Got a burning research question? Ask Twitter and get answers with @AcademicChatter:

What is the best tool for collecting articles relevant to your field? I’ve used PubCrawler since 2016. I give my search criteria with 2-3 key words and ask for all papers including those in the abstract to be sent to me weekly. Are there better tools? @AcademicChatter

Capturing preprints is definitely a big reason I ask. I do get a good amount from twitter and slack journal – but gotta catch em all.

Here are the top replies:

Connected Papers

Explore connected papers in a visual graph. In the graph, papers are arranged according to their similarity. That means that even papers that do not directly cite each other can be strongly connected and very closely positioned.

Science for Society & Sustainability @Scienc4Society

@ConnectedPapers is pretty cool

Chris Albertyn   @_ChrisAlbertyn

EBSCO

I haven’t seen this mentioned yet, but many commercial database vendors such as EBSCO allow you to set up an email alert related to your search criteria.

Derek A. Laffan @dereklaffan

It’s a really well stocked library with lots of helpful people to point the way that’s also got a protest at every book stand shouting at you for being interested in it.

Eoin Galavan @galavphsychology

Elicit

Elicit Ask a research question, and it will provide references that relate to that question. Each reference is accompanied by an AI-generated summary of what that paper has to say about that question. https://elicit.org

Marc-Aurèle Rivière @mariviere1

I agree with @mariviere1, @elicitorg is a game changer, and I use @GregoryMS_  as a source of new research together with Elicit to get an approximate consensus between papers. #BotsFightMS #NeuroTwitter

Bruno Amaral @brunoamaral

Feedly

I used Feedly during my PhD: https://blog.feedly.com/streamline-your-scientific-research-with-pubmed-feeds/

Dr. Siddarth Ramanan @SidRamanan

Google Scholar

I kept up to date with the literature by a combination of Google scholar alerts (these also capture preprints!) and RSS feeds of the main journals in my field. And twitter, of course.

Dan Quintana @dsquintana

I am an old fart still using Google Scholar alerts, after carefully tailoring keyword combinations and following citations to authors that are key in my field(s) of interest.

Olcay Sert @SertOlcay

Google Scholar because I don’t need another program to generate a feed for me… I’m bipolar and ADHD, my brain goes faster than those feeds ever could

Elliot Gavin Keenan @zephyrspecs

I really find the google scholar function of having articles related to your work sent to you on a regular fashion is very helpful!

Angel B Algarin PhD, MPH @PHealthAngel

Google Scholar and Twitter.

Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman

Google scholar is surprisingly good.

PhiloNeuroSci @PhiloNeuroSci

Inoreader

I use @Inoreader on dozens of RSS feeds, with keyword filters and duplicate filters. It’s extraordinarily powerful.

Alexandre Champagne @AlexRChampagne

Policy Commons

For grey literature (research reports, working papers, briefs etc) published by NGOs, think tanks, research centers try the Follow tool on @Policy_Commons  https://policycommons.net

Toby Green tames wild content @TobyABGreen

QXMD Read

You may try QXMD Read app if you are in medicine.

Angela Spencer @angspenc

RAs

I’m halfway through the answers and nobody said “RAs”, which is a big improvement over my time

Lucas A. Meyer @lucas_a_meyer

RD Discovery

Access our collection of over 24 million #openaccess research papers, across multiple disciplines. Get #RDiscovery and simplify your #literaturereview process – download the app for Free : https://app.adjust.net.in/q0h1mnr We hope you enjoy the App @_DaniBeck

Researcher.Life @ResearcherLife

Researcher

I’ve been using researcher for a while now. It’s an app and you can follow relevant journals, bookmark papers etc. Works quite well for me. (Downsides are some journals are not updating regularly and it get’s increasingly complicated / capitalised, as most apps, I guess…)

Maria Blöchl @mariabloec

The Researcher app. https://researcher-app.com

Sebin Devasia @sebindevasia1

Research Gate

I have been using Research gate. The replies and your tweet will help me explore more as I’m stuck right now

Jas Makkar @jas_makkar

Research Rabbit

@RsrchRabbit hands down. Few articles I haven’t found were easily found in school library or google scholar but could still add paper to my topics.

Cory Rebmann, MS, CSCS @cory_rebmann

Try Research Rabbit @RsrchRabbit

Lekan Abudu @abudu_lekan

@RsrchRabbit is pretty good for checking what’s going on – its visual interface is awesome.

Will Midgley @wjbmidgley

I’ve been using @RsrchRabbit for a while now and it’s pretty interesting!

Marjolein Crooijmans @MECrooijmans

Scopus

Scopus for searching and alerts; @zotero for collecting, sharing, and using in a written document.

I use scopus and link it to my mendeley acct. I like scopus

Jet Tonogbanua @jet_tonogbanua

Semantic Scholar

Tailored PubMed

In a biomedical field — i have multiple tailored saved pubmed searches (usually highly tailored using all of pubmeds searching functions for each topic); I’ve set them to alert me at specific frequencies depending on their importance to my current research questions. (1/2)

Tailored pubmed searches can be incredibly powerful — allowing you to design a broad search for increasing sensitivity or a tailored search designed for specificity. (2/2)

Kate Mittendorf, PhD @TheDrKittendorf

Twitter

Oddly enough I find Twitter to be pretty useful (the best or most robust… well maybe not) but there’s been loads of times when I’ve thought “where did I see that study about X or by who?” and when I search Twitter I get it!

Derek A. Laffan@dereklaffan

Twitter is my best resource, followed by Google scholar. I get regular email updates from key journals with their latest articles – Neuroimage, JNeurosci etc…

Matt Betts @MTJBetts

Between twitter (both people and bots) and emails from the journals I sub to, I find it to be a good amount.

Ira Zibbu @cool_scootre

Oddly as it sound, for me one of the best tools is twitter. The best (new) articles is always come up from this fun app.

Nabiyla Risfa Izzati @nabiylarisfa

Published with permission from Dr. Dani Beck, postdoctoral neuroscience researcher affiliated with Diakonhjemmet Hospital, the Norwegian centre for mental disorders research (NORMENT), and the University of Oslo (PROMENTA).

Find the original Twitter thread here.

About the Author

Screen Name

Aimee Edgeworth

About Me

Social media powerhouse focusing efforts on community building, health communications, and education/career development.