🎓 Scholar Quest - AI-Powered Research Discovery Platform

Scholar Quest is an intelligent research companion designed to help researchers, students, and academics discover relevant papers, understand complex research, and explore citation networks. Powered by AI and integrated with OpenAlex's vast academic database.

🔗 Live Application: https://scholar-quest-three.vercel.app

🌟 Key Features

🔍 Smart Paper Discovery

Search academic papers using natural language queries
AI-powered relevance scoring for each result
Integration with OpenAlex's 250M+ paper database
Real-time caching for faster repeat searches

🤖 AI Analysis

Comprehensive paper summaries with key insights
Reading difficulty assessment (Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced)
Estimated reading time calculation
Impact score evaluation
Key contributions and methodology breakdown

🕸️ Citation Network Visualization

Interactive graph showing paper relationships
Explore cited and citing papers visually
Discover related research through connections
Click nodes to explore connected papers

👤 User Features

Firebase authentication (email/password & anonymous)
Bookmarking system for favorite papers
Search history tracking
User profile with account management

📊 Modern UI/UX

Responsive design for all devices
Loading overlays with blur effects
Clean, professional interface
Circular score visualizations

🏗️ Architecture

┌─────────────────────┐
│  React Frontend     │
│  (Vercel)           │
│  - Homepage         │
│  - Paper Discovery  │
│  - Paper Details    │
│  - Citation Graph   │
│  - About Page       │
└──────────┬──────────┘
           │
           │ HTTPS/CORS
           │
┌──────────▼──────────┐
│  Flask Backend      │
│  (Render.com)       │
│  - Paper Search     │
│  - AI Analysis      │
│  - Graph Building   │
│  - User Auth        │
└──────────┬──────────┘
           │
    ┌──────┴──────┐
    │             │
┌───▼───┐   ┌────▼────┐
│OpenAlex│   │ OpenAI  │
│  API   │   │   API   │
└────────┘   └─────────┘

💡 Tech Stack

Frontend

Framework: React 18.2.0
Routing: React Router 7.9.3
State Management: React Context API + Hooks
Styling: Custom CSS with animations
Visualization: D3.js / Vis.js for citation graphs
Authentication: Firebase Auth
Hosting: Vercel (Auto-deploy from GitHub)

Backend

Framework: Flask (Python)
AI: OpenAI GPT-4 for paper analysis
Database: OpenAlex API integration
Caching: In-memory cache for search results
Authentication: Firebase Admin SDK
Hosting: Render.com (2GB RAM, $7/month)

External Services

OpenAlex: Academic paper database (250M+ papers)
OpenAI: Natural language processing and analysis
Firebase: Authentication and user management

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+ and npm
Python 3.9+
OpenAI API key
Firebase project credentials

1. Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/Harsha072/scholar-quest.git
cd scholar-quest

2. Backend Setup

cd flask-api

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r app/requirements.txt

# Set environment variables
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-openai-api-key"
export FIREBASE_ADMIN_SDK_JSON='{"type":"service_account",...}'

# Run Flask server
python app/main.py

Backend will start at http://localhost:5000

3. Frontend Setup

cd react-frontend

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Create .env file
echo "REACT_APP_API_URL=http://localhost:5000" > .env
echo "REACT_APP_FIREBASE_API_KEY=your-firebase-api-key" >> .env
echo "REACT_APP_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN=your-project.firebaseapp.com" >> .env
echo "REACT_APP_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=your-project-id" >> .env

# Start development server
npm start

Frontend will start at http://localhost:3000

📖 Usage Guide

🏠 Homepage

Enter a research question in natural language
Click "Search" or press Enter
View loading overlay while papers are being discovered
Redirected to Paper Discovery page with results

📚 Paper Discovery

View Results: See relevant papers with metadata
Relevance Scores: AI-calculated relevance percentage
View Details: Generate comprehensive AI analysis
Build Graph: Visualize citation relationships
Bookmark: Save papers for later (requires sign-in)

📄 Paper Details

Circular Scores: Relevance and Impact displayed visually
AI Analysis: Brief and detailed summaries
Key Contributions: Bullet-point highlights
Methodology: Research approach overview
Reading Difficulty: Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced
Estimated Time: How long to read the paper

🕸️ Citation Graph

Interactive Nodes: Click to explore connections
Color Coding: Different colors for paper types
Zoom & Pan: Navigate large graphs easily
Cached Data: Fast loading on page refresh

👤 User Account

Sign Up: Create account with email/password
Anonymous Mode: Browse without account
Profile: View account info and last sign-in
Sign Out: Secure logout

🎯 API Endpoints

Base URL: https://scholar-quest-backend-v2.onrender.com

Health Check

GET /api/health

Search Papers

POST /api/discover-papers
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "query": "machine learning in healthcare",
  "max_results": 10
}

Get Paper Details & Analysis

POST /api/paper-details
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "title": "Paper Title",
  "authors": ["Author 1", "Author 2"],
  "abstract": "Paper abstract...",
  "openalex_work_id": "W1234567890"
}

Build Citation Graph

GET /api/paper-relationships/{paper_id}?max_connections=10

📁 Project Structure

pdf-summariser-microservice/
├── flask-api/                    # Backend (Python/Flask)
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── main.py              # Main API routes
│   │   ├── rag_pipeline.py      # AI analysis logic
│   │   ├── simple_paper_relationships.py  # Graph building
│   │   ├── config.py            # Configuration
│   │   ├── logger_config.py     # Logging setup
│   │   └── requirements.txt     # Python dependencies
│   ├── tests/                   # Backend tests
│   └── Dockerfile
│
├── react-frontend/              # Frontend (React)
│   ├── public/
│   │   └── index.html
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/
│   │   │   ├── Header/          # Navigation header
│   │   │   ├── Auth/            # Authentication components
│   │   │   ├── PaperCard/       # Paper display cards
│   │   │   ├── PaperDiscovery/  # Search results page
│   │   │   └── SimplePaperRelationships/  # Citation graph
│   │   ├── pages/
│   │   │   ├── HomePage.js      # Landing page
│   │   │   ├── PaperDetails.js  # Detailed analysis
│   │   │   ├── AboutPage.js     # About Scholar Quest
│   │   │   └── SimplePaperRelationshipsPage.js
│   │   ├── context/
│   │   │   └── AuthContext.js   # Firebase auth context
│   │   ├── services/
│   │   │   └── api.js           # API client
│   │   ├── App.js               # Main app component
│   │   └── index.js             # React entry point
│   ├── package.json
│   └── README.md
│
├── docker-compose.yml           # Local development
├── docker-compose.prod.yml      # Production config
└── README.md                    # This file

🌐 Deployment

Current Production Deployment

Backend: Render.com

Service: scholar-quest-backend-v2
URL: https://scholar-quest-backend-v2.onrender.com
Plan: Starter (2GB RAM, $7/month)
Auto-deploy from GitHub feature/harsha branch

Frontend: Vercel

Project: scholar-quest-three
URL: https://scholar-quest-three.vercel.app
Plan: Hobby (Free)
Auto-deploy from GitHub feature/harsha branch

Environment Variables

Backend (Render)

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-...
FLASK_ENV=production
FLASK_DEBUG=False
CORS_ORIGINS=https://scholar-quest-three.vercel.app
FIREBASE_ADMIN_SDK_JSON={"type":"service_account",...}

Frontend (Vercel)

REACT_APP_API_URL=https://scholar-quest-backend-v2.onrender.com
REACT_APP_FIREBASE_API_KEY=...
REACT_APP_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN=...
REACT_APP_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=...
REACT_APP_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET=...
REACT_APP_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID=...
REACT_APP_FIREBASE_APP_ID=...

✨ Feature Highlights

🎨 User Interface

Clean, modern design with purple gradient accents
Responsive layout for mobile, tablet, and desktop
Smooth animations and transitions
Loading overlays with blur effects
Circular score visualizations

🔐 Authentication

Email/password registration and login
Anonymous browsing mode
Firebase integration for secure auth
User profile with metadata
Session persistence

💾 Caching System

Search results cached in localStorage
Graph data cached for quick reload
Session-based cache management
Automatic cache expiration

🎯 Smart Features

AI-powered relevance scoring
Dynamic loading messages
Error handling with user-friendly messages
Compact search bar in results page
Back navigation with state preservation

🔧 Development

Run Tests

# Backend tests
cd flask-api
pytest tests/

# Frontend tests
cd react-frontend
npm test

Build for Production

# Frontend build
cd react-frontend
npm run build

# Backend (uses Dockerfile)
cd flask-api
docker build -t scholar-quest-backend .

Code Quality

# Python linting
flake8 flask-api/app/

# React linting
cd react-frontend
npm run lint

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 152 Commits
flask-api		flask-api
nginx		nginx
react-frontend		react-frontend
scripts		scripts
.dockerignore		.dockerignore
.gitignore		.gitignore
Dockerfile		Dockerfile
README.md		README.md
docker-compose.prod.yml		docker-compose.prod.yml
docker-compose.yml		docker-compose.yml
railway.toml		railway.toml
render.yaml		render.yaml
vercel.json		vercel.json

Harsha072/scholar-quest

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation