Weekly research literature digest with OpenAlex, Slack, and Notion

Build me a weekly literature digest agent for my research team.

Trigger: cron schedule, every Monday at 8:00am local time.

Inputs the agent should read from its configuration:

- A list of research topics or search queries, for example "retrieval augmented generation" and "GLP-1 cardiovascular outcomes".

- The Slack channel to post the digest in.

- The Notion database (data source) ID that acts as the permanent paper archive. Assume the database has columns for Title, Authors, Journal/Source, DOI, Publication Date, Open Access status, Topic, and Summary.

What the agent should do on each run:

1. For each configured topic, call OpenAlex Search Works (operation 32f4ad42-e3ae-4cf7-820d-2ee5218053b0) with search set to the topic phrase, from_publication_date set to 7 days ago, sort by relevance_score desc and cited_by_count desc, and a small per_page (around 25). Pick the 3 to 5 most relevant results per topic.

2. For every candidate paper, check whether it's already in the Notion archive by calling Notion Query a Data Source (operation a2b659e0-7ad2-452d-9838-013a93b3a0f7) filtered on the DOI (or title if DOI is missing). Skip papers that already have a row.

3. For the remaining new papers, write a short plain-English summary: title, first 2-3 authors (et al. if more), source journal/venue, open access status, and a one to two sentence takeaway derived from the abstract.

4. Archive every new paper as a page in the Notion database using Notion Create a Page (operation 6ad0fce4-a48d-4dff-b1d5-32372d4941b0), filling in Title, Authors, Journal, DOI (with link), Publication Date, Open Access, Topic, and the Summary.

5. Assemble one consolidated digest message grouped by topic, with each paper rendered as a bullet using Slack mrkdwn (title as a link to the DOI or OpenAlex URL, then the one-line takeaway underneath). If no topic had any new papers, do not post.

6. Post the digest to the configured Slack channel using Slack Send a Message (operation 4c21e1ee-4d54-4413-a4f2-80a80dff4c99).

Behavioral rules: never post duplicate papers; never send an empty digest; if OpenAlex returns nothing for a topic, just note it internally and move on; keep the Slack message under ~3000 characters by trimming long takeaways.

What does this prompt do?

Every Monday at 8am, scans the academic literature for new papers published in the last 7 days that match your watched research topics.
Picks the 3 to 5 most relevant new papers per topic, ranked by relevance and citation impact.
Writes a short plain-English summary of each paper (title, authors, journal, open access status, key takeaway).
Posts a single consolidated digest to your team's Slack channel and archives every paper as a row in a Notion database.
Skips papers it has already logged, so the same paper never shows up twice.

What do I need to use this?

An OpenAlex account (free) for searching the academic literature.
A Slack workspace and the channel you want the weekly digest posted in.
A Notion workspace with a database (with columns like Title, Authors, Journal, DOI, Date) shared with General Input.

How can I customize it?

Change the schedule (daily, weekly, monthly) or the time of day the digest lands.
Edit your list of watched topics and search queries, for example "GLP-1 cardiovascular outcomes" or "retrieval augmented generation".
Tune how many papers per topic make the digest, or change the ranking from most cited to most recent.
Switch the Slack channel or post to several at once, and add custom fields to the Notion archive (rating, reviewer, internal tags).

FAQs

What if no new papers were published on a topic this week?

The agent quietly skips topics with no results and only posts a Slack digest when there's at least one paper worth sharing.

Will I get duplicate papers if the agent runs more than once?

No. Before logging a paper to Notion, the agent checks the database for an existing row with the same DOI or title and skips anything already archived.

Can I track more than one research topic?

Yes. You can list as many topics or search queries as you want. Each one gets its own clearly labelled section in the Slack digest.

Do I need to know how to write a search query?

No. Plain phrases like "lithium battery recycling" or "large language models for healthcare" work fine. The agent handles the underlying search.

Can I limit the digest to open access papers only?

Yes. When you set up the workflow, just ask Geni to filter for open access, and only freely available papers will be included.

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