Improved Google Docs citations with Paperpile
When we started Paperpile at the end of last year, our goal was to make Google Docs a first class tool to write academic papers. Earlier this year, we were excited to see the first papers that were entirely written in Google Docs and Paperpile to be accepted for publication. Students have written their thesis with Paperpile and we know of users who have started writing books in Google Docs.
However, some missing features made it hard for some users to fully switch. With some recent additions to Google Docs and Paperpile, these limitations are gone. 5 key updates make it easier than ever to use Google Docs to write your next report, paper, thesis or book.
Google Docs in the University: a Q&A with students from UCC Hillerød, Denmark
Soon after our launch in October 2013 we were contacted by a group of students from UCC Hillerød, Denmark about using Paperpile to write their final thesis project in Google Docs. Since they would only be using Paperpile for a few months, we created a special short-term group license for them and left them to their work.
A few months later we noticed a sudden spike in usage from Denmark, with a few users furiously adding citations and formatting their documents late into the night for days on end. Immediately we knew: our plucky group of students were wrapping up their thesis, using Google Docs and Paperpile to get things ready to print before the Christmas holidays!
We recently caught up with Mathias, Stasa, Morgan and Francis to congratulate them on their successful project and ask a few questions about their experience writing a group project with Paperpile.
What if creationists like your paper about evolution?
Recently, my last paper that I have worked on before I started Paperpile was finally published. I’m quite happy with the work because it brings together my favourite topics: RNAs, genomes and evolution. Unfortunately, I did not have much time following up on the reception of the paper. However, there was at least one review on the web I did not miss.
Walking through a Digital Memorial: the #pdftribute PDFs
Aaron Swartz was a vocal proponent of a free and open Internet and a staunch believer in open access. His Guerilla Open Access Manifesto, written in 2008, is just as powerful and relevant to the world of academic publishing today as it was 6 years ago.
A little over a year ago, the Internet began mourning the loss of this well-loved entrepreneur and pioneer. Tech-savvy academics were shocked by Aaron’s death; some were upset at the handling of his legal case while others called on universities to respond by doubling down on open access to the scientific literature. Meanwhile, the news media were left struggling to explain just what JSTOR was and why Aaron was potentially facing years in prison for downloading a bunch of PDFs.
And then, academics joined together worldwide in a small act of defiant tribute.
Feature update: Share papers with your colleagues
We’re excited to start start the new year with a big Paperpile update, launching one of our most frequently requested features: sharing papers.
As with our other features, we thought carefully about the problem to find a solution that’s simple, powerful, and integrates naturally with your workflow. So we added a variety of functions that make it easy to share papers with your colleagues: Email papers directly from Paperpile, quickly share papers with anyone through a private link, collaborate on a shared folder with other Paperpile users, and share references with your co-authors while writing a paper in Google Docs.