In short: You can upload PDFs and reference exports (RIS, BibTeX, .nbib, .enw, .ciw, CSV, TSV, .xlsx, .txt), as single files, ZIP files or whole folders. Publication PDFs can be up to 64 MB, chat attachments up to 32 MB, and ZIP files up to 500 files and 500 MB unpacked. The free AI allowance is 2,000,000 credits per week, and there's no storage limit. The tables below list every format and limit by area.
| Format | File types | Notes |
|---|
| PDF | .pdf | SciNodes reads the PDF and looks up its catalog details |
| RIS | .ris | Zotero, Mendeley and EndNote can export this |
| BibTeX | .bib, .bibtex | Zotero, Mendeley and EndNote can export this |
| PubMed | .nbib | |
| EndNote | .enw | |
| Web of Science | .ciw | |
| Spreadsheets | .csv, .tsv, .xlsx | Not legacy .xls |
| Text | .txt | SciNodes detects the format from the content |
| Archives and folders | .zip, or a whole folder | Nested subfolders are read |
SciNodes detects exports from Dimensions, Lens, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science automatically. For Zotero, Mendeley or EndNote, export your library as RIS or BibTeX.
| Not accepted | Message |
|---|
| Legacy Excel .xls | "Legacy .xls isn't supported — save it as .xlsx or CSV." |
| Any other format | "This format is not processed — PDFs and reference exports (RIS, BibTeX, .nbib, .enw, .ciw, CSV, TSV, .xlsx) are." |
| Unsupported files inside a folder | "N files in that folder skipped — not a format we read." |
See Uploading files.
Upload size and time limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|
| Files in one ZIP | 500 |
| Size of each file in a ZIP | 100 MB |
| Total ZIP size, unpacked | 500 MB |
| Publication PDF size | 64 MB |
| Time to read a PDF | 60 seconds |
| Time to look up catalog details | 20 seconds |
| Time to upload a reference export | 5 minutes |
| Time to save a publication | 30 seconds |
| Time to attach a PDF | 5 minutes |
PDFs that are password-protected, or that can't be read in time, show an error. See Troubleshooting.
Creating a project
| Limit | Value |
|---|
| Project title | At least 4 characters |
| Current research focus | Up to 3 |
| Description length for Tidy up my wording | Up to 2,000 characters |
| Suggest publications for me | Up to 800 results |
| Discover with SciVerse: results | 500 by default |
| Discover with SciVerse: queries | Up to 10 (Add another query) |
| Discover with SciVerse: include or exclude filters | Up to 25 per list |
| Discover with SciVerse: preview | Top 10 by relevance |
| Only these publications | At least 50 publications |
See Creating projects.
Library
| Limit | Value |
|---|
| Discover in the library | Ask for up to 1,000; at most 800 are returned by default |
| Corpus expansion (Expand corpus in Expert Mode) | Up to 100 publications per run, 5 queries |
| Suggest authors / Suggest venues | 1 to 200; default 50 |
| Cite at once | 200 publications |
| Reference styles | 81, in 8 groups; default APA 7th edition |
| Storage | No limit |
See Corpus expansion and Citations and reference styles.
Maps
| Limit | Value |
|---|
| Draft maps | 32 per user per project; the oldest is deleted when you go over |
| Undo Discard all drafts | 1 minute, from the toast |
| Research questions in the Query Bank | More than 100 |
| Export formats | PNG, JPEG, WEBP, SVG, PDF |
| Export resolution | 72, 96, 150, 300 or 600 dpi |
| JPEG and WEBP quality | 92% by default |
| Transparent background | PNG, SVG and WEBP only |
See Drafts and saving and Exporting maps.
Research assistant
| Limit | Value |
|---|
| Things one chat can be about | 12 (maps, nodes, publications, uploaded files) |
| Attachments per chat | 10 files |
| Attachment size | 32 MB per file |
| First answer about a new publication | Up to about 20 seconds while the PDF is read |
| Attachment type | File types |
|---|
| Read by the assistant | .pdf, .txt, .md, .csv, .tsv, .json, .yaml, .log, .bib, .ris |
| Stored but not read | .docx, .doc, .xlsx, .pptx, .png, .jpg, .gif, .webp, .zip |
See Attachments and what's in view.
Credits and storage
| Limit | Value |
|---|
| Free weekly allowance | 2,000,000 credits |
| Reset | Every Sunday at 00:00 UTC |
| Rollover | None |
| Per-feature limits | None; one shared budget |
| Storage | No limit; measured once a day |
See Credits and usage.
Projects and Bin
| Limit | Value |
|---|
| Time in the Bin | 60 days, shown as a countdown |
See Recycle bin.
Account and preferences
| Limit | Value |
|---|
| Password | At least 8 characters |
| Display name | Up to 80 characters |
| AI languages (explainer and assistant) | 20 |
| Interface language | English only |
| Platform fonts | 10 |
| Date formats | 7 |
| Model providers | 11 |
See Preferences.
Device and screen
| Requirement | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|
| Screen or window size | 768 × 500 pixels | |
| Memory | 4 GB | 16 GB |
| Processor | 2 cores | 8 cores |
| Graphics | WebGL2, integrated | Discrete graphics card |
| Map size | Memory guidance |
|---|
| Small (about 4,000 nodes) | 4 GB |
| Large (about 60,000 nodes) | 8 GB |
| Very large | 8 GB |
| Large, with all edges shown | 16 GB |
See System requirements.
SciVerse
| Limit | Value |
|---|
| Results per search, signed out | 8, no paging |
| Results per page, signed in | 25 |
| Results you can page through | First 10,000 |
| Search text, signed in | Up to 500 characters |
| Include or exclude filters | 25 per type; journals and conferences share one pool |
| Ranked lists (authors, organizations, journals, conferences) | 25 per page |
| Popular keywords | 50 per page |
| Cost of a signed-in search | A flat amount from your weekly credits |
See Filters and sorting and Guest vs signed in.
Academy
| Limit | Value |
|---|
| Courses per page | 12 |
| Articles per page | 12 |
See Courses and lessons.
Support tickets
| Limit | Value |
|---|
| Subject | Up to 140 characters |
| Description | At least 10 characters |
| Attachments | Up to 10 files, 10 MB each |
| Attachment types | PNG, JPEG, GIF, WEBP, PDF, TXT, CSV, Markdown, ZIP, GZIP, TAR, JSON, log |
| Typical reply time | Within one business day |
See Contact Support.