Creating projects
In short: Click + New Project in My Projects, type a Project title of at least 4 characters, pick up to 3 research focus areas, then choose how to gather publications: Suggest publications for me, Discover with SciVerse, Build on my existing library, Import from another project, or start empty. Click the button at the bottom to create the project. SciNodes opens it on Research Maps and builds the Initial Map automatically.
Before you start
- AI features in the form (Suggest, Discover search planning, Tidy up my wording, Describe the slice) use your weekly AI credits. See Credits and usage.
- Have your files ready if you're bringing your own library. See Uploading files.
Steps
- In the sidebar, click My Projects, then + New Project. The header changes to "New Project". If you have no projects yet, the form is already open.
- Click the Project title field and type a title. It starts as "Untitled project", which is kept if you don't change it. You need at least 4 characters before you can choose how to gather publications.
- Under Current research focus, click up to 3 focus areas, or click + Other to type your own.
- Optional: click Add a description and describe the project. Click Tidy up my wording to have AI fix terminology, spelling and grammar. Click Undo to get your own words back.
- Optional: open Collaboration. The Assign to a Lab and Invite collaborators fields are placeholders for now (coming soon). To share a project, use Project Settings → Collaborators after it's created. See Collaboration.
- Under "Let's gather your publications", choose an option (details below).
- Click the button at the bottom. Its label depends on the option you chose.
Research focus options
Ideation, Literature Review, Data Collection, Experiment Design, Analysis, Modeling, Writing Up, Peer Review, Revision, Dissemination, Grant Writing, Replication, or your own with + Other. The hint under the chips says "Pick up to 3." and then "N of 3 selected." You can change the focus later in Project settings.
Choose how to gather publications
Suggest publications for me
"Let SciNodes AI propose a starting set from your topic." Best when you're new to a field.
- Click Suggest publications for me.
- Under "What's this project about?", describe your research focus in at least two words. Your description is filled in if you wrote one.
- Click Add Suggested Publications and Create Project.
- "Searching for:" shows the searches SciNodes AI planned. The progress steps read "Planning searches from your focus", "Searching the catalog with each" and "Merging the best of each".
- A preview shows the top results with Open access, Median citations and Published figures. SciNodes adds the merged set, up to 800 publications, and opens the project.
To change your focus while the search runs, click Stop search (or Stop and edit search at the bottom of the page).
Discover with SciVerse
"Search the SciVerse catalog and pull publications straight in." Best when you know your search terms.
- Click Discover with SciVerse.
- Type in the search box ("Search publications, authors, organizations, topics…").
- Optional: open Filters. Set Publication year from and to. Under Refine by, choose Author, Organization, Topic, Journal or Conference, choose Include or Exclude, then pick a match from the list.
- Optional: click Add another query to combine several searches. Each query has its own filters.
- Press
Enter, or click Discover Publications and Create Project. SciNodes shows a preview of the "Top 10 by relevance", adds the publications and opens the project.
Build on my existing library
"Upload PDFs or a reference export (RIS / BibTeX)." Best when you already have publications in Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote or a database export.
- Click Build on my existing library.
- Drop files or folders on the drop zone, click it to browse, or click Browse for a folder. Each file is read as soon as it lands. See Uploading files for formats.
- Under "How to continue", choose:
- Use these as seeds (the default): "SciNodes expands your library with related publications it finds".
- Only these publications: build from your library alone. This needs at least 50 publications, and you must tick "I'm an expert user. I know what I'm doing".
- Click Import Library and Create Project.
Prefer AI suggestions after all? Click Suggest me publications under the options.
Import from another project
"Reuse the publications from one of your existing projects." Only shown if you already have a project.
- Click Import from another project and pick a project. Use "Search your projects…" to find it.
- Choose how much to bring:
- Entire corpus: "Copy every publication from this project as-is."
- Slice the corpus: keep only publications that match filters you build.
- Describe the slice: say what to keep in your own words, and SciNodes AI turns it into filters you can adjust.
- Click Import Publications and Create Project.
See Import from another project and Corpus slices.
Start empty
Click start empty and add publications later under the options. SciNodes creates the project and returns you to your project list. Add publications later from the project's Library tab.
Button labels and limits
| Option | Button | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Suggest publications for me | Add Suggested Publications and Create Project | Up to 800 publications |
| Discover with SciVerse | Discover Publications and Create Project | About 500 publications by default (a search that finds fewer can't proceed); up to 10 queries; 25 include and 25 exclude filters per type |
| Build on my existing library | Import Library and Create Project | Only these publications needs at least 50 |
| Import from another project | Import Publications and Create Project | Slices need at least one filter that keeps something |
| Start empty | (link) | None |
Other limits: project title at least 4 characters; up to 3 focus areas; Tidy up my wording works on descriptions up to 2,000 characters. While the button works it reads "Finding publications…", "Creating your project…" or "Setting up your project…".
Leaving while the project builds
If you leave the form while publications are still going in, SciNodes asks "Your project is still being built":
| Choice | What happens |
|---|---|
| Stop and discard | Stops the build. The unfinished project goes to the Bin, so you can get it back. |
| Build in background | Keeps building. Progress shows in the sidebar's Building card, and you're told when it's ready. |
| Keep waiting | Stays on the form |
Build in background isn't offered for every option. When it's missing, leaving stops the build.
What happens next
The project opens on Research Maps and builds the Initial Map, a term co-occurrence map of the main topics. If the corpus is empty, the project opens on Overview instead. See Building a map.
Troubleshooting
- "Add a project title (at least 4 characters) to choose how you'll add publications." Type a longer title.
- "Describe your research focus first — at least two words. This is what searches on it." Suggest needs a focus to search on.
- "Not enough publications — try describing your research focus differently." Suggest couldn't plan a useful search. Describe a broader subject.
- "Your query didn't give enough publications to proceed." Your Discover queries found too few publications. Click Edit query to broaden them, or Try Suggest.
- "SciVerse search isn't available in this build yet." Discover can't reach the catalog. Choose another option.
- "Add at least 50 publications to build from your library alone." Upload more, or choose Use these as seeds.
- "Confirm you're an expert user first." Tick the expert checkbox under Only these publications.
- "Descriptions over 2000 characters can't be refined — try shortening it first." Shorten the description, or skip the tidy-up.
- "Weekly complex compute budget spent." Your weekly AI credits are used up. Try again after the reset, or start from your own files.
- "Project created, but the publications could not be added. You can add them from the corpus view." Open the project's Library tab and add publications there.
- "Some publications could not be fetched and are missing from your corpus." Most were added. Add any missing ones from the Library.
- "SciNodes could not find related publications to add, so your project holds just what you uploaded." Seed expansion found nothing new. Your uploads are all there.
FAQ
Which option should I choose?
Use Suggest if you're exploring a new field, Discover if you know your search terms and want control, and Build on my existing library if you already have a reference library.
Can I add more publications after creating the project?
Yes. Use Add Publications in the project's Library tab. See Adding publications.
Can I invite collaborators while creating the project?
Not yet. The invite field in the form is a placeholder. After creating the project, invite people from Project Settings → Collaborators.
Why did my new project open on Overview instead of a map?
Its corpus was empty, so there was nothing to map yet. Add publications from the Library tab, then plot a map.