Intro
This week’s issue spotlights a repeating pain point in the research and academic software world: reference management chaos.
From citation mismatches and broken exports to bloated libraries and missing PDFs, thousands of researchers on forums like Reddit’s r/academia, Zotero groups, and Mendeley migration threads are looking for safer, smarter tools.
Each idea here tackles hidden friction that costs researchers countless hours—not in writing, but in fixing tools.
If you’ve ever wrestled with a broken citation database or manually hunted a missing PDF, you’ll see why these projects matter. Each is small enough to prototype, but meaningful enough to save users hours of frustration. Pick one, and you’re not just building a tool—you’re solving a real, persistent research workflow headache.
Want a quick snapshot of this week’s top ideas? Grab our one-page teaser and get all 5 concepts at a glance
