highlights. For example: yellow = key finding, green = methodology relevance, red = potential concern, blue = useful quote.

Use notes for discussion points. The annotations layer is valuable for flagging papers for group discussion: [Needs team discussion: inclusion criteria question]

Avoid editing others’ annotations. Adding your own annotations alongside existing ones is constructive; modifying others’ annotations without discussion is confusing.

Citation Collaboration in Co-Authored Manuscripts

When multiple authors are working on the same paper in different sections, citation consistency is a significant challenge. Mendeley’s citation plugin for Microsoft Word and LibreOffice (the Mendeley Cite add-in) simplifies this.

Setting Up Consistent Citations Across Co-Authors

For a co-authored manuscript:

  1. All co-authors should have the relevant references in the same group library.
  2. All co-authors should install Mendeley Cite (the Word/LibreOffice add-in).
  3. Establish the citation style at the project’s beginning — the target journal’s format — and confirm all team members have selected the same style in Mendeley Cite.

When each author inserts citations in their section of the manuscript using the shared group library, citations reference the same shared records. This means the bibliography is automatically consistent even before the sections are combined.

Handling Discrepancies

When combining sections from multiple authors, Mendeley Cite’s Refresh function updates all citations against the current library, resolving any formatting inconsistencies. If a reference appears in one author’s section but not in the group library, it can be added and the citation refreshed.

Managing the Shared Library as the Project Evolves

Research projects change over time. The group library needs maintenance to remain useful.

Regular Library Cleanup

Schedule a quarterly or milestone-based library review:

  • Remove duplicates (Mendeley can identify duplicates automatically).
  • Archive references in a “Reviewed-Excluded” folder rather than deleting them, in case exclusion decisions need to be revisited.
  • Ensure key papers have complete and correct metadata (author names, publication year, journal, volume, pages).

Documentation in the Group Library

For long-running projects, add a text file or note to the group library documenting the search strategy, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and major decisions. Mendeley allows adding “notes” documents that serve as internal documentation for the group.

Offboarding Team Members

When a team member leaves a project:

  1. Download a copy of the group library as a backup.
  2. Ensure any key annotations from the departing member are noted or transferred.
  3. Remove the departing member from the group (they retain their personal library but can no longer access the group).
  4. The group’s references and structure remain intact for the remaining team.

Limitations to Be Aware Of

Mendeley’s free tier limits group library storage and the number of group members. For larger teams or extensive libraries:

  • Free accounts have limited cloud storage (check current limits at mendeley.com).
  • Groups above a certain member count may require a paid subscription.
  • Some advanced features are subscription-only.

For academic institutions, site licenses or institutional subscriptions through Elsevier (Mendeley’s parent company) may be available. Check with your institution’s library for potential access.

Collaborative Research With Mendeley: A Practical Advantage

Research teams that adopt shared reference management through Mendeley’s group library system report more cohesive literature reviews, fewer citation headaches at manuscript submission, and better knowledge continuity when team membership changes. The setup investment — a few hours to create the group structure, train team members, and agree on conventions — pays off quickly through avoided duplication, easier co-authoring, and a shared intellectual record of the project’s literature base.

For research teams in 2026 where collaboration is often distributed across institutions and time zones, Mendeley’s collaborative tools provide a practical, accessible foundation for managing the literature dimension of research work.

Download Mendeley Reference Manager and explore more features at mendeley-desktop.org.