The structure of the journal paper is as important as the content itself. It helps the reader to get through the paper in a clear way. To structure the journal, various formatting tools and software are available. Some of the tools and software used to format the journal articles are given below
SCISPACE which you should be able to copy and paste the text into their templates to auto-format it.
Latex
LaTeX can create scientific documents that look professional and accurately reflect the precise equations and other graphics necessary to express the researcher’s work. Some other advantages of using this to prepare a research paper are: It is used extensively in the academic/scientific community. It is a cloud-based LaTeX typesetting company that is free and pretty easy to use when getting started. Many major journals have free LaTeX templates available that will automatically format your manuscript including references to their specifications.
Manuscript
All the research features you need in one app. Write better research with Manuscripts. Edit Content. Format citations and bibliography automatically.
8 Best Free Research Paper Writing Software for Windows
Here is a list of best free research paper writing software for Windows. These are basically the word processor software which are used to create various academic documents which include research papers too. You can also create thesis, reports, journal articles, dissertations, and more such documents using these free software. These software come in handy for students and researchers who are looking for a free software to write research papers and other documents. You can save your research papers in document formats like DOC, DOCX, RTF, PDF, TXT, ODT, HTML, etc.
1.LibreOffice Writer
LibreOffice Writer is a free open-source research writing software for Windows, Linux, and Mac. It is a featured word processor which can be used for academic writings including research papers, journal articles, thesis documents, etc.
LibreOffice Writer comes in a popular office suite which is called LibreOffice. In this office suite, you can find a number of office software which are useful in creating spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, etc.
Key features of this free open-source research writing software:
- You can configure the page layout as per the specifications of your research paper. These specifications include number of columns, page size, orientation, margins, header and footer settings, borders, etc.
- To insert content, you can copy/ paste text from external sources or import text from local files like DOC, DOCX, TXT, RTF, etc.
- It lets you add text box, image, line, shape, section, table, data visualization chart, header, footer, and other types of content to your research paper.
- It contains a wide number of formatting options to customize added content.
- Furthermore, you get various handy tools which help you write research paper such as Thesaurus, Spell Check options, Auto Text, Word Count, etc.
- You get a Bibliography Database tool which is very useful in managing book references used in your research paper.
- It lets you add and manage Table of Content of a document too.
- It provides a Track Changes feature to record and manage changes made in the research paper.
- You can save your research paper in a variety of formats including PDF, DOC, DOCX, ODT, RTF, HTML, etc.
- It allows you to password protect the created research paper if needed.
2.WPS Office
WPS Office, as the name suggests, is a free office suite for Windows. Using it, you can create documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. It is good for various academic works which include writing research papers. You can write research papers using various professional tools provided in it. Let’s see what are the tools that you must look forward to in the context of research paper creation.
Main Features:
- You can customize page layout as per your requirements, such as page size, page border, margins, etc.
- It lets you add multiple columns to whole research paper document or from a point forward.
- To add text to research papers, you can use manual typing option or copy and paste or import external file method.
- It lets you insert table, images, section, page break, line, shapes, header & footer, and more to your research paper.
- You can also insert various kinds of charts to depict results and statistics of your research paper.
- All essential formatting options are provided to customize text and other content.
- It offers a Reference menu tab from where you can add and manage Table of Content, Table of Figures, Footnote, Endnote, etc.
- Some more tools to help you create research paper are available in it, such as Spell Check, Word Count, Thesaurus, Track Changes, Accept or Reject Changes, Share (with your co-authors), Restrict Editing, etc.
- You get a reviewing pane in it to view revisions made by your co-authors.
- After writing a research paper, you can save it in a variety of document files like DOC, DOCX, PDF, RTF, TXT, etc.
- You can encrypt the research paper document prior to saving it.
- Additional Features:
- It provides cloud support to access saved documents wherever, whenever needed.
- You get a lot of templates for creating different kinds of documents in it, like brochure, resume, letterheads, etc.
- In it, you can find some additional utilities like PDF to Word Converter, File Repair, etc.
3.OOoLight
OOoLight is the next free research paper writer software for Windows. It is also an office software which can be used for academic and professional works. Its OOoLight Writer application can be used to create a variety of documents which include writing research papers too.
Features to look forward to:
- You can style various elements of a document such as page style, paragraph style, character style, etc.
- It lets you add multiple columns as per your research paper specifications.
- You can add images, charts, header and footer, Maths formula, text fields (date, time, author, title, etc.), and more to research papers.
- You can find Spellcheck, AutoCorrect options, Outline Numbering, Line Numbering, and more useful tools in it.
- When done writing a research paper, you can save it in a document format such as DOC, RTF, HTML, ODT, TXT, etc. By using the print feature, you can even save your research paper to a PDF document.
- It allows you to password protect your research paper.
4.ONLYOFFICE
ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors is yet another free research paper writing software for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. It is another word processor which can be used for writing various academic documents including research papers. You can setup page layout as per specifications, add multiple sections to it, manually type text or import content from external sources, format the content, and then save the research paper in various document formats. You can also collaborate with your co-authors to edit a research paper together, using a supported cloud service.
Key Features:
- To start with, you can design page layout as per the specifications of your research paper. You can insert multiple columns, configure page margins, select page size, add page breaks, etc.
- Apart from text, you can insert different content to your research paper, such as table, hyperlink, images, charts (to visualize dataset), etc.
- You can format text using options like font formatting, alignment, justify text, text style, paragraph indent, etc.
- It provides a handy OCR tool which lets you extract text from images and add the extracted text to your document.
- The created research paper can be saved as DOCX, ODT, RTF, PDF, TXT, or another supported document file.
- It also provides an encryption option to password protect your research paper to prevent unauthorized access.
5.Klumbu
Klumbu Word is one more alternative to a research paper writing software for Windows. It is also a word processor which is used by students and researchers for academic or professional document writing. It also provides all sufficient features which are required in the creation of a research paper.
Main Features:
- It lets you setup page configurations as per your requirements. You can insert multiple columns to a page, personalize page margins, choose a page size, etc.
- You can use textual content, figures and graphics, tables, hyperlinks, header & footer, tags, etc., in your research paper.
- It lets you insert captions to used figures and tables in your research paper.
- You can add a table of content to a document.
- All important formatting options are available in it which include font customization, content alignment, bullets and numbering, line spacing, increase/ decrease indent level, etc.
- You can also use spellcheck tool while writing down your research paper to avoid spelling mistakes.
- It lets you add a password protection and setup editing permissions for the research paper document.
- In order to save your research paper, you can use any of the supported document formats such as PDF, RTF, Text document, DOC, DOCX, etc.
6.IBM Lotus Symphony
IBM Lotus Symphony is the next office software which lets you create documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. Using it, you can also write research papers and other academic documents. In it, you can find all those tools which you need in order to create a research paper. Here is a sorted list of its features which you can find in it.
Key Features:
- As per the format of your research paper, you can design page layout including margins, size, number of columns, etc. You can individually customize paragraph, text, graphic, and other properties too.
- You can create sections, page breaks, header, footer, footnote and endnote, fontwork, images, hyperlink, etc., in a research paper.
- If your research paper contains survey results or any kind of statistics, you can directly use data visualization charts in your research paper.
- Handy tools including Spellcheck, Word Count, Instant Change, Instant Corrections, Record and Manage Changes, etc.
- To save research paper, it provides support to document formats including DOC, ODT, RTF, PDF, etc.
- You can encrypt created research paper document too.
7.AbiWord
AbiWord is one more free open source research paper writing software for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is a straightforward word processing software which can be used by students to create various academic documents. You can write research papers using it, create a thesis, write journal articles, etc.
Main Features:
- You can format page as per document specifications of your research paper, such as number of columns (at most 3), paper size, margins, etc.
- It lets you directly insert content like table of content, header and footers, footnotes and endnotes, text from external file, special characters, table, pictures, etc., to your research paper.
- Important word processing tools like spellcheck, word count, revision manager, etc., are also available in it.
- It supports DOC, RTF, HTML, TXT, and some more file formats to save your research paper. Also, by using its print option, you can create a PDF document of your research paper.
- Mail Merge is another feature of this software using which you can send a copy of your research paper to other people.
8.Rizonesoft Verbum
Rizonesoft Verbum is another one of word processors which you can use to write research papers. You can create a research paper document while customizing page layout, adding different content, formatting added content, and exporting the document to a supported format.
Features to look out for:
- According to your requirements, you can customize page margins, number of columns (at most three), line spacing, paragraph indent, etc.
- You can insert content to your research paper like images, table, hyperlinks, symbols, etc.
- All formatting features which you expect in a word processor are available in it. For example, font formatting, subscript, superscript, text alignment, etc.
- You can export your research paper to a DOCX, RTF, ODT, HTML, MHT, TXT, or XML document.