.RIS File Extension

Research Information Systems Citation File

Developer Research Information Systems
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What is a RIS file?

An RIS file is a bibliographic citation file saved in a format developed by Research Information Systems (RIS). It contains a series of two-letter tags and citation information associated with those tags. This information might include a cited work's type, author, publication date, title, and more.

More Information

Screenshot of a .ris file in Microsoft Visual Studio Code
RIS file open in Microsoft Visual Studio Code

RIS created the RIS format to allow for standardized exchange of citation information between digital libraries. The files are saved in a standard, human-readable plain text format, to make them easy to open, read, edit, and manage.

An RIS file may contain one or more citations. Each citation must begin with the TY tag, which denotes the type of publication from which the citation was drawn. For example, the text TY - JOUR denotes that the citation references a journal article. Typically, each citation then goes on to include the cited work's author (AU) or A1), title (TI or T1), publication date (often divided into multiple sections for year and month), and other metadata. In multi-citation RIS files, each citation ends with the tag ER.

How to open a RIS file

RIS file open in BibDesk
RIS file open in BibDesk

You can open an RIS file with Microsoft Notepad (Windows), Apple TextEdit (Mac), or any other text editor. You can also import an RIS file into many citation management programs, including but not limited to:

  • Clarivate EndNote (Multiplatform)
  • ProQuest RefWorks (Web)
  • BibDesk (Mac)

How to convert a RIS file

You can use Online RIS2BIB (Web) to convert RIS files to the .BIB (BibTeX Bibliography Database) format. You can use Clarivate EndNote (Multiplatform) to convert RIS files to many other formats, including .BIB, .ENL, and .XML.

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Programs that open RIS files

Windows
Included with OS
Mac
Included with OS
Linux
Free

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The FileInfo.com team has independently researched the Research Information Systems Citation file format and Mac, Windows, and Linux apps listed on this page. Our goal is 100% accuracy and we only publish information about file types that we have verified.

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