Glossary

Core Concepts

Extended Mind Elumity's foundational philosophy that positions the platform as an extension of your cognitive capabilities rather than simple storage. The system maintains relationships between research materials, extracted insights, and written outputs to support thinking rather than just filing.

Knowledge Cards Elumity's signature feature for transforming research materials into organized, searchable insights. Cards can include text, images, equations, references, and multimedia content while maintaining connections to source documents and other research materials.

Spaces Primary organizational units in Elumity that contain your research materials. Private Spaces are individual workspaces, while Group Spaces enable team collaboration. Each Space can contain multiple folders for more specific organization.

Platform Navigation

Three-dot Menu (Ellipsis Menu) The "⋮" menu that appears throughout Elumity's interface, providing access to additional actions for documents, cards, references, and other content. Common actions include sharing, moving, copying, and organizing materials.

Metadata Panel The information panel that appears on the right side of your screen when documents or references are selected, displaying citation details, keywords, notes, file information, and organizational tools.

Sidebar The navigation area on the left side of Elumity's interface showing your Spaces, folders, inbox, and organizational structure. The sidebar adapts to show relevant navigation options based on your current module.

Academic Features

DOI (Digital Object Identifier) Permanent identifiers for academic publications that Elumity uses to maintain accurate citations and provide direct links to publisher pages. DOIs ensure citation accuracy even when publisher websites change.

Citation Styles Formatting standards for academic references such as APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, and thousands of specialized journal formats. Elumity automatically formats citations according to your selected style throughout your documents.

OpenAlex A comprehensive academic database integrated into Elumity that indexes millions of scholarly articles across all disciplines, providing access to citation information and publication details for research discovery.

PubMed The National Library of Medicine's database of biomedical literature, directly integrated into Elumity for medical and life sciences research. PubMed searches provide access to peer-reviewed medical research with comprehensive citation information.

BibTeX A standard format for bibliographic information used by many reference management systems. Elumity can import BibTeX files from other reference managers and export references in BibTeX format for compatibility with other tools.

RIS Another standard reference format supported by Elumity for importing and exporting citation libraries, ensuring compatibility with reference managers like Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote.

Content Creation and Management

Rich Text Editor The comprehensive formatting toolbar available in Knowledge Cards and Write documents, providing academic writing tools including headings, lists, equations, tables, and AI assistance features.

AI Assistance Elumity's integrated artificial intelligence tools that help improve writing through grammar correction, style enhancement, translation, length adjustment, and custom queries while preserving your original ideas and academic voice.

Version History Automatic tracking of changes to your documents over time, allowing you to review previous versions and revert changes if needed. Particularly valuable for collaborative work and complex revision processes.

Auto-save Automatic preservation of your work as you create and edit content in Elumity, preventing data loss and ensuring your research insights are continuously protected.

Collaboration and Sharing

Group Spaces Collaborative workspaces where research teams can share documents, references, Knowledge Cards, and writing projects. Group Spaces include member management, access control, and shared organizational structure.

Discover Elumity's community platform where researchers share Knowledge Cards publicly, enabling academic knowledge exchange, professional networking, and collaborative learning across the broader research community.

Inbox The location where documents, cards, and other content shared with you by other Elumity users appears, providing organized access to collaborative materials and team contributions.

Following The system for tracking content from specific researchers whose work provides ongoing value, ensuring you see their future contributions while building your academic network through the Discover platform.

Technical Terms

Web Import Elumity's capability to convert web pages directly into PDF documents for permanent archival, enabling preservation of online resources that might change or disappear over time.

Batch Operations Actions performed on multiple documents, references, or cards simultaneously, such as bulk moving, copying, sharing, or organizing materials for efficient library management.

PDF Merge The function that combines multiple PDF documents into a single file while preserving content and formatting, useful for creating comprehensive literature review documents or combining related research papers.

Page Extraction The ability to create new PDF documents containing only selected pages from larger documents, enabling focused document creation that contains only the most relevant sections.

Reference Management

Reference Linking The connection between citation entries and actual PDF documents in your Library, enabling direct access from citations to source materials and supporting verification during research and writing.

Citation Style Selection The process of choosing from over 10,000 academic formatting standards to ensure your references match the requirements of specific journals, institutions, or publication venues.

Custom References Manually created citation entries for sources not available in academic databases, such as government documents, institutional reports, or other specialized materials requiring academic attribution.

Writing and Academic Output

Progress Tracking The 10-stage system for monitoring academic writing development from initial concept through final submission, helping maintain momentum through complex writing projects like theses or dissertations.

Bibliography Generation Automatic creation of properly formatted reference lists based on sources cited in your writing projects, ensuring accuracy while eliminating manual bibliography maintenance.

Export Options Multiple formats for sharing your academic work including PDF documents, Word files with inline or separate figures, and reference formats compatible with other academic tools.

Cross-references Links between different parts of your Elumity workspace, such as connections between Knowledge Cards and their source documents, or between writing projects and their supporting research materials.

Data Management

Backup The process of exporting your complete Elumity library as a compressed file for data protection and portability, ensuring your research investment remains secure and transferable between institutions.

Data Portability Elumity's capability to export your research work in standard formats that remain accessible outside the platform, supporting academic mobility and institutional changes.

Library Size The total storage space used by your research materials, which you can monitor through user settings to understand storage usage and plan backup procedures.

Folder Hierarchy The organizational structure within Spaces that uses folders and subfolders to create logical groupings of related research materials, supporting efficient navigation and content management.

User Interface Elements

Thumbnail View The visual preview system for documents and cards that displays cover images or first pages, making it easier to identify specific materials when browsing large collections.

Filter Options Tools for narrowing displayed content based on criteria such as file type, tags, creation date, or other attributes, helping you find specific materials quickly in large libraries.

Sort Controls Options for arranging content by various criteria including date, title, type, or custom attributes, with ascending or descending order capabilities for flexible organization.

View Modes Different ways of displaying your content such as grid view, list view, or preview mode, allowing you to choose the presentation that best supports your current research activities.

This glossary focuses on terms that may be unfamiliar to new users or that have specific meanings within Elumity's academic research context. For detailed guidance on using these features, refer to the comprehensive documentation in this Help Hub.