Getting Started with Moirai.world

A guide for researchers, students, and institutions.

I. What is Moirai.world?

Moirai.world is a research visibility infrastructure platform built on 400M+ academic papers and 95M+ extracted research findings.

It addresses a problem that most universities face but rarely articulate clearly:

we do not have a way to see the actual structure of research.

Not outputs, not rankings — but how knowledge is organised, where it is evolving, and how it connects across fields.

Moirai provides that structural lens.

Moirai is not a search engine, and not a database. It is a structural layer on top of global research — a way to see how knowledge is organised, where momentum is building, and what is emerging before it becomes visible in traditional metrics.

What Moirai enables:

• A structural view of research activity at institutional level
• Identification of emerging and under-recognised research areas
• Visibility into how ideas propagate across fields and time
• Evidence-based positioning beyond rankings

Key platform components:

• Research Identity pages for universities worldwide
• Research Findings search across 95M+ extracted insights
• Interactive Research Islands (knowledge network graphs)
• Institutional structure, momentum, and positioning analysis
• PhD supervision matching and postgraduate application tools

II. Creating an Account

A. Go to the homepage and click "Sign in", then "Join now".

B. Choose your account type:

• Student / Applicant — for those seeking academic opportunities, PhD programmes, or connections with researchers and institutions.
• Researcher / Supervisor — for academics who review applications, manage supervisees, and wish to make their research visible.

C. You can register using:

• Your academic or personal email (with email verification code)
• Google account
• ORCID account

D. After registration, you will receive a welcome email. Click the verification link to activate your account.

E. If you do not receive the verification email within a few minutes, check your spam folder. Contact [email protected] if the issue persists.

III. Exploring Research Identity Pages

Research Identity pages are the core of Moirai. They provide a structural representation of an institution's research activity — revealing patterns that are not visible in rankings, departmental listings, or publication counts.

A. Finding an institution

• Use the search bar on the homepage
• Browse the Research Universe map
• Navigate directly: moirai.world/research/institutional/[OpenAlex ID]

B. What you will see depends on the institution's Research Visibility Level:

• Resolved — Full Research Identity with Atlas, Findings, Dynamics, and Structural analysis
• Structured — Research Islands and key structural metrics
• Emerging — Summary-level data with narrative
• Observed — Baseline statistics only

C. Key modules on a full Research Identity page:

1. Research Atlas — A structural map of the institution's research landscape. Each point represents a research community. Its position reflects disciplinary orientation, and its size reflects relative research volume. This allows you to see not just what fields exist, but how the institution's research is distributed, concentrated, or fragmented.

2. Global Field Positioning — How the institution's research field distribution compares to the global baseline. Highlights structural strengths (fields where the institution punches above its weight) and strategic gaps (globally significant fields that are under-represented).

3. Author Statements — Statements from researchers at the institution, contextualising AI-extracted findings with human perspective.

4. Research Islands — An interactive network graph of research communities. Explore the internal structure of an institution's research activity.

5. Evidence Panel — The supervisors and researchers behind the research, with their key findings and research focus.

6. Research Dynamics — Whether the institution's research communities are Expanding, Sustained, Nascent, Consolidating, or Dormant.

IV. Searching Research Findings

Moirai has extracted 95M+ findings from academic papers. Unlike traditional academic search, Moirai surfaces what papers actually found — not just what they are about.

These are the actual conclusions and contributions from the literature, made searchable in plain language.

A. Go to the search bar and enter a research question, topic, or keyword.

B. Results show extracted findings from papers, with the source paper, authors, institution, year, and citation count.

C. You can filter by field, year, institution, and finding type.

D. Click any finding to expand it and access full paper details, citation information, and related findings.

E. Use the Research Network view to visualise how papers around a finding connect to each other.

V. Exploring the Research Network (Knowledge Graph)

The Research Network is an interactive graph showing citation and semantic relationships between academic papers.

A. Starting a network exploration

• Search for a paper, author, or topic
• Click "Explore Network" on any paper
• The graph expands from your seed paper outward

B. Navigation controls

• Drag: reposition nodes
• Click a node: expand connections
• Right-click a node: see paper details, abstract, findings
• Scroll/pinch: zoom in or out
• Left-drag (3D mode): rotate
• Right-drag (3D mode): pan

C. Visualisation modes

• 2D Semantic — explore the network by semantic similarity and disciplinary relationships
• 2D Timeline — navigate the citation network with publication year context
• 3D Cluster — immersive 3D view organised by research clusters and structural groupings
• 3D Timeline — Z-axis represents publication year, showing how ideas evolved chronologically

D. Node colours represent disciplinary fields, making it easy to spot interdisciplinary connections and research gaps.

E. Right-click any node to access the paper's extracted Findings — the key conclusions from that paper without leaving the graph.

VI. Uploading Your Academic Profile

To apply for supervision or postgraduate programmes:

A. Go to "Personal Information" and complete your "Education Background".

B. Upload required documents:

• Degree Certificate or Certificate of Enrollment
• Transcript
• Curriculum Vitae
• Research Proposal
• Language Proficiency (if applicable)

C. Your profile will be matched with relevant supervisors and institutions.

VII. Connecting Your ORCID

ORCID integration is available for all registered users.

A. Go to your Profile page and click "Connect ORCID".

B. Authorise the connection via the ORCID website.

C. Your ORCID profile data (publications, affiliations, employment history) will be imported and displayed on your Moirai profile.

D. ORCID is an optional academic enhancement — it is not required for registration. Your email remains your account anchor, and ORCID is linked separately.

E. Your data remains fully controlled by you. ORCID integration enhances your profile but does not override your own inputs.

VIII. Finding Supervisors and Applying

A. Navigate to the "Admissions" section.

B. Browse available programmes by keyword, institution, duration, or location.

C. Click "Apply" on the programme you are interested in. Click "Details" for more information.

D. Tailor your application and submit. Track your submission under "My Applications".

IX. Managing Applications as a Supervisor

A. After logging in, go to "Applications" → "Student Applications" to view all incoming applications, ranked by score.

B. Actions available for each applicant:

• Accept — confirm as a supervisee
• Reject — decline the application
• Hold — mark as under consideration
• Forward — send to a colleague

C. Go to "Applications" → "My Students" to view accepted supervisees.

D. Click any student's name to view their full profile, CV, and Research Proposal.

X. Participating in Scholarly Discussion

A. Go to the "Discussion" section to join academic forums by topic.

B. You can bookmark posts, repost, quote and respond, leave comments, or like contributions.

C. Follow threads or users to receive updates on topics relevant to your research.

XI. Privacy, Safety & Support

Moirai.world complies with UK GDPR and standard data protection practices. All user data is securely stored and processed within a controlled environment.

A. Manage your cookie preferences and privacy settings in your profile.

B. For any concerns: [email protected]

C. We typically respond within 48 hours.

XII. About Data Sources

Moirai is built on OpenAlex, covering 400M+ academic records. Some entries may have incomplete metadata due to limitations in source databases. We continuously enrich records using Crossref, Unpaywall, and internal systems.

Research Findings (95M+) are extracted by Moirai's AI pipeline. These are structured interpretations designed to make research contributions more accessible and comparable at scale — they are not direct quotes from papers. Where available, source abstracts are also shown.

If you believe a record should be corrected, contact [email protected].