Explore a paper's references from its Notion record
Capture a paper in your Notion database and get its bibliography as a research starting point.
Trigger
New Page
Triggers when a new page is added to a Notion database.
Action
Details about a paper s references
Retrieves the list of references cited by a specific paper in the semantic scholar database. this endpoint allows users to explore the scholarly context of a publication by accessing its bibliography. it's particularly useful for understanding the foundation of a paper's research, tracing the development of ideas, or conducting literature reviews. the tool returns details about the cited papers, which may include their titles, authors, publication dates, and semantic scholar ids. it should be used when analyzing a paper's sources or investigating the connections between different academic works. note that this endpoint only provides outgoing references (papers cited by the specified paper) and not incoming citations (papers that cite the specified paper).
Why this helps
Following a paper's bibliography means repeatedly searching for its cited works and keeping track of the trail.
- Use a saved paper as a starting point for literature exploration.
- See cited works in a run report attached to the automation context.
- Reduce the manual steps between recording a paper and exploring its foundations.
Setup
Build it in a few focused steps.
- 1Connect Notion and Semantic Scholar once in the Notis portal.
- 2Create an automation in the portal or tell Notis in plain language; name it and describe how to retrieve references for the paper represented by a new database page in one instruction.
- 3Pick the Notion New Page trigger for the relevant database and choose where run reports should go.
- 4Test with one real page that identifies a paper Semantic Scholar can recognize.
Questions about this workflow
How should a database page identify the paper?
Include a clear title or Semantic Scholar paper identifier so Notis can identify the paper for the reference lookup.
Does this add the references to the database?
The workflow retrieves references and includes them in the run report. The listed Semantic Scholar action does not write to Notion.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
Supported Triggers and Actions
Notis builds workflows that link Notion to Semanticscholar. A trigger fires from one place; an action lands in another.
Notion triggers
Semanticscholar actions
Recurring trigger
Notis starts this workflow on a schedule, such as daily, weekly, or during business hours.
Details about an author
Examples: <ul> <li><code>https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/author/1741101</code></li> <ul> <li>returns the author's authorid and name.</li> </ul> <li><code>https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/author/1741101?fields=url,papers</code></li> <ul> <li>returns the author's authorid, url, and list of papers. </li> <li>each paper has its paperid plus its title.</li> </ul> <li><code>https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/author/1741101?fields=url,papers.abstract,papers.authors</code></li> <ul> <li>returns the author's authorid, url, and list of papers. </li> <li>each paper has its paperid, abstract, and list of authors.</li> <li>in that list of authors, each author has their authorid and name.</li> </ul> <br> limitations: <ul> <li>can only return up to 10 mb of data at a time.</li> </ul> </ul>
Webhook trigger
Notis starts this workflow when an external tool or custom backend sends an HTTP request.
Details about an author s papers
Retrieves a list of papers authored by a specific researcher identified by their unique semantic scholar author id. this endpoint is particularly useful for conducting literature reviews, analyzing an author's body of work, or tracking a researcher's publications over time. it provides a comprehensive view of an author's contributions to their field of study. the endpoint returns only the papers associated with the specified author and does not include co-authored works where the specified author is not listed as a primary author. note that the response may be paginated for authors with a large number of publications, and additional api calls might be necessary to retrieve the complete list of papers.
All Page Events
Triggers when any Notion page is created or updated across the workspace.
Details about a paper
Examples: <ul> <li><code>https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/649def34f8be52c8b66281af98ae884c09aef38b</code></li> <ul> <li>returns a paper with its paperid and title. </li> </ul> <li><code>https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/649def34f8be52c8b66281af98ae884c09aef38b?fields=url,year,authors</code></li> <ul> <li>returns the paper's paperid, url, year, and list of authors. </li> <li>each author has authorid and name.</li> </ul> <li><code>https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/649def34f8be52c8b66281af98ae884c09aef38b?fields=citations.authors</code></li> <ul> <li>returns the paper's paperid and list of citations. </li> <li>each citation has its paperid plus its list of authors.</li> <li>each author has their 2 always included fields of authorid and name.</li> </ul> <br> limitations: <ul> <li>can only return up to 10 mb of data at a time.</li> </ul> </ul>
Comment Created
Triggers when a new comment is created in Notion. Optional `page_id` filter scopes to comments on a specific page. When omitted, fires for any new comment in the workspace the integration has access to. Requires the 'Read comments' capability on the Notion integration. If a connection was authorized before that capability was enabled, the user must re-authorize the connection for comment events to flow.
Details about a paper s authors
Retrieves the list of authors for a specific paper identified by its unique paper id in the semantic scholar database. this endpoint is useful when you need detailed information about the contributors to a particular academic publication. it provides access to the author data associated with the paper, which may include names, affiliations, and potentially other metadata. this tool should be used when users require author information for a known paper, such as when exploring collaborations or tracking an author's body of work. it does not provide the full paper content or other paper metadata beyond author information.
New Comment
Triggers when a new comment is added to a specified Notion block or page.
Details about a paper s citations
Retrieves a list of citations for a specific academic paper using its unique semantic scholar paper id. this endpoint is useful for researchers and developers who want to explore the impact and connections of a particular academic work within the broader scientific literature. it provides information about other papers that have cited the specified paper, allowing users to trace the influence of research and discover related works. the endpoint should be used when analyzing the reception and impact of a specific paper, building citation networks, or conducting bibliometric studies. it does not provide the full text of citing papers or detailed information about the citations beyond basic metadata.
Database Created
Triggers when a new Notion database (the container) is created. A database is the post-2025-09-03 container that holds one or more data sources. This trigger fires for the container's creation event (`database.created`), distinct from `NOTION_DATASOURCE_CREATED` which fires when a new data source is added to an existing database. Most customers calling Notion's `POST /v1/databases` (the legacy API) or creating a database via the Notion UI will see this event. Adding a new data source to an existing database fires `data_source.created` instead — use `NOTION_DATASOURCE_CREATED` for that. Notion's payload puts `entity.type: "block"` (the container is a `child_database` block in the content tree) and `entity.id` is the database id.
Details about a paper s references
Retrieves the list of references cited by a specific paper in the semantic scholar database. this endpoint allows users to explore the scholarly context of a publication by accessing its bibliography. it's particularly useful for understanding the foundation of a paper's research, tracing the development of ideas, or conducting literature reviews. the tool returns details about the cited papers, which may include their titles, authors, publication dates, and semantic scholar ids. it should be used when analyzing a paper's sources or investigating the connections between different academic works. note that this endpoint only provides outgoing references (papers cited by the specified paper) and not incoming citations (papers that cite the specified paper).
Data Source Created
Triggers when a new Notion data source is created. Fires workspace-wide. The payload's `data.parent` carries the data source's tree parent (typically the teamspace) for downstream filtering. A single template-based database creation can fire multiple `data_source.created` events at once — one per data source the template instantiates.
Get details for multiple authors at once
Retrieves detailed information for multiple authors from semantic scholar in a single api call. this endpoint allows users to efficiently fetch data for a batch of authors by providing their unique semantic scholar ids. it's particularly useful for applications that need to gather information on multiple authors simultaneously, reducing the number of individual api calls required. the endpoint accepts a list of author ids and returns comprehensive details for each author, which may include their publications, citations, and other relevant academic information. while the exact response structure is not specified in the given schema, users can expect rich metadata about the requested authors.
Data Source Schema Updated
Triggers when a Notion data source's schema is updated. Fires on column add / remove / rename. Payload includes `data.updated_properties: [{id, name, action}]` so consumers can discriminate the kind of change downstream. Optional `data_source_id` filter scopes to schema changes on a single data source. When omitted, fires for any schema change in the workspace the integration has access to. Note: adding a column also fires `page.properties_updated` once per existing row in the data source. Customers wanting a single structural-change signal should use this trigger.
Get details for multiple papers at once
The semanticscholar paper batch endpoint allows users to retrieve data for multiple academic papers in a single api call. this endpoint is particularly useful when you need to fetch information for a batch of papers efficiently, reducing the number of individual api requests. it accepts an array of paper ids and returns the corresponding data for each paper. use this endpoint when you have a list of known paper ids and want to retrieve their details simultaneously. keep in mind that while there's no specified limit on the number of ids you can send, very large batches may be subject to api rate limiting or response size restrictions.
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When this happens · Trigger
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