Research Link

Research Link brings academic research directly into your VS Code workflow. Search, preview, manage, and cite papers from CrossRef and Semantic Scholar without leaving your editor.

Features

• Integrated Search: Query millions of academic papers via CrossRef, Semantic Scholar, and OpenAlex, with smart deduplication to merge the best metadata from all sources.
• Advanced Search: Filter by Title, Author, Year, Venue, and DOI for precise results.
• Enhanced Filtering: Refine search results by specific year ranges, Open Access status, and publication type.
• Selection Import: Review multiple candidates when importing from ambiguous URLs/titles.
• Personal Library: Save papers to a local JSON-based library for quick access.
• Reader View: Read abstracts and metadata in a dedicated, distraction-free panel.
• PDF Viewer: View open-access PDFs directly in VS Code with page navigation and zoom controls.
• Research Graph: Visualise connections between saved papers with an interactive force-directed graph (edges from citations and shared authors).
• Citation Generator: Copy citations in APA, MLA, Harvard, or Chicago formats.
• AI-Ready Workflow: Export structured markdown files (docs/*.md) containing paper metadata and abstracts, optimized for RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) and LLM context.
• Visual Indicators: Badges for Open Access status and Publication Type (Journal, Conference, Pre-print).

Usage

1. Open Sidebar: Click the Research Link icon in the Activity Bar.
2. Search: Enter a query (e.g., "Transformers", "DOI:10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2") in the search bar.
3. Save: Click "Save to Library" on any result to add it to your personal collection.
4. Read & Cite:
   • Click "Read" on a saved paper to open the details panel.
   • Use the Reference tab to generate and copy citations.
   • Click Generate AI Reference to create a markdown file for your AI contexts.
5. View PDFs: Click Read PDF 📄 on an open-access paper to view the PDF in-editor.
6. Research Graph: Click the 🕸️ button in the sidebar to visualise connections between your saved papers.

Configuration

Research Link works out of the box. No API keys are required for basic usage.

AI Integration

Research Link is designed to work alongside AI coding assistants. By generating structured markdown files of your research, you can easily provide context to your LLM:

1. Open a paper in Research Link.
2. Click Generate AI Reference.
3. A file is created in docs/<DOI_or_ID>.md.
4. Reference this file in your AI chat (e.g., @docs/10.1038_s41586-020-2649-2.md) to ask questions about the paper.

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

• research-link.libraryPath: (Optional) Custom path for the library JSON file.

Known Issues

• Some PDFs may be behind paywalls or require authentication. Research Link will show a clear error in these cases.
• Rate limits apply to Semantic Scholar API requests.
• Some papers may not have abstracts available in either CrossRef or Semantic Scholar.

Release Notes

0.0.3

• Fixed PDF viewer: extension-host-side fetching, bundled pdfjs worker, ArXiv URL rewrites, paywall detection.
• Fixed Graph View: fresh library reads, immediate shared-author edges.
• Smart search deduplication: merges S2 + CrossRef results, fills missing abstracts.

0.0.2

• Metadata Extraction with strategy pattern.
• Embedded PDF viewer with pdfjs-dist.
• Force-directed graph visualisation.

0.0.1

• Initial release.
• Search CrossRef & Semantic Scholar.
• Local Library management.
• Markdown export for AI context.
• Dark/Light mode support.

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