ScienceTracker 🎓

ScienceTracker is a free Windows application for monitoring research metrics from Scopus and Google Scholar and viewing public ORCID works. It tracks publications, citations and h-index changes in the system tray, offers publication analytics, and exports reports to Word.

Windows 10/11 (64-bit) · English and Ukrainian · Free · Optional Telegram notifications

Download and install

Both editions are free and offer the same features. They can be installed together, but maintain separate settings and local statistics. Choose the installation and update method you prefer.

GitHub installer: It may be unsigned, so Windows SmartScreen may display Unknown Publisher. Download only from the official release and proceed only if you trust the file.

Getting started

1. Install ScienceTracker and open it from the Start menu. If the window is not visible, check the Windows system tray (including hidden icons).
2. Open Settings and enter the identifiers for the sources you want to monitor:
   • Scopus: numeric Author ID and an Elsevier API key. An Institutional Token is optional if your institution provides one.
   • Google Scholar: the value after user= in your public profile URL.
   • ORCID: your full ORCID iD.
3. Choose a check interval (one hour or longer), optionally enable Windows startup or Telegram notifications, and click Save.

You can use the sources independently. A Scopus API key is needed only for Scopus features, and access to some Scopus data depends on Elsevier's permissions. Adding an ORCID iD also helps with cross-source matching.

Main features

• Background monitoring: publication totals, citations and h-index for Scopus and Google Scholar; Windows tray indicators and optional Telegram alerts when metrics change.
• Statistics: publication lists, DOI links where available, year-by-year charts, citation distributions and papers closest to increasing your h-index.
• Scopus analysis: SCImago journal quartiles, open-access information, estimated self-citations and Scopus Coverage comparisons with Google Scholar and ORCID.
• ORCID: publicly listed works by year and work type. ORCID does not provide citation counts or h-index.
• Reports: export statistics and charts to Word; create Research Activity Reports, Selected Research Outputs and Research Impact Snapshots.

Other data sources: OpenAlex supports background matching and estimated Scopus self-citations; SCImago and Crossref supply supporting journal and bibliographic information. They are not separate monitored profiles.

Important notes on the results

• SCImago quartiles are derived from the publication year's journal data. When subject categories differ, Q2* (for example) flags the need for manual verification. Check quartiles before using them in formal assessments.
• Scopus citation charts: if the Citation Overview API is unavailable, a chart may show current citations grouped by publication year, not citations received during each calendar year. Year-by-year h-index charts derived from locally retained data are not official historical Scopus h-index values.
• Estimated self-citations use OpenAlex matching and are not official Scopus self-citation counts.
• The initial download of SCImago reference data may take some time. Google Scholar refreshes can occasionally fail because of access restrictions or rate limits.

Updates, saved data and moving to another PC

Each edition updates through its own channel: Microsoft Store or GitHub Releases. The Store and GitHub editions, and installations on different computers, do not synchronize local history.

The main history file is stats_history.json:

• GitHub: %LOCALAPPDATA%\ScienceTracker\stats_history.json
• Microsoft Store: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Chyc77.ScienceTracker_xzmsxqa4e66qw\LocalCache\Local\ScienceTracker\stats_history.json

To transfer accumulated history, install the same edition on the new PC, close ScienceTracker on both computers, and copy stats_history.json to the corresponding path. Configure profiles and credentials separately. Back up the file before replacing or deleting data.

Help and support

• Setup, troubleshooting and FAQ
• GitHub Releases
• Report an issue · Email support

ScienceTracker stores its research-metric history and caches locally. Optional Telegram notifications use a separate service for account linking and alert delivery, not cloud backup. The application does not intentionally collect general-purpose user telemetry or sell user data. Do not include API keys, Institutional Tokens or private identifiers in bug reports. Third-party data availability and access remain subject to each provider's rules.

© 2026 ScienceTracker. Independent software, provided “as is”; not affiliated with or endorsed by the academic data providers named above.