Jiayi Lu

15 bookmark-worthy tools for researchers that cost you nothing and will save you time (& nerves) when researching, writing and publishing. A thread. 🧵 #AcademicTwitter #AcWri #PostDoc — #1: Track your time with Toggl ⌛ toggl.com • Understand how you are spending your time • Track how long each task is taking you so you can plan accordingly • Be more focused on the task at hand I use Toggl daily. — #2: Proof-read your papers with Writefull 🔎 writefull.com • AI-powered proof-reading tool specifically for scientific texts • Integrates into Word and Overleaf Members of my program - the Researchers' Writing Academy - love this one! — #3: Organise your references with Zotero 🗃️ zotero.org/ • Open-source program • Saves references from your browser • Organises them in folders and using tags • Creates bibliographies for your article • Lets you co-create citation libraries with co-authors — #4: Stay focused with Forest 🌳 forestapp.cc • Start the app when you want to write or deep work • A virtual tree starts growing • When you leave the app to do something else, the tree dies • The larger your forest, the more deep work you got done! — #5: Discover papers with Research Rabbit 🐰 researchrabbit.ai • Build your own citation network • Label network entries • Download paper PDFs • Get alerts for new papers — #6: Visualise your thoughts with XMind 🧠 xmind.net • Intuitive mindmapping tool • Embed hyperlinks, images & attachments Excellent for organising references for review papers or brainstorming the story of your paper! — #7: Notion 🖥️ notion.so/product • Powerful all-rounder • Note-taking • Project management • Wikis & databases Some members of my program - the Researchers’ Writing Academy - swear by it! — #8: Listen to scientific papers with Audemic 🎧 audemic.io • Highlight text while listening • Take notes • Get summaries that go beyond the abstract — #9: Record training or feedback videos with Loom 🎥 loom.com • Record your screen, webcam and/or audio • Share the video link after recording • 25x 5-min videos included in free plan I use this one all the time! — #10: Project manage your papers with Trello 🗂️ trello.com • Use lists, cards & checklist to organise the tasks in each project • Collaborate with co-authors • Communicate via comment function PS: We provide you with several Trello templates inside our program! — #11: Choose your target journal with SciRev 📗 scirev.org • Compare publication speeds, peer review quality and journal statistics • Contribute your own publishing experiences • Made by researchers — #12: Compare journal policies with Transpose ↗️ transpose-publishing.github.… • Compare journal policies on open peer review, co-reviewing and preprint policies You might be surprised how vague some journals are on these topics! — #13: Share methods on Protocols 🧪 protocols.io/ • Publish your chemical synthesis protocols, clinical trial descriptions or computational workflows • Keep them updated • Receive a DOI • Run protocols as checklists • Free for open research — #14: Cite correctly with CiteAs 💬 citeas.org • Obtain the correct citation for preprints, software and datasets in one click • Open-source tool — #15: Understand your research landscape with Dimensions 🌆 dimensions.ai/ • Analyse all research-related data (grants, papers, patents, datasets, online mentions, clinical trials, policy documents) • Identify collaborators • Find who has cited and used your work — TL;DR - 15 free tools for researchers you should bookmark now #1: Toggl #2: Writefull #3: Zotero #4: Forest #5: ResearchRabbit #6: XMind #7: Notion #8: Audemic #9: Loom #10: Trello #11: SciRev #12: Transpose #13: Protocols #14: CiteAs #15: Dimensions — However, the best tools won’t make you more efficient at writing papers if you don’t have a streamlined writing process in place. 💻Therefore, if you liked this thread: Watch my free writing training 👇

As an academic writing coach, here are the 9 mistakes I see PhD and grad students make when writing scientific papers. A thread. 🧵