Publish or Perish for Windows

Harzing’s Publish or Perish is a free reference management tool for Windows that helps with academic citations, research, bibliographies, and relevant statistics. Similar alternative applications include CiteSpace and Zotero. The graphical interface is easy to use and understand, with several panels displaying the necessary information for your educational papers.

Many top universities and institutes use Publish and Perish as a free alternative to paid options when they need urgent references. You enter the author’s name or topic, and it searches the internet for the most reliable sources. The side panel reflects additional information to assist with your research.

What is meant by ‘publish or perish’?

Academic institutions use the phrase ‘publish or perish’ as a term for when staff or students are under pressure to produce a list of journalistic publications if they want to retain their place at the university or to show that they deserve the spot. During this endeavour, they need to add citations and references as part of their sources, which can be an onerous task.

Harzing’s academic citation program uses the same name, as Publish or Perish helps with finding these sources for you. It cuts research time down by more than half, as you can quickly copy and paste the results into your document. 

How to use Publish or Perish

To use Publish or Perish effectively, place the author name or topic in the search panel before indicating whether or not you want an exact match. There are different columns in the results panel, which you can move around. Placing them in the right order will reflect how it looks when you copy and paste the results, so you’ll need to ensure they follow the guidance of the university or institute you’re producing the paper for.

Various panes and details

Besides the search and results panels, there are other areas in Publish and Perish that are helpful. Between them, you’ll find a statistics area that shows you more details about various publications and overall results. The top left has the navigation panel with links, while the bottom left has announcement and sponsor panels.

Find your academic citations

Publish or Perish is ideal for students or employees that are performing research for journalistic or academic documents where citations are needed. It does all the hard work looking for sources for you while placing the information in the order required.

The details are easy to view and read, while you can make use of a single button to copy everything. Overall, it’s an impressive free program that holds a lot of power.