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Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

May 18, 2024 • 8 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X

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Don't use Sci-Hub — it's a "controversial" website with 84M+ research papers freely available.

We should try to make billion-dollar academic publishers richer.

Here's an updated thread on integrating Sci-Hub with Zotero to get free papers.

Please don't do this😉

Don't go to the following link:

github(dot)com/ethanwillis/zotero-scihub/releases

But if you do, please replace the word "dot" with an actual dot [.]

Once the link opens, don't click on zotero-scihub file. It will download an "xpi" file to your computer.

Don't open your Zotero, but if you do, click on "Tools."

In the "Tools" menu, click on "Add-ons." This will open the Zotero Add-ons Manager.

In the Add-ons Manager, click on the gear-like icon and select "Install Add-on From File."

Navigate to the xpi file you just download and open it.

This will install the Sci-Hub add-on in your Zotero (oh no!).

Restart Zotero to complete the installation.

Don't search for "sci hub" in Bing because then you will get a list of search results.

But if you do, see which version of Sci-Hub is "live" and working.

In this case, the first link Bing gives me is working. Copy this link.

Because of its "controversial" nature, Sci-Hub keeps changing its URL.

Avoid Google. Its search results are very poor, at least for Sci-Hub.

Now don't try to configure your Sci-Hub add-on in Zotero.

But if you do, click on "Edit" and select "Preferences."

In "Preferences," click on the "Zotero Scihub" tab.

Paste the URL you just copied in the "Scihub URL" field. In my case, the URL is sci-hub(dot)st

You Sci-Hub add-on is configured and ready to use now. You shouldn't have done this.

If it stops working at some point, don't look up the another "live" version of Sci-Hub and update the URL in the "Zotero Scihub" tab.

Finding relevant research papers can be challenging. Another challenge is to find research gaps and craft novel research questions.

To help you with it, we built Research Kick.

It's an AI powered app that helps you craft compelling research questions and find research gaps — in minutes.

750+ researchers are using it.

Next don't go to an academic publisher's website with a billion-dollar revenue.

But if you do, copy the DOI of the article you need.

Go to Zoteor and click on the magic wand-like icon on the top. This will let you enter the DOI.

But don't paste the DOI because then Sci-Hub will automatically retrieve a PDF of the article and add it to your Zotero library.

Once the article is added, don't open it because then you will be able to read it.

I hope you don't do any of the steps mentioned above.

And please tell your friends to not do this either 😉

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More from @MushtaqBilalPhD

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

May 16

Mapping connections between research topics and publications is a time-consuming task.

NextNet is an AI app that can help you with it. It lets you run visual searches for topics related to life sciences.

It's free and very easy to use:

1. Go to getnextnet[.]com and click on "Get NextNet free."

Sign up for a free account.

2. Select "Explorer" in the left bar and type in your query.

NextNet will generate a graph containing nodes about diseases, drugs, genes, research publications, and so on.

Read 6 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

May 15

Finding research gaps takes a lot of time and labor.

Research Kick can help you with it.

It analyzes millions of papers in Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar, and PubMed to help you find research gaps — in minutes.

Here's how to use it:

1. Go to and click on "Get started."

Sign up with your email or Google account.

To use the app, you will need to buy a subscription plan:

10,000 credits for $9/month
120,000 credits for $99/year researchkick.com

2. This is how your Research Kick would look like.

It offers multiple LLMs including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini.

Select a model you want to use.

Read 10 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

May 15

Most AI apps for research need paid subscriptions, but Bohrium is free.

• Integrates Deep Seek with databases containing 160M+ papers.

• Answers questions with references to published papers.

Here's how to use Bohrium to supercharge your literature discovery:

1. Go to bohrium(dot)com and click on "Log in" in the bottom-left corner.

Enter your email to sign up for a free account.

2. In the bottom of the chat box, you will see options for AI models and databases.

Bohrium has integrated databases for natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, and the humanities.

Select "DeepThink" for detailed answers.

Read 8 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

May 3

Apps like ChatGPT are unsuitable for scientific research. They generate fake references to papers that don't exist.

So, researchers at Future House built an AI scientist.

It generates detailed literature reviews with references to state-of-the-art research. And it's free.🧵

1. Go to futurehouse[.]org.

Click on "Platform" in the top-right corner. Sign up for a free account.

Future House has four AI agents:

• Crow: Concise search
• Falcon: Detailed literature reviews
• Owl: Finding literature gaps
• Pheonix: Chemistry-related queries

2. Select "Crow" and type in your question.

It'll look up relevant sources, gather evidence, and compose an answer. Click on "Results" to read it.

Hover your cursor over an endnote and it will show you the abstract of the paper cited.

A Crow search takes ~5 min.

Read 9 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 30

NotebookLM was already one of the best AI apps for academic work.
Now it supports 50+ languages.

• Summarize papers
• Generate audio overviews of papers
• Ask question about papers
• Prepare study guides

All this in your own language and that too for free.

1. Go to notebooklm[.]google[.]com.

Click on "Create new notebook" and upload a paper.

NotebookLM will give you its summary.

2. Click on "Settings" in the top-right corner and select "Output Language."

From the dropdown menu, select your language and click on "Save."

Read 10 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 29

Chat Academia now lets you use your own OpenAI API key.

This will make the app much more affordable. You can use it to integrate 5 academic databases with ChatGPT.

Here's how to set your OpenAI API key in Chat Academia:

1. Go to platform[.]openai[.]com and sign up for an account.

2. Once you've logged in, click on "Start building" in the top-right corner.

Enter your name and select the level of your technical proficiency. Select "Create organization" and skip the next step.

Then click on "Generate API Key" and your API key will be generated.