File extension RIS

File type Research Information Systems Citation Format
Developer Research Information Systems
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What is a RIS file?

Files with the .RIS extension contain text data saved in ASCII code that concerns bibliographical quotations in the form of rows limited by code formed out of two characters and their respective values, providing information such as the author, date of publication, key words, name of publisher, edition, opening page, and closing page.

The file format was devised by RIS, which stands for Research Information Systems, with the goal of unifying and standardizing the exchange of quotation information made between digital libraries.

Program(s) that can open the .RIS file

More information about RIS file

RIS file format is ued by bibliographic citation files. Each RIS files stores series of lines that contain information regarding the publication, such as publication data, author, title, keywords, first and last page, number, and publisher.

RIS file structure

Single RIS file can hold many records, each composed of series of rows. Each row is marked with two-character code and value (in the form of two characters, two whitespace characters, connector, two whitespace characters, and value), for example: ‘A1 - author’s name and surname’. Each record row start with tag ‘TY - value’ (Type of Reference) and ends with ‘ER - ’ (End of Reference).

Information exchange standardization

RIS files store data in ASCII text. RIS format was developed by Research Information Systems in an effort to normalize and standardize digital citation information exchange between libraries. RIS files are supported by various citation managment applications, digital libraries, and other citation data tools available for many different platforms.

How to open RIS files

If you cannot open the RIS file on your computer - there may be several reasons. The first and most important reason (the most common) is the lack of a suitable software that supports RIS among those that are installed on your device.

A very simple way to solve this problem is to find and download the appropriate application. The first part of the task has already been done – the software supporting the RIS file can be found in the table. Now just download and install the appropriate application.

Possible problems with the RIS format files

The inability to open and operate the RIS file does not necessarily mean that you do not have an appropriate software installed on your computer. There may be other problems that also block our ability to operate the Research Information Systems Citation Format file. Below is a list of possible problems.

  • Corruption of a RIS file which is being opened
  • Incorrect links to the RIS file in registry entries.
  • Accidental deletion of the description of the RIS from the Windows registry
  • Incomplete installation of an application that supports the RIS format
  • The RIS file which is being opened is infected with an undesirable malware.
  • The computer does not have enough hardware resources to cope with the opening of the RIS file.
  • Drivers of equipment used by the computer to open a RIS file are out of date.

If you are sure that all of these reasons do not exist in your case (or have already been eliminated), the RIS file should operate with your programs without any problem. If the problem with the RIS file has not been solved, it may be due to the fact that in this case there is also another rare problem with the RIS file. In this case, the only you can do is to ask for assistance of a professional staff.

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How to associate the file with an installed software?

If you want to associate a file with a new program (e.g. my-file.RIS) you have two ways to do it. The first and the easiest one is to right-click on the selected RIS file. From the drop-down menu select "Choose default program", then click "Browse" and find the desired program. The whole operation must be confirmed by clicking OK. The second and more difficult to do is associate the RIS file extension to the corresponding software in the Windows Registry.

Is there one way to open unknown files?

Many files contain only simple text data. It is possible that while opening unknown files (e.g. RIS) with a simple text editor like Windows Notepad will allow us to see some of the data encoded in the file. This method allows you to preview the contents of many files, but probably not in such a structure as a program dedicated to support them.

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