Q&A
+ Is Sciwheel a free software?
There is a freemium model. You can start using the tool for free and then to add more projects, suggestions, and other features; you will need a premium subscription.
+ Is there a student discount?
Currently we're unable to provide individual paid subscriptions while we review our subscription model. We will provide more information in early 2023.
+ How compatible is Sciwheel with other tools, like Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote and DevonThink? Can I import/ export data from one to other?
Yes, you can export your references to a file and then import it on another reference manager. You can also easily import all your references to Sciwheel from Zotero and Mendeley. Demonstrated HERE. However, the Sciwheel browser extension is really powerful and easy to use, so that is a key advantage over other reference managers.
+ Is Sciwheel housed on my computer (Mac/ PC) or shared across (mobile) devices? Or is it on a website, that I will not actually own?
Sciwheel is web-based software and exists entirely in the cloud, so there's nothing installed on your computer. You can make local backups of reference metadata and PDF files if needed.
+ Does Sciwheel allow for different reference styles?
Our style library has over 7000 styles covering all major journals, publishers, and standard styles for various purposes. Custom styles can be created for premium subscribers on request.
+ Is Sciwheel firewall friendly? Regrettably my institution often blocks add-ins
You should contact your institution’s IT department. Sciwheel is happy to engage with them to answer any security question that they might have. The reason we are moving to the word add-in is to support word online and word for iPad, which we couldn’t do with the plugin.
+ Can you group/ categorize your articles?
Yes, with projects, subprojects, and tags.
+ Does the algorithm consider the reputation of journals when it suggests readings?
No. We believe that users can judge the quality of the articles independently where they are published.
Answered live HERE.
+ How do I organise the citations without losing track of each one of them ?
Inside of your library, using projects, subprojects and tags is a good way to keep them organised. Plus, Sciwheel has a very good search capability.
+ To see if a have read an article in the past should I use a tag (e.g., “read” tag)? If I have found an article relevant?
Yes. Articles to read can easily be added to the reading list (book icon). Then using tags is an easy and handy way to “classify” the article. for example, “Very Important”, “Method” or “not important”.
+ Does Sciwheel provide any bibliometric analysis?
In the reference page we show how many articles cited it with a link to Europe PMC (life science only) to see them. We are looking at other collaborations to increase our coverage.
+ Can we use specific journal or conference template in manuscript section?
There are no word templates at the moment. Our current Manuscript tab only shows Google Docs documents linked to the project.
+ Does this not lead to plagiarism?
No. The notes and highlighted text when inserted in a document are clearly lable in italic and with quotation marks. Plus the source is cited automatically.
Answered live HERE.
+ Is the browser extension only available on Google Chrome?
It is available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge.
+ How well does Sciwheel locate open access versions of journal articles. For journals like PLoS, this is straightforward, but how about such as on institutional repositories as flagged by Open Access Button?
Currently we do not cover institutional repositories. However, we are looking in integrating with Unpaywall to bring more open access content.
