paperwhere

Paperwhere is a hypothetical web-based platform designed to help researchers locate, organize, and cite academic papers across disciplines. The concept emphasizes interoperable metadata and lightweight linking to full texts, rather than hosting content directly.

Key features include a search engine with faceted filters, exportable bibliographies, author and institution profiles, and integration with reference managers. The system envisions using standardized metadata formats (DOI, Crossref, OpenAlex IDs) to connect records and track citations and references.

Data sources and licensing: Paperwhere would aggregate metadata from publishers, preprint servers, institutional repositories, and open indexes. To respect copyright, it would typically provide links to publisher abstracts or legally accessible copies rather than distributing full texts; it would rely on open metadata when available.

Development and status: The project has appeared in design discussions and has been cited as a conceptual approach to addressing fragmentation in scholarly discovery. It has not been deployed as a widely used public service in this description.

Impact and criticism: Proponents argue that centralized, high-quality metadata improves discoverability and reproducibility. Critics point to funding sustainability, metadata completeness, performance of search, and potential dependency on commercial publishers or licensing constraints.

See also: OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, Google Scholar, Crossref, DOAJ.