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Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

May 18 • 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 19

Google Lens is a powerful tool for academic work.

It can transcribe and translate documents across multiple languages.

And it's totally free.

But many folks don't know about it.

Here's how I use Google Lens for my research:

This is a historical document in Bengali that I need to use in my current project. But I don't know any Bengali.

I want to translate it, but I can't copy the text since it's a scanned document.

I take this PDF and convert all its pages into images.

You can do this with a PDF converter like Smallpdf.

Read 10 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

May 7

One of the biggest challenges every researcher faces: how to get past peer review.

Paper Wizard is an AI-powered app that can help you with it.

It will do a mock peer review so you can polish your paper before submitting it.

Here's how to use Paper Wizard:

Go to and sign up for an account.

Log in to your account once you have signed up.

The first 100 users can get one manuscript reviewed for free. paper-wizard.com

Convert your manuscript into a PDF and click on "Submit New Paper."

Upload your manuscript and the click on "Submit."

Read 7 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

May 4

Zotero is the best citation management tool for academic writing.

And it's new version — Zotero 7 — is now available for use.

Here's how to automate your citations and references with Zotero 7.

You can learn this workflow in 15 min:

Go to this link below and download the version compatible with your computer.

Link: zotero(dot)org/support/beta_builds (replace the word "dot" with ".")

Install the app on your computer.

If you already use Zotero 6, it will get updated with Zotero 7 without any loss of data.

Open your Zotero desktop app after you have installed it.

This is how your Zotero 7 interface would look like. Your collections from Zotero 6 will remain unaffected.

If you are using Zotero for the first time, you won't see any items in your library.

Read 16 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 26

European Research Council (ERC) gives a Starting Grant of €1.5 million for a period of 5 years.

I am attending a masterclass on how to write a competitive proposal to win an ERC grant.

I'll be live-tweeting the proceedings of the masterclass.

Follow along to learn more:

erc.europa.eu/apply-grant/st…

An ERC grant application is a very unique document.

It's not always a good idea to look at the previous winning proposals. That may end up undermining your prospects.

This seems like a bit counter-intuitive because mostly someone like me would start by looking at previous winning grant proposals.

We are all sharing our academic fields and the trainer responded to Economics with "good" 😂

Read 53 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 26

😟Worried about data privacy while using ChatGPT?

Microsoft just launched Phi-3 mini, a large language model as good as ChatGPT.

😀Phi-3 is open source, free to use. And you can keep your data private.

Here's how to use it:

Go to lmstudio(dot)ai and download the app compatible with your computer.

Once it gets downloaded, install it on your computer.

LM Studio is a free app that lets you use open source LLMs.

This is how your LM Studio would look like once it has been installed.

You will see a search bar in the middle of screen.

Read 7 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 24

☹️Google Scholar is a great tool. But it doesn't show how papers are connected with each other.

😀Here's how to fast-track your literature review with a "visual search."

And export your papers to Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote.

You can learn this workflow in 15 min:

Go to litmaps(dot)com and log in to your account.

Create an account if you don't have one already.

Litmaps will give you a list of its new features.

You can take a look at these features, but it's not necessary for this workflow.

Click on "Continue," and you will see an option: "Create your first Litmap."