This post delves into the functionality of ScholarAI, a ChatGPT plugin, outlining its practical applications and offering a coherent guide on how to effectively utilise it.
Introduction to ScholarAI
ScholarAI is a plugin integrated into ChatGPT Plus, which is the premium version of ChatGPT. Analogous to the apps on your smartphone, ScholarAI serves as a versatile research companion, facilitating the discovery, querying, and saving of scholarly content. It streamlines the process of finding pertinent research materials, which could make it indispensable for sports scientists: both practitioners and academics alike.
Setting Up ScholarAI
To begin with ScholarAI, ensure that you have access to ChatGPT Plus. Upon launching ChatGPT, select the premium version, which offers a plethora of functionalities compared to the free version. Notably, this includes the capability to utilise various plugins, including ScholarAI.
1. Enable Plugins: Toggle to enable plugins and select ScholarAI from the plugin store, much like you would download an app from an app store.
2. Activation: You can enable up to three plugins simultaneously. Once ScholarAI is activated, the system is ready to receive queries.
Watch the video below for a demonstration of enabling ScholarAI, along with practical examples of using this tool for sports science research. In this case, I used an example scenario of researching sleep and athletic performance.
Demonstrating ScholarAI’s Capabilities
A primary application of ScholarAI is querying the latest research materials. For example, if investigating the intersection of sleep and athletic performance, a prompt can be entered into ChatGPT. ScholarAI then fetches recent publications, providing titles, authors, publication dates, abstracts, and direct links to PDFs when available.
**Example Query**: Find the latest research papers on sleep and athletic performance.
The plugin efficiently returns a list of recent papers, including a systematic review on sleep interventions and their impact on athletic performance, the relationship between sleep duration and performance in athletes, and other relevant studies.
Sometimes, highly cited papers offer more robust insights due to the extensive peer recognition they have garnered. ScholarAI allows users to request the most highly cited papers on a given topic.
**Example Query**: Retrieve the most highly cited papers on sleep and athletic performance.
ScholarAI provides a curated list, noting the number of citations to authenticate the significance of each paper. This feature aids users in focusing on seminal works in their area of interest.
In addition to locating papers, ScholarAI can synthesise key points from the research. For instance:
**Example Query**: Summarise the key findings on the effects of sleep on athletic performance.
ScholarAI offers concise summaries, emphasising crucial insights such as the importance of adequate sleep, the prevalence of sleep disturbances among athletes due to competition and travel demands, and potential interventions and future research directions.
Saving Research to Citation Managers
ScholarAI’s functionality extends to saving research papers directly into citation management tools like Zotero. This allows seamless integration with your existing digital library.
Procedure:
1. Generate DOI Information: When querying, include a request for the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of each paper.
2. Configure Zotero Settings: Provide your Zotero user ID and API key to permit ScholarAI to save documents directly to your Zotero library.
For more on Zotero and why this automated citation manager is an essential tool for sports scientists, check out our tutorial on the topic here.
Conclusion
ScholarAI is a robust tool that enhances research efficiency through its automated and intelligent search capabilities. By integrating real-time access to scholarly databases and enabling direct saving to citation management tools, ScholarAI transforms the landscape of academic research.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is ScholarAI?
ScholarAI is a plugin for ChatGPT Plus that functions as a smart research assistant, helping users discover, query, and save scholarly content.
How do I enable ScholarAI?
To enable ScholarAI, access the plugin store within ChatGPT Plus and select ScholarAI. Ensure that plugins are activated under the premium version settings.
Can I use ScholarAI to find highly cited papers?
Yes, ScholarAI can query and return lists of highly cited papers on specified topics, including the number of citations for each paper.
Can ScholarAI summarise research findings?
Indeed, ScholarAI can summarise key points from returned research papers, offering concise insights based on the available abstracts.
How do I save papers to Zotero using ScholarAI?
Provide ScholarAI with your Zotero user ID, API key, and DOI information for papers. This allows direct saving of documents to your Zotero library, or use a similar process for other automated citation managers.
Does ScholarAI eliminate the need to read research papers?
While ScholarAI aids in quickly locating and summarising research, it does not replace the need for critical reading and interpretation of full research papers.
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For more information on these topics, see the Sports Science Tutorials playlist on the Global Performance Insights YouTube channel.
I am dedicated to helping others turn sports science insights into practical action. If you're interested in collaborating through presentations, mentoring, or advisory projects, please get in touch.
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