Add a paper: from a PDF, a DOI or a BibTeX entry
Three quick ways to put a paper in your library: drop in the PDF, look it up by DOI, or paste its BibTeX entry. What each one does, what to expect afterwards, and when to use which.
Every paper in your library starts the same way: you add it. How depends on what you have in front of you. Sometimes it is the PDF, sometimes only a DOI from a reference list, sometimes a BibTeX entry copied off a publisher's page. ScholarThread has a quick way in for each, all in one menu, and the paper ends up in the same place either way: your Library.
Where to start
Open Library and look at the toolbar above the list. There are two buttons for adding papers:
- Add paper opens a form where you type the details by hand. It is the fallback for a paper that has no PDF, no DOI and no BibTeX entry.
- Import paper is the faster route, and the one this guide is about. Its menu has three entries: From a PDF file…, From BibTeX… and From a DOI….
From a PDF file
Choose From a PDF file… and pick the file. You can also drop a PDF onto the toolbar.
ScholarThread uploads the file, reads its first pages for the title and authors, and looks the paper up in OpenAlex to fill in the rest. While that happens the button reads Reading the PDF…. It takes a few seconds to a quarter of a minute, and you can carry on reading or taking notes meanwhile: nothing is blocked.
When it finishes you see Added to your library. and the paper appears in your list, with the PDF attached and ready to open in the reader.
If ScholarThread is not sure it found the right paper, it says Added, but the details need checking and offers Review it. Those papers wait in the Needs review queue in the Sources pane, so you can confirm or correct the details when it suits you. Files up to 50 MB are accepted.
From a DOI
Choose From a DOI…, then enter a DOI (for example 10.1038/nature14539) or paste a doi.org link, and click Look up.
ScholarThread asks OpenAlex for the paper and shows you what it found: title, authors, year and journal. Check that it is the paper you meant, then click Import. If you already have it, the dialog says Already in your library and the button becomes Open it, so adding the same paper twice is not a risk. If OpenAlex has no record for the DOI, the dialog says so and offers Add the paper by hand.
A DOI import brings the paper's details, not its PDF. If you have the file, attach it from the paper's detail view afterwards.
From a BibTeX entry
Choose From BibTeX…, paste one entry (or load a .bib file that holds one), and click Import.
The dialog takes one entry at a time: if you paste several, it says so and imports the first. The paper is added at once, and ScholarThread then classifies it in the background, filling in its concepts and other details from OpenAlex. Until that finishes, the paper's detail view says Classifying this paper, and updates by itself. There is more on this, and on what to do if classification needs a second try, in pasting a BibTeX entry.
Which one should you use?
- You have the PDF: use From a PDF file…. It is the only route that brings the file with it, and it fills in the details for you.
- You have only a DOI: use From a DOI…. You see exactly what you are importing before you commit.
- You have a BibTeX entry: use From BibTeX…. It keeps the reference exactly as the entry gives it.
All three add one paper at a time. To bring a whole library across in one go, connect Zotero instead.
The short version
Open Library → Import paper, then choose From a PDF file…, From BibTeX… or From a DOI…. The paper lands in your Library, and anything ScholarThread is unsure about waits in Needs review until you have a moment to check it.