Academic papers
Unpaywall
unpaywall.org
Academic papersfree
Looks up legal open-access versions of paywalled papers. Use it to locate a free PDF you can actually upload to Gemini Notebook.
Unpaywall isn't a source on its own — it's a lookup tool that finds a legal, freely available copy of a paper you already found through a paywalled citation. That makes it useful for the specific step where you have a reference but no accessible PDF to upload. It won't turn up a free copy for every paper, since it depends on the paper having been deposited somewhere open.
Import into Gemini Notebook
- 1Copy the link above (or a specific page from the site).
- 2In your notebook, click Add source → Website.
- 3Paste the link and confirm — several links can be pasted at once, one per line.
Gemini Notebook reads the text of the page you give it. Paste pages that carry the full text (an arXiv abs page, a PubMed Central article) — a paywalled landing page imports as just an abstract.
More academic papers sources
- Google ScholarThe widest net for finding papers across every field; follow its links to a full-text version before importing.
- arXivPreprints for AI, CS, math and physics. Paste the abs page URL as a Website source — figures survive that route better than an uploaded PDF.
- Semantic ScholarAI-assisted paper discovery with citation graphs — good for building the reading list before you build the notebook.
- PubMed CentralFree full-text biomedical papers — unlike PubMed proper, articles here import complete, not as abstracts.
- SSRNWorking papers in economics, law, finance and the social sciences, most downloadable as full-text PDFs.
- Academia.eduResearcher-uploaded papers across every discipline. Useful for finding PDFs that are paywalled elsewhere; an account is needed for downloads.
- BASEAcademic search engine indexing hundreds of millions of documents. Filter to open access to surface PDFs you can actually upload.
- Connected PapersBuilds a visual graph of papers related to one you pick. Good for finding what to read next — then add the actual PDFs or abstract pages to Gemini Notebook.
- ConsensusAI search that answers questions with citations to peer-reviewed studies. Use it to shortlist papers, then import the papers themselves as sources.
- COREAggregator of open-access papers from repositories worldwide — a good first stop for finding a free PDF of a paywalled article.
- Crossref Metadata SearchDOI lookup and metadata for 150M+ scholarly works. Use it to trace citations and find the canonical publisher page before adding a paper as a source.
- DimensionsResearch graph linking papers to the grants, patents, clinical trials and policy documents that cite them. Free tier covers basic publication search.
- Directory of Open Access JournalsIndex of vetted open-access journals in every field. Useful for confirming a journal is legitimate and finding free full-text versions to import.
- EBSCO Open DissertationsFree index of theses and dissertations from universities worldwide. Records link to institutional repositories where full-text PDFs are often available.
- ElicitAI assistant that searches papers and extracts findings into tables. Use it to shortlist studies, then import the underlying papers into Gemini Notebook.
- NDLTDUnion catalog for electronic theses and dissertations worldwide. Dissertations run long — import specific chapters as PDFs rather than whole volumes.
- OpenAlexFree index of hundreds of millions of scholarly works with citation links. Good for mapping a literature before deciding which papers to import.
- Oxford Bibliographies OnlineScholar-written reading guides that map the key literature on a topic. Use an entry to decide which papers to pull into your notebook before you start importing.
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (PQDT)The biggest collection of dissertations worldwide, with full text for most recent work. Needs institutional access; theses make dense, citable sources.
- RefSeekStripped-down academic search that filters out commercial results. Useful for surfacing reference pages and documents to add as notebook sources.
- ResearchGateSocial network where authors upload their own papers. Often has a free full-text copy when the journal version is paywalled — check here before giving up.
- SciELOOpen-access journal network centered on Latin America, with Spanish and Portuguese full text. Good for research the big English-language indexes miss.
- ScopusElsevier's citation index for tracking who cites what across peer-reviewed literature. Use it to build a reading list, then import the papers themselves.
- The Lens – Scholarly WorksFree search over 200M+ scholarly records with patent cross-links — unusual for connecting research papers to the inventions built on them.
- Web of ScienceSubscription citation index for tracing who cites whom across disciplines. Use it to build a reading list, then import the papers themselves.