ResearchArchive

Find research that actually moves you forward.

ResearchArchive is a unified, free, privacy-first academic search engine. It queries arXiv, PubMed, CrossRef, and OpenAlex in parallel, deduplicates the results, and presents them through a fast, beautiful, accessible interface — built for students, researchers, and anyone curious about peer-reviewed work.

• 🔎 One search across 260M+ papers — not just arXiv, not just PubMed.
• 📥 Local library — bookmark papers; no account, no cloud, no tracking.
• 📑 Instant citations in BibTeX, APA, MLA, and RIS.
• ⚡ Autocomplete + trending powered by OpenAlex.
• 🌙 Dark mode, keyboard shortcuts (⌘K, /, ↵, arrows), and a polished UI.

Features

• Unified search across four scholarly databases with cross-source deduplication by DOI and normalized title.
• Smart relevance ranking that blends upstream ordering with a freshness boost and a logarithmic citation boost.
• Filters for source, access type (open vs. restricted), date range, citation count, and discipline — every filter is reflected in the URL so results are shareable.
• Paper detail pages with abstracts, related papers, and "cited by" listings.
• Local library with import/export (BibTeX, RIS, APA, MLA, JSON).
• Privacy by design — no accounts, no analytics that follow you, your library stays in your browser.
• Fully responsive with dark mode and prefers-reduced-motion support.

Tech Stack

• Framework: Next.js 16 (App Router)
• Language: TypeScript (strict)
• Styling: Tailwind CSS 4 + CSS custom properties
• Validation: Zod 4
• HTTP: Axios with retry/backoff and a polite User-Agent
• XML: fast-xml-parser (arXiv Atom & PubMed XML)
• Deployment: Vercel-ready

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/mnco25/research-archive.git
cd research-archive
npm install
cp .env.example .env.local
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000.

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Notes
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL	No	Used in metadata. Default http://localhost:3000.
RESEARCH_CONTACT_EMAIL	Recommended	Used in the User-Agent for OpenAlex/CrossRef polite pools.
NEXT_PUBLIC_CONTACT_EMAIL	No	Fallback for the above.
PUBMED_API_KEY	No	Lifts PubMed rate limit from 3 → 10 req/s.

API Reference

POST /api/search

{
  "query": "large language models",
  "page": 1,
  "limit": 20,
  "sources": ["arxiv", "pubmed", "crossref", "openalex"],
  "accessType": "open",
  "sort": "relevance",
  "citationMin": 10,
  "discipline": "ai",
  "dateRange": { "from": "2025-01-01", "to": "2026-12-31" }
}

Returns { papers, total, page, pages, searchTimeMs, sourcesQueried, errors? }.

GET /api/search?q=…

Same as POST, with all filters as query parameters.

GET /api/suggest?q=…&limit=6

Autocomplete (OpenAlex). Returns { suggestions: [{ id, title, hint, citations }] }.

GET /api/trending?days=180&limit=8

Most-cited papers from the lookback window. Cached 30 minutes.

GET /api/papers/{id}

Full paper detail including related and citing papers.

POST /api/cite

{ "paperId": "openalex:W2741809807", "format": "bibtex" }

Formats: bibtex, apa, mla, ris.

GET /api/health

Live status of all four upstream APIs.

Data Sources

Source	Coverage	Rate Limit	Notes
arXiv	2.5M+	1 req / 3 s	Physics, math, CS, more
PubMed	38M+	10 req/s with key	Biomedical, life sciences
CrossRef	170M+	50 req/s polite pool	Multidisciplinary, DOI registry
OpenAlex	260M+	Unlimited polite	Most comprehensive; powers trending + autocomplete

Project Structure

See CLAUDE.md for a full developer guide.

app/
├── api/{search,suggest,trending,papers,cite,health}/route.ts
├── search/page.tsx
├── paper/[id]/page.tsx
├── saved/page.tsx
├── layout.tsx
└── page.tsx
components/
lib/{api,http,search,cache,citation-formatter,saved-papers,theme,types,utils}.ts
data/{disciplines,sources-config}.json

Scripts

npm run dev      # Dev server with HMR
npm run build    # Production build
npm run start    # Production server
npm run lint     # ESLint

Contributing

1. Fork the repo and create your branch (git checkout -b feat/amazing-feature).
2. Make your changes, then run npm run lint && npm run build.
3. Open a pull request describing what changed and why.

Roadmap

• Unified search & dedup
• Citations: BibTeX, APA, MLA, RIS
• Library import/export
• Dark mode
• Discipline browsing
• Autocomplete + trending endpoints
• Author profiles & follow lists
• AI-powered abstract summaries
• Browser extension
• Personalized recommendations (still privacy-first)

License

MIT

Acknowledgments

Data via arXiv, PubMed, CrossRef, and OpenAlex. Thank you to the open-science community keeping research accessible.

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Built with care for everyone who reads research.