I have tested jabref (3.8.2+ds-12~18.04) from bionic-proposed. It cannot open Options → Preferences.
Here is the terminal output after selecting Options → Preferences:
~$ jabref 
[warning] /usr/bin/jabref: Unable to locate mariadb-java-client in /usr/share/java
[warning] /usr/bin/jabref: Unable to locate postgresql in /usr/share/java
17:32:50.639 [AWT-EventQueue-0] WARN  net.sf.jabref.JabRefGUI - There seem to be problems with OpenJDK and the default GTK Look&Feel. Using Metal L&F instead. Change to another L&F with caution.
17:32:50.722 [AWT-EventQueue-0] INFO  net.sf.jabref.logic.importer.OpenDatabase - Opening: /home/amr/Documents/Masterarbeit/Literature/Bibliography.bib
17:33:02.714 [AWT-EventQueue-0] ERROR net.sf.jabref.FallbackExceptionHandler - Uncaught exception Occurred in Thread[AWT-EventQueue-0,6,main]
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/sun/java/swing/plaf/windows/WindowsLookAndFeel
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method) ~[?:?]
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:1016) ~[?:?]
	at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:174) ~[?:?]
	at jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.defineClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:802) ~[?:?]
	at jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.findClassOnClassPathOrNull(BuiltinClassLoader.java:700) ~[?:?]
	at jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClassOrNull(BuiltinClassLoader.java:623) ~[?:?]
	at jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:581) ~[?:?]
	at jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoaders.java:178) ~[?:?]
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:521) ~[?:?]
	at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method) ~[?:?]
	at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:315) ~[?:?]
	at net.sf.jabref.gui.preftabs.AppearancePrefsTab$LookAndFeel.getAvailableLookAndFeels(AppearancePrefsTab.java:64) ~[JabRef-3.8.2.jar:?]
	at net.sf.jabref.gui.preftabs.AppearancePrefsTab.<init>(AppearancePrefsTab.java:104) ~[JabRef-3.8.2.jar:?]
	at net.sf.jabref.gui.preftabs.PreferencesDialog.<init>(PreferencesDialog.java:91) ~[JabRef-3.8.2.jar:?]
	at net.sf.jabref.gui.JabRefFrame.showPreferencesDialog(JabRefFrame.java:740) ~[JabRef-3.8.2.jar:?]
	at net.sf.jabref.gui.JabRefFrame$ShowPrefsAction.actionPerformed(JabRefFrame.java:1788) ~[JabRef-3.8.2.jar:?]
	at javax.swing.AbstractButton.fireActionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:1967) ~[?:?]
	at javax.swing.AbstractButton$Handler.actionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:2308) ~[?:?]
	at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.fireActionPerformed(DefaultButtonModel.java:405) ~[?:?]
	at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.setPressed(DefaultButtonModel.java:262) ~[?:?]
	at javax.swing.AbstractButton.doClick(AbstractButton.java:369) ~[?:?]
	at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicMenuItemUI.doClick(BasicMenuItemUI.java:1020) ~[?:?]
	at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicMenuItemUI$Handler.mouseReleased(BasicMenuItemUI.java:1064) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.AWTEventMulticaster.mouseReleased(AWTEventMulticaster.java:297) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Component.java:6632) ~[?:?]
	at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(JComponent.java:3342) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Component.java:6397) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Container.java:2263) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:5008) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2321) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4840) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Container.java:4918) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Container.java:4547) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Container.java:4488) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2307) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Window.java:2772) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4840) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:772) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:721) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:715) ~[?:?]
	at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) ~[?:?]
	at java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:85) ~[?:?]
	at java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:95) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.EventQueue$5.run(EventQueue.java:745) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.EventQueue$5.run(EventQueue.java:743) ~[?:?]
	at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) ~[?:?]
	at java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:85) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:742) ~[?:?]
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:203) [?:?]
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:124) [?:?]
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:113) [?:?]
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:109) [?:?]
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:101) [?:?]
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:90) [?:?]
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel
	at jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:583) ~[?:?]
	at jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoaders.java:178) ~[?:?]
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:521) ~[?:?]
	... 54 more