Scholar Utility Belt for Google Scholar

Personal productivity tools for Google Scholar with minimal extra requests.

Scholar Utility Belt adds journal quality badges, citation analytics, author metrics, advisor–student genealogy trees, and research trend tracking directly to Google Scholar — no extra tabs, no manual lookups. ★ JOURNAL QUALITY BADGES See journal quality as color-coded badges, taken from established ranking lists for business, computing and other fields, plus quartile rankings, on every search result and author profile page. Instantly identify top-tier publications without leaving Scholar. ★ YOUR OWN JOURNAL LIST Upload a CSV of journals and conferences with your own tier labels, such as a department's A, B and C list. Matching venues get a badge with your label next to the built-in ones. The file is read in your browser and stays there. ★ CITATION VELOCITY & ANALYTICS Each paper shows citations per year with trend arrows (↑ accelerating, → stable, ↓ decaying). Compare papers not just by total citations but by research momentum. ★ AUTHOR PROFILE METRICS On any Scholar author page, see computed h-index, m-index, L-index, g-index, hI-norm, self-citation rate, publication quality breakdown (how many papers fall in each ranking tier), and coauthor analytics — all calculated in real time. ★ ADVISOR–STUDENT GENEALOGY Trace advisor–student genealogy across generations. See who advised whom in an interactive tree view with 900,000+ researchers drawn from public genealogy projects and institutional repository data. ★ QUERY TREND TRACKER See how research topics are trending via OpenAlex data. Every search shows related concept velocity (e.g., "Large Language Models ↑ 847%") plus detected methodology keywords. ★ RETRACTION ALERTS Papers flagged in the Retraction Watch database are marked with a visible warning badge. Never accidentally cite retracted research. ★ QUICK ACTIONS One-click Save to library, BibTeX export, abstract preview, DOI lookup, and code/dataset link detection (from the result's own links and DataCite) — all inline on search results. ★ DARK MODE Full dark theme that matches Scholar's interface, with all badges and panels adapting automatically. ★ PRO (OPTIONAL) Everything above is free. Scholar Utility Belt Pro adds tools for literature reviews and research workflows: author compare, paper idea lineage (how a paper's ideas trace back through its citations), extended bibliometrics, a narrative CV, a review workspace with reference import, risk-of-bias notes and screening agreement, a citation-graph overlay and a Publish-or-Perish report. Newer Pro tools include exports to reference managers, note apps and document formats, collection packets, watch lists, a bibliography checker and a tenure packet. Try it free for 14 days, buy it once or subscribe, or unlock it with an App Pass if you already have one. If you installed before Pro launched, the Pro features that existed then stay free for you forever. ★ OPTIONAL AI FEATURES (PRO, OFF BY DEFAULT) Triage cards show study design, sample and setting under a result, read from the snippet by Chrome's built-in on-device model where your Chrome offers one; a value appears only if it is in the snippet. Ask my shortlist lets you ask one question about papers you saved, using your own API key from an AI provider you choose in Options. If you use it, the titles and saved abstract or snippet text of the papers you select, plus your question, are sent to the provider you chose, only after you review the cost estimate and confirm. Each quoted sentence in the answer is checked against the saved text. ★ PRIVACY-FIRST All ranking data is bundled locally — no API calls needed for quality badges. External lookups, such as OpenAlex and Crossref, only happen when features are enabled and never send personal data. No tracking, no analytics, and no account for any free feature. The extension itself sends nothing to its developer: it opens a getting-started page on purplelink.llc once, when you first install it, and Chrome opens a short page there if you uninstall it, and those two visits are counted like any web page, without cookies or accounts. If you choose Pro, ExtensionPay handles the trial or payment and asks for your email. If you turn on the optional bring-your-own-key feature, the paper text you select and your question go to the AI provider you picked, using your own key, and to no one else. App Pass is off by default and contacts joinapppass.com only after you turn it on. RANKING SOURCES The badges come from ranking lists bundled with the extension, plus Google Scholar's own venue h5-index. Journals that appear on public predatory-journal lists are flagged. The full list of sources and how each is used is in the README on GitHub. Works on all Google Scholar country domains (google.com, google.de, google.co.uk, google.fr, etc.).