Allow users to create and manage accounts using email, social media, or institutional login credentials.
Implement role-based access control for different user roles (e.g., researchers, students, librarians, administrators).
Search and Discovery:
Provide a robust search engine for users to find research papers by keywords, authors, titles, abstracts, or publication dates.
Implement advanced search filters and sorting options to refine search results (e.g., publication year, document type, relevance).
Browsing and Navigation:
Allow users to browse research papers by categories such as subject areas, journals, authors, and institutions.
Provide an intuitive navigation structure, including menus, tags, and links to related papers.
Paper Access and Download:
Enable users to view, read, and download research papers in various formats (e.g., PDF, HTML, EPUB).
Provide options for viewing papers online or saving them for offline access.
Paper Submission and Management:
Allow authors to submit and manage their research papers, including uploading files, providing metadata (e.g., title, abstract, keywords), and specifying publication details.
Provide tools for tracking the status of submissions and handling revisions.
Citation Management:
Provide tools for generating citations in various styles (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago) and exporting citations in standard formats (e.g., BibTeX, EndNote).
Allow users to save and organize citations for later use.
Personal Library and Bookmarking:
Allow users to create and manage personal libraries, including bookmarking and organizing favorite or frequently accessed papers.
Provide options for categorizing and tagging saved papers for easy retrieval.
Collaboration and Sharing:
Enable users to share research papers and references with colleagues or groups via email, social media, or direct links.
Provide collaboration tools, such as shared reading lists or group discussions.
Access Control and Permissions:
Implement access control mechanisms to manage user permissions for viewing, downloading, and submitting papers.
Provide features for managing institutional or subscription-based access to restricted content.
Analytics and Reporting:
Offer analytics and reporting tools to track paper usage, downloads, and user engagement.
Provide insights into trends, popular papers, and citation metrics.
Integration with External Systems:
Integrate with external databases, repositories, and academic networks for data synchronization and content enrichment.
Provide APIs for connecting with third-party applications and services.
Admin Panel:
Include an administrative interface for managing users, papers, submissions, and system settings.
Provide tools for monitoring system usage, managing content, and resolving issues.
Help and Support Resources:
Offer access to help resources, including FAQs, user guides, and support contact options.
Provide customer support through various channels, such as email, live chat, or phone.
Non-Functional Requirements
Scalability:
The system should handle increasing numbers of users, papers, and downloads without performance issues.
Support for scaling infrastructure to accommodate growth and peak usage periods.
Performance:
Ensure fast and responsive interactions, with quick search results, paper access, and download speeds.
Optimize performance to handle large datasets and high volumes of concurrent users efficiently.
Reliability and Availability:
Ensure high availability with minimal downtime, supported by redundancy, load balancing, and failover mechanisms.
Implement regular backups and disaster recovery procedures to maintain service continuity.
Usability:
The user interface should be intuitive and user-friendly, accommodating users with varying levels of technical expertise.
Provide a consistent and seamless experience across different devices and platforms.
Interoperability:
The system should integrate seamlessly with external databases, citation management tools, and academic networks.
Support standard APIs and data formats for interoperability and data exchange.
Maintainability:
Ensure the system is easy to maintain, with clear documentation, modular design, and support for regular updates and bug fixes.
Implement automated monitoring and logging to identify and address issues promptly.
Compliance:
Ensure the system complies with relevant regulations and standards, such as copyright laws, data protection laws (e.g., GDPR), and academic publishing guidelines.
Provide features to support auditing, data retention, and regulatory reporting requirements.
Data Integrity and Accuracy:
Ensure that all data collected and processed by the system is accurate, consistent, and up-to-date.
Implement validation checks and data integrity mechanisms to prevent errors and data corruption.
Localization and Internationalization:
Support multiple languages and regional settings to cater to a global user base.
Allow easy adaptation of the system to meet local regulations and cultural practices.
Accessibility:
Ensure that the system is accessible to users with disabilities, following web accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG).
Provide features such as screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, and adjustable text sizes.
Privacy and Data Ownership:
Ensure that users retain ownership of their data and can easily control, access, and delete their information.
Provide transparency regarding data usage, sharing, and storage practices, with clear consent mechanisms.
