Distill the Knowledge, Drive Your Research.

A powerful Chrome extension that provides personalized analysis of academic papers with tailored insights for social science and economics research. Experience smart reading that amplifies your academic interests and delivers core insights customized for you.

"See Papers Through Your Academic Lens"

• Personalized Analysis: Uncover the essence of every study with tailored insights that match your research interests

• Smart PDF Reading: Works seamlessly with SSRN papers, local PDFs, and web-hosted documents

• AI-Powered Scholarly Clarity: Advanced AI provides structured analysis including:

  • Core insights customized for you
  • Author profiles and publication history
  • Research methodology and data analysis
  • Bibliography and reference analysis
  • Topic relevance assessment focused on what matters most

• Interactive Chat: From paper to perspective - ask personalized questions using RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

• Author Analysis: Detailed author profiles with Google Scholar integration for deeper understanding

• FT50 Journal Tracking: Identifies publications in Financial Times Top 50 journals

Install the Essence Scholar Extension with these simple steps:

1. Clone (development) (optional)

   git clone https://github.com/sasi2400/essence-scholar-extension-public.git
   cd essence-scholar-extension-public

2. Download (stable)

   • Visit the GitHub tags page
   • Select the latest tag
   • Download and extract the ZIP archive

3. Load in Chrome

   • Open chrome://extensions/
   • Enable Developer mode
   • Click Load unpacked and choose the extension folder

4. Configure API Key

   • In the extension settings, add your preferred LLM API key (Gemini, OpenAI, or Claude)

1. Open an SSRN paper page or a direct PDF link in your browser.

2. Click the extension icon in the toolbar.

3. Select Analyze Paper (or Analyze PDF) to begin.

4. Review the AI-generated insights, including:

   • Executive summary
   • Key findings and contributions
   • Research methodology
   • Author profiles
   • Bibliography overview

After analysis completes, open the chat panel to:

• Ask detailed questions about the paper’s content or methods.
• Receive responses powered by Retrieval-Augmented Generation.

Click Analyze Authors to view:

• Publication history and citation metrics
• FT50 journal appearances
• Integrated Google Scholar profiles

1. Navigate to any SSRN paper page, Click the extension icon in your browser toolbar and see author analysis 

2. or. open any pdf link (I recommend only when landing in the pdf page of the ssrn papers)

3. Click "Analyze Paper" to start the analysis

4. View comprehensive results including:

   • Executive summary
   • Key findings and contributions
   • Research methodology
   • Author profiles
   • Bibliography analysis

1. After analyzing a paper, use the chat feature
2. Ask questions about the paper's content, methodology, or findings
3. Get AI-powered responses based on the paper's content

1. Click "Analyze Authors" for detailed author profiles
2. View publication history, citations, and FT50 journal publications
3. Access Google Scholar integration for additional author information

• Frontend: Chrome Extension (JavaScript, HTML, CSS)
• Backend: Python Flask API with AI integration
• AI Engine: Google AI (Gemini) for paper analysis
• PDF Processing: PDF.js for client-side PDF extraction
• Knowledge Base: In-memory RAG system for enhanced chat

We welcome contributions! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature-name
3. Make your changes
4. Test thoroughly
5. Submit a pull request

• Follow existing code formatting
• Add comments for complex logic
• Update documentation as needed

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Extension not connecting to backend:

• Check if your backend is running and if you are updated

• Analysis Time: 30-120 seconds depending on paper length and backend
• Memory Usage: Minimal browser memory footprint
• Network: Requires backend connection for AI analysis

• All analysis is performed on the backend
• No paper content is stored permanently
• Author information is fetched from public sources only
• No personal data is collected or transmitted