PaperLink

A modern academic research platform that helps researchers discover, analyze, and organize scholarly papers with intelligent categorization and interactive visualizations.

Overview

PaperLink is a web-based application that provides access to over 250 million scholarly works through the OpenAlex API. The platform features intelligent paper classification, complexity-based filtering, interactive citation network visualizations, and comprehensive reference management tools.

Features

Core Functionality

• Comprehensive Search: Access and search through 250M+ scholarly works via OpenAlex API integration
• Intelligent Classification: Automatic categorization of papers as Foundational, Trending, Recent, or Highly Cited based on citation metadata analysis
• Complexity Assessment: Abstract-based labeling system that classifies papers as Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced level
• Citation Network Visualization: Interactive force-directed graphs powered by D3.js to explore research landscapes and paper relationships
• Reference Management: Built-in system with BibTeX export functionality and custom research paper collections
• Advanced Filtering: Filter results by publication date, citation count, author, institution, and research domain

Classification System

Papers are automatically classified into four categories:

• Foundational: Highly cited classical papers that established key concepts in their field
• Trending: Recent papers with rapidly growing citation counts indicating emerging importance
• Recent: Newly published research from the last two years
• Highly Cited: Papers with exceptional citation counts relative to their publication date and field

Complexity Levels

Based on abstract analysis and readability metrics:

• Beginner: Accessible papers suitable for those new to the topic
• Intermediate: Standard research papers requiring domain familiarity
• Advanced: Highly technical papers requiring specialized knowledge

Technology Stack

Frontend

• React.js
• D3.js (Interactive data visualizations)
• HTML5
• CSS3

Backend

• Python
• Flask (Web framework)
• SQLAlchemy (ORM)
• SQLite (Database)

External APIs

• OpenAlex API (Scholarly metadata and citation data)

Deployment

• Vercel (Frontend)
• Render (Backend)