Zotero, the next generation of research tool, is a free, open source Firefox Add-on that enables users to collect, manage, and cite research from all types of sources from the browser, e.g. Amazon, Google Books, Google Scholar, Library catalogs, online databases, instituational repositories etc. It can generate bibliography automaticly in wikis, blogs, Microsoft Word and OpenOffice Writer. It is a good alternative to EndNotes and RefWorks. It also allows other users to contribute citation styles and site translators.

Zotero was released in Oct. 2006, by a group of scholars from the Centre for History and New Media at George Mason University, it is generously founded by United States institute of museum and library services, the Andrew W Melon Foundation and the Alfred P Sloan Foundation.  The name is loosely derived from an Albanian verb meaning "to master".