Sciwheel: Home

Sciwheel is a unified space for writing, collecting, citing, & sharing scientific literature. It features a web-based application, a browser extension, and a Word add in.

Login to an existing Sciwheel account.

• Signing up for the first time? You may want to consult "Getting Started Tab" on this guide. 

Do it every 120 days:

Remember to log in from campus OR from an HSL Sciwheel link at least once every 120 days to keep your account active.

Login to an existing Sciwheel account.

Sciwheel Help Documents

• Sciwheel Help Guide (also accessible under Help from within Sciwheel)
• How-to Videos (Sciwheel Help site)

Sciwheel Tools: Accessed from Tools tab within Sciwheel or try the new Get Started option there. See Help guide within Sciwheel for additional information and troubleshooting.

• Web based application: The main Sciwheel website--manage, store, share your references from any computer.
• Browser extension: Collect & annotate references as you discover them online. More info on the browser extension or see Help guide within Sciwheel.
• Microsoft Word Add-In: Find & insert citations; generate bibliographies; save manuscripts with version control to Sciwheel.  More info on the Word Add-In or see Help guide within Sciwheel.
• Legacy Desktop app: From 31st August 2021, no longer supported.If you already have this downloaded you will still be able to use the desktop app after this date. This was compatible with both Windows (Windows 8.1 onwards) and Mac (macOS 10.13 onwards).
• Google Docs add-on: Find & insert citations; generate bibliographies.  More info on the Google Docs add-on or see Help guide within Sciwheel.

Download the SciWheel Mobile App:
Syncs with your Sciwheel account so you can view your references, add new ones from your mobile browser, highlight, annotate and more. For Android devices (v7 onwards) and iPhones/iPads (iOS v12 onwards) 

If the "I'm not a robot" /reCAPTCHA check box does not appear when registering from off campus, you can do one of the following

• Register from on campus, instead (VPN from off campus will not work)
• OR you can sign up from off campus for the free/Basic account at sciwheel.com using your regular UNC email, then log off (use pull down menu next to the circle with your initials near the top right) and re-log on from the special link on UNC HSL's website < https://guides.lib.unc.edu/go.php?c=54438124>  to associate your account with UNC.
  
  
   
• To check that your account is now a UNC Institutional account: use the pull down menu as above to go to "Account" and then use the menu on the left to go to "Subscription." You may also select "Proxy Settings" from the left-hand menu to check that it has this as the Proxy URL: https://login.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=$@ .  If not, copy and paste it in (no need to go to the link, just cut and paste it into the box; note, however, that the screen shot below shows the older, less secure link.).
  

• OR, if necessary, you can sign up from off campus for the free/Basic account at sciwheel.com using your regular UNC email, then Email for HELP (Sciwheel) or use the blue chat button with the smile within Sciwheel to let them know what happened and to ask for their help connecting your account to UNC's institutional account

NEXT STEPS:

• See registration/sign-in helps box below for additional assistance.
• Once you have registered for and set up your institutional account, as above, you can use the Tools drop-down menu to set up your browser extension (do this for each browser you use), Word add-in, (and optional Google Docs add-on, if you'd like). See box below with set-up instructions. 

Sciwheel typically requires users to log into their accounts from a campus IP address once every 120 days io retain institutional access. If you are working exclusively remotely, here are two ways to maintain your institutional access (don't worry--all of your citations will still be there!)

1) Sign in via a Sciwheel link on the library website. It takes you through the proxy server, and you will authenticate with UNC's single sign-on (SSO) using your ONYEN and password (as for other resources from off-campus), so you won't need your access extended manually.

2) If you see an 'x days left' message or counter pop up and you're not able to sign in from campus, sign in via a Sciwheel link on the library website).  If that doesn't work, message Sciwheel's customer support directly using the internal blue and white chat button at the bottom right corner of your your browser window (you may not see this if you are blocking ads or trackers), OR just email them and they will be happy to help you keep your institutional subscription active. In the meantime, you will NOT lose access to your account or to any citations in your account.

• NOTE from Sciwheel: if users are still seeing the 'x days left' popup and they use the proxy to verify, it doesn't register immediately. They'll get access immediately, but the popup will only disappear if they log out and back in. Admittedly that's a bit confusing (I've had a couple of users saying the proxy didn't work because they were still seeing the popup) and we'll work on improving this, but something to be aware of in the meantime. 
• In the case where you're a new user with a subscribing institution, but you're unable to get the subscription via your library's link, we can provide complimentary subscriptions to cover you. Please contact us [via email] if this is the case for you."