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jcheng67

Scholar Research

by Jingxiang Cheng · GitHub ↗ · v1.0.0
cross-platform ⚠ suspicious
460
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0
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1
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1
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Install in OpenClaw
/install scholar-research
Description
Search, analyze, and summarize peer-reviewed academic papers from open access sources. Provides credibility scoring, visualization, timeline generation, and...
Usage Guidance
This repository appears coherent with its description: it searches public academic APIs, downloads PDFs, scores and summarizes papers, and extracts figures using optional system tools. Before installing or running it, consider: 1) Run in a sandbox or VM since it performs network requests and writes downloaded PDFs to disk. 2) Figure extraction uses pdftotext/pdfimages (Poppler) via subprocess; install those if you want full functionality or disable figure extraction. 3) test_runner.py contains a hardcoded chdir to '/home/bigclaw/.openclaw/…' — do not run that file as-is (it's a development/test artifact). 4) Provide API tokens/email only for services you trust and avoid putting sensitive credentials in config files you share. 5) The package has minor packaging/path issues (CLI entry point and imports) that are engineering issues, not security problems. If you want higher assurance, request provenance (homepage/source repo) from the publisher or run the code in an isolated environment and audit network behavior during a sample run.
Capability Analysis
Type: OpenClaw Skill Name: scholar-research Version: 1.0.0 The skill is classified as suspicious due to its use of `subprocess.run` to invoke external binaries (`pdftotext`, `pdfimages`) for processing untrusted PDF files downloaded from the internet. While the `subprocess.run` calls are structured to prevent direct shell injection by passing arguments as a list, processing untrusted input with external tools introduces a vulnerability surface. A maliciously crafted PDF could potentially exploit vulnerabilities in `pdftotext` or `pdfimages`, leading to arbitrary code execution or other system compromises. This represents a significant vulnerability risk, though not clear evidence of intentional malicious behavior by the skill developer.
Capability Assessment
Purpose & Capability
Name/description (search, score, summarize, extract figures) align with the included modules: search.py, score.py, summarize.py, figure_extract.py and a PDF downloader. Optional API tokens are present in config.json for services the skill documents (OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, CrossRef) and are not required by default.
Instruction Scope
SKILL.md instructs the agent to search, fetch metadata/PDFs, score, and extract figures — this is exactly what the code does. The code performs network calls to many external public APIs and downloads PDFs (requests). Figure extraction attempts to call system binaries (pdftotext, pdfimages) via subprocess. A test file (test_runner.py) contains a hardcoded absolute chdir to '/home/bigclaw/.openclaw/…' which is environment-specific and could cause unintended filesystem access if executed; this is a development/test artifact and not necessary for normal skill use.
Install Mechanism
No install spec is provided (instruction-only install), so nothing will be silently downloaded at install time. The package includes Python source and lists Python dependencies (requests, beautifulsoup4, PyPDF2/opencv/transformers mentioned in SKILL.md), and the figure extraction relies on external system utilities (Poppler's pdftotext/pdfimages) if available. That reliance should be documented to avoid surprises but is proportionate to the stated feature set.
Credentials
The skill does not declare required environment variables or a primary credential. config.json includes optional API tokens/email fields for OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef (reasonable and documented). There are no requests for unrelated credentials or secrets in the files.
Persistence & Privilege
The skill does not request persistent global privileges (always:false). It does not modify other skills or system-wide agent settings. It operates as a normal user-space tool that downloads content into local directories when asked.
How to Use
  1. Make sure OpenClaw is installed (local or Docker)
  2. Run the install command in chat: /install scholar-research
  3. After installation, invoke the skill by name or use /scholar-research
  4. Provide required inputs per the skill's parameter spec and get structured output
Version History
v1.0.0
Scholar Research Skill 1.0.0 – Initial Release - Enables searching, analyzing, and summarizing academic papers from a wide range of open access sources. - Provides detailed credibility scoring, customizable by users, with metrics like citations, recency, and peer review status. - Supports visualization features: timelines, credibility distributions, and extraction of figures from top papers. - Allows users to add custom data sources and adjust scoring weights via configuration. - Outputs include paper summaries, methodology highlights, credibility scores, and field evolution timelines.
Metadata
Slug scholar-research
Version 1.0.0
License
All-time Installs 1
Active Installs 1
Total Versions 1
Frequently Asked Questions

What is Scholar Research?

Search, analyze, and summarize peer-reviewed academic papers from open access sources. Provides credibility scoring, visualization, timeline generation, and... It is an AI Agent Skill for Claude Code / OpenClaw, with 460 downloads so far.

How do I install Scholar Research?

Run "/install scholar-research" in the OpenClaw or Claude Code chat to install it in one step — no extra setup required.

Is Scholar Research free?

Yes, Scholar Research is completely free (open-source). You can download, install and use it at no cost.

Which platforms does Scholar Research support?

Scholar Research is cross-platform and runs anywhere OpenClaw / Claude Code is available (cross-platform).

Who created Scholar Research?

It is built and maintained by Jingxiang Cheng (@jcheng67); the current version is v1.0.0.

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