Paper Plain

Transform complex research papers into plain English summaries.

Paper Plain is an AI-powered academic paper simplification tool that makes research accessible to everyone. Whether you're a student, researcher, or curious learner, Paper Plain helps you quickly understand academic papers without getting lost in technical jargon.

🎯 What is Paper Plain?

Paper Plain takes academic research papers (from ArXiv or uploaded PDFs) and uses advanced AI to generate clear, concise summaries. Instead of struggling through dense academic prose, you get:

• Plain English explanations of the research problem, methodology, and conclusions
• Key term definitions for the most important technical concepts
• Smart Q&A to ask follow-up questions about the paper
• Personal library to save and organize papers by project or tags
• Notes and annotations to track your thoughts alongside each paper

Perfect for literature reviews, staying current in your field, or exploring new research areas without a steep learning curve.

✨ Key Features

• 🔗 ArXiv Integration - Paste any ArXiv URL for instant summarization
• 📄 PDF Upload - Upload any research paper PDF
• 🤖 AI-Powered Summaries - Powered by Groq API with Llama 3.3 70B
• 💬 Interactive Q&A - Ask questions about the paper and get AI answers
• 💾 Save & Organize - Build your personal library with projects and tags
• 📝 Note-Taking - Add your own notes to each paper
• 📋 BibTeX Export - Easy citation management
• 🔐 User Authentication - Sign in with email/password or Google OAuth

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or higher)
• PostgreSQL database (free tier available via Supabase)
• Groq API key (get one at Groq Console)

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/abhaymundhara/PaperPlain.git
   cd PaperPlain

2. Install dependencies

   npm install

3. Set up environment variables

   Create a .env file in the root directory:

   # Required
   GROQ_API_KEY=your_groq_api_key
   DATABASE_URL=your_postgres_connection_string
   BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=your_random_secret_key
   BETTER_AUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
   
   # Optional - for Google OAuth
   GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your_google_client_id
   GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your_google_client_secret
   
   # Optional - for PDF uploads on Vercel
   SUPABASE_URL=your_supabase_project_url
   SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY=your_supabase_service_key
   SUPABASE_STORAGE_BUCKET=paperplain-pdfs
   
   # Optional - Academic APIs (higher rate limits)
   SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY=your_api_key
   NCBI_API_KEY=your_ncbi_api_key
   CONTACT_EMAIL=your@email.com

   Generate a secret key:

   npm run auth:secret

4. Set up the database

   Run the Better Auth migration to create required tables:

   npm run auth:migrate:yes

   Run the PaperPlain migration to add new tables:

   npm run migrate

5. Run the application

   npm run dev

   Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

🔧 Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js + Express
• Frontend: Vanilla JavaScript (no framework dependencies)
• Database: PostgreSQL (Supabase recommended)
• Authentication: Better Auth with email/password and Google OAuth
• AI: Groq API with Llama 3.3 70B for summarization
• Paper Source: ArXiv API + PDF parsing + Crossref + PubMed + Semantic Scholar
• Storage: Supabase Storage for PDF uploads (optional)

✨ What's New in v2.0

Multi-Source Support

• DOI Import: Simplify papers by DOI (e.g., 10.1038/nature12373)
• PubMed Support: Import biomedical papers by PMID
• Semantic Scholar: Search and discover papers beyond ArXiv

AI Enhancements

• Multiple Summary Styles: simple, detailed, technical, tldr
• Streaming Responses: Real-time summary generation
• Critical Analysis: Get strengths/weaknesses assessment
• Smart Suggestions: AI-generated follow-up questions

Organization

• Reading Lists: Create custom collections of papers
• Enhanced Search: Filter by author, project, tags, date range
• Citation Tracking: See citation counts and related papers

Export Options

• BibTeX: For LaTeX/JabRef
• RIS: For Zotero/Mendeley/EndNote
• Markdown: For Notion/Obsidian
• JSON: Raw data export
• CSV: Spreadsheet format

📖 How to Use

1. Sign in to your account (or continue without authentication for basic features)
2. Paste a paper identifier:
   • ArXiv URL (e.g., https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.00234)
   • DOI (e.g., 10.1038/nature12373)
   • PMID (e.g., 23456789)
   • Or upload a PDF
3. Choose a summary style (simple, detailed, technical, or tldr)
4. Click "Simplify" to generate a plain English summary
5. Read the summary with problem, methodology, conclusion, and key terms
6. Ask questions using the Q&A panel
7. Save papers to your library with projects and tags
8. Create reading lists to organize papers by topic
9. Export citations in your preferred format

📚 API Reference

Simplify Endpoints

• POST /api/simplify - Simplify an ArXiv paper
• POST /api/simplify/doi - Simplify a paper by DOI
• POST /api/simplify/pubmed - Simplify a PubMed paper by PMID
• POST /api/simplify/pdf - Upload and simplify a PDF
• POST /api/simplify/stream - Streaming summary generation

Semantic Scholar Integration

• GET /api/semanticscholar/search?q=... - Search papers
• GET /api/semanticscholar/paper/:id - Get paper metadata
• GET /api/semanticscholar/paper/:id/citations - Get citations
• GET /api/semanticscholar/paper/:id/related - Get related papers

Auth Endpoints

• POST /api/auth/signup - Create a new account
• POST /api/auth/signin - Sign in with email/password
• POST /api/auth/signout - Sign out
• GET /api/auth/me - Get current user session
• Better Auth routes at /api/better-auth/* (includes Google OAuth)

Paper Management

• GET /api/papers - List saved papers (with filters)
• GET /api/papers/:id - Get a specific paper
• GET /api/papers/:id/citations - Get paper citations
• GET /api/papers/:id/export?format=... - Export paper
• POST /api/papers/import - Save an ArXiv paper
• POST /api/papers/manual - Save a custom paper
• POST /api/papers/export - Bulk export papers
• PATCH /api/papers/:id - Update paper (notes, tags, project)
• DELETE /api/papers/:id - Delete a paper

Reading Lists

• GET /api/lists - Get user's reading lists
• POST /api/lists - Create a reading list
• GET /api/lists/:id - Get list with papers
• PUT /api/lists/:id - Update a list
• DELETE /api/lists/:id - Delete a list
• POST /api/lists/:id/papers - Add paper to list
• DELETE /api/lists/:id/papers/:paperId - Remove from list

AI Analysis

• POST /api/qa/live - Ask a question about the current paper
• POST /api/qa/saved/:id - Ask a question about a saved paper
• POST /api/analyze/critical - Critical analysis of a paper
• POST /api/analyze/suggestions - Get follow-up question suggestions

User Preferences

• GET /api/preferences - Get user preferences
• PUT /api/preferences - Update preferences

Query Parameters for /api/papers

Parameter	Type	Description
q	string	Text search
author	string	Filter by author
project	string	Filter by project
tags	string	Filter by tags (comma-separated)
from_date	string	Filter from date (ISO format)
to_date	string	Filter to date (ISO format)
sort_by	string	Sort field (title, created_at, citation_count, year)
sort_order	string	Sort direction (asc, desc)
page	number	Page number
limit	number	Results per page (max 100)

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Powered by Groq for fast AI inference
• Built with Better Auth for authentication
• Paper data from ArXiv

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Note: This is an open-source project built to make academic research more accessible. For questions or support, please open an issue on GitHub.