Legacy RefWorks: Duplicate Detection

Often when searching in multiple databases for a topic, you may unintentionally import the same citation more than once.  RefWorks has a duplicate detection function that looks for duplicates across your entire RefWorks account.

1. In the "View" menu, there is a "Duplicates" option with a submenu -- "Exact Match" and "Close Match".
2. Select the "Close Match" option.  If you select "Exact Match", the system will look for certain items to match exactly, so if one citation abbreviates a journal title and another citation doesn't abbreviate that title, the duplicates would not be found in an "Exact Match" search.
3. RefWorks will look for citations that closely match and display them in a list.  RefWorks will also place a checkmark next to the duplicate citation that it believes was most recently imported into the database (based on Reference ID number).
4. Work through this list to verify if the citations are duplicates or not.  Also make decisions on which citation you prefer to keep. (Perhaps you placed notes on the citation most recently imported and would prefer to keep that one.)
5. Once you've identified all of the duplicates, click on the "Delete" button.  Remember that deleted citations will be placed in the system "Delete" folder for 30 days before they are permanently removed from your account.

Note: Be careful not to delete any citations that have already been imbedded in papers that have been or will be formatted using RefWorks.  When formatting a paper, if RefWorks (or Write-N-Cite) can't find the Reference ID Number for a citation that has been imbedded in the paper, the formatting process will generate an error message.

You may wnat to remove duplicates from a specific folder rather than across your entire database.  Do the following:

1. Select the "Organize & Share Folders" tab.
2. Click on the folder icon to the far right of the folder you want to check for duplicates.
3. From that menu, select "Duplicates", with the with a submenu -- "Exact Match" and "Close Match".
4. Select the "Close Match" option.  If you select "Exact Match", the system will look for certain items to match exactly, so if one citation abbreviates a journal title and another citation doesn't abbreviate that title, the duplicates would not be found in an "Exact Match" search.
5. RefWorks will look for citations that closely match and display them in a list.  RefWorks will also place a checkmark next to the duplicate citation that it believes was most recently imported into the database (based on Reference ID number).
6. Work through this list to verify if the citations are duplicates or not.  Also make decisions on which citation you prefer to keep. (Perhaps you placed notes on the citation most recently imported and would prefer to keep that one.)
7. Once you've identified all of the duplicates, click on the "Delete" button.  Remember that deleted citations will be placed in the system "Delete" folder for 30 days before they are permanently removed from your account.

Note: Be careful not to delete any citations that have already been imbedded in papers that have been or will be formatted using RefWorks.  When formatting a paper, if RefWorks (or Write-N-Cite) can't find the Reference ID Number for a citation that has been imbedded in the paper, the formatting process will generate an error message.