@abcdw @goku12 For the past 20+ years I've maintained a bibliography using nothing but #Emacs #auctex & #bibtex mode on what's basically just a text (.bib) file. A short #elisp function also allows me to immediately open the document (say, pdf or djvu) corresponding to the entry, simply by entering F9 anywhere on the entry. This system has several advantages:

- Emacs's regexp-search together with reftex-citation allow for incredibly powerful and flexible searches through the database
- Any other interaction niceties more or less easily implementable through elisp code. For instance, I have a custom function that abbreviate a selected piece of text according to ISO 4 standard
- It's basically just a text file, so in particular situations one can search or modify with any text editor
- Automatically integrated with Emacs & AUCTeX when writing TeX files (in Emacs of course :) )

Of course it's a purely subjective choice, I'm not saying it's objectively better than any other. But worth considering and trying!