PDF reader lets researchers organize, search and annotate articles

ReadCube can perform full-text searches across a library of academic PDF articles, and even offers outside recommendations based on those the user reads.

For researchers in scientific and academic worlds, carrying out research can often involve handling many, many articles in PDF format. That can make organizing and accessing articles difficult, which is why Labtiva’s ReadCube was born. Now in beta, the new reader tool for Mac and Windows can perform full-text searches across a library of academic PDF articles, and even offers outside recommendations based on those the user reads. Users of ReadCube can create an article library instantly, importing their existing PDFs in a single step as well as downloading in one click any related articles they want from PubMed, Google Scholar or publisher websites. ReadCube will automatically identify the author, title, and journal citation information for every article, and has the ability to search for text across the entire library. The platform also enables users to annotate articles with in-line comments, highlights and sticky notes, and can import citation information to EndNote or other citation software. In addition, ReadCube recommends new, related articles every day, helping users stay on top of what’s new in their field. The video below explains ReadCube in more detail: Thanks to a partnership between Labtiva, Digital Science and Nature Publishing Group, readers of articles on Nature.com can now enjoy similar functionality from within their browser. Ideas here for other online publishers?