ScholarRef

Format. Convert. Publish.

ScholarRef is a Windows-first .exe app for converting citation styles inside existing Word .docx manuscripts and verifying the output for structural and reference integrity.

Windows app

Primary distribution:

• ScholarRef-setup-<version>.exe: standard Windows installer
• ScholarRef.exe: packaged desktop app inside ScholarRef-windows-x64.zip
• SHA256SUMS.txt: release checksums

Target compatibility:

• Windows 11 x64
• Windows 10 x64

Expected runtime:

• normal non-admin user install
• .docx input/output workflow
• logs under %LOCALAPPDATA%\ScholarRef\logs\scholarref.log

Current release model:

• unsigned freeware build
• download from GitHub Releases only
• verify SHA256SUMS.txt before sharing or mirroring
• Windows SmartScreen may show Unknown publisher

See docs/windows-trust-and-signing.md.

Supported conversions

• APA 7 <-> Vancouver
• Harvard <-> Vancouver
• APA 7 <-> Harvard

Core functionality

• Rewrites in-text citations and reference lists across supported style pairs.
• Normalizes corrupted and hybrid reference lists before rebuilding them into a coherent target style.
• Detects all-caps reference headers and can infer an untitled reference list automatically.
• Preserves and reuses numbering for repeated sources in Vancouver mode.
• Runs strict verification passes to catch citation/reference mismatches and style remnants.
• Provides a desktop GUI for non-terminal use.

Install options

Recommended for normal users

Download the latest Windows release artifact from GitHub Releases:

• ScholarRef-setup-<version>.exe
• SHA256SUMS.txt

If Windows warns that the publisher is unknown, that is expected for the current unsigned release model. The trust check is:

1. download only from GitHub Releases
2. verify the SHA-256 hash
3. compare it with SHA256SUMS.txt

Portable Windows build

Download and unzip:

• ScholarRef-windows-x64.zip

Then run:

• ScholarRef.exe

Python install

Requirements:

• Python 3.9 or higher

Install from the repository root:

pip install .

Quick start

GUI

Run the installed app or packaged ScholarRef.exe.

Packaged Windows builds write logs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\ScholarRef\logs\scholarref.log, and the GUI includes Copy Debug Info for bug reports.

CLI

Run:

python scholarref.py --mode apa7-to-vancouver --input "input.docx" --output "output.docx"

Supported --mode values:

• apa7-to-vancouver (a2v)
• harvard-to-vancouver (h2v)
• vancouver-to-apa7 (v2a)
• vancouver-to-harvard (v2h)
• apa7-to-harvard (a2h)
• harvard-to-apa7 (h2a)

Verification engine

Validate converted output against a source document:

python verify_reference_integrity.py --source "source.docx" --output "output.docx" --profile references-only

Profiles:

• references-only: strict public integrity checks for ScholarRef conversion outputs
• full: optional private manuscript-wide checks not included in the public GitHub package

Safety preflight checks

Before rewriting any file, ScholarRef checks for:

• explicit or inferred reference-list boundaries
• reference manager field codes
• unsupported regions such as text boxes, footnotes, or endnotes
• ambiguous author/year cases that need disambiguation

Local packaging

Build the app bundle and portable zip:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\build_windows.ps1

Build the installer, checksums, and release manifest:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\build_windows_installer.ps1

Smoke test the installer silently:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\test_windows_installer.ps1

Windows release process

• Release checklist: docs/windows-release-checklist.md
• Trust and signing: docs/windows-trust-and-signing.md

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.