PaperLabCapture a paper’s results, and chart them against yours
PaperLab turns results in a PDF into data you can chart. Draw a box over a table to capture it, or select a number like 88.5 ± 0.3 to keep it. Add your own results from a CSV and chart them side by side. Every point on a chart remembers where it came from: click it and the paper opens at the table on its page.
What you can do
- Capture a table by drawing a box over it.
- Keep a single number with its uncertainty, like 88.5 ± 0.3.
- Add your own results from a CSV.
- Chart papers’ numbers and yours side by side.
- Click any point to open its page in the paper.
Tips
- Capture the table once and chart it many ways, instead of retyping numbers.
- Keep the ± value: comparisons without it mislead.
- Name your CSV columns like the paper’s, so charts line up.
Questions people ask
Can I extract a table from a scanned PDF?
Capture works on PDFs with a text layer, which covers most born-digital papers. Scanned pages without text need OCR first.
Where does a number on the chart come from?
Each point keeps its paper, page and position. Click it and the paper opens there.
Can I use my own data?
Yes. Add a CSV and chart it next to the numbers captured from papers.
Works well with
Guides
- How to read a research paper efficiently — The three-pass method, what to skip, and how to keep what you read.
- How to do a systematic literature review — Question, protocol, search, two-stage screening, snowballing and PRISMA.
- How to extract data from research papers — Capture tables, keep each number’s page, chart it with yours.