Credits & Usage
Alfred Scholar uses a credit system for certain actions. Your workspace has a shared credit balance that all members draw from when uploading documents, chatting with AI, running plagiarism checks, and other features.
Viewing your balance
To check your workspace's current credit balance:
- Go to Settings > Credits in the sidebar.
- Your current balance is displayed at the top of the page.
All workspace members can view the credit balance.
What costs credits
The following actions consume credits from your workspace balance:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Document upload | Uploading a PDF research paper. |
| AI chat message | Sending a message in an AI chat conversation. |
| Plagiarism check | Running a similarity check on a manuscript. |
| Citation lookup | Looking up citation details by DOI. |
| Manuscript creation | Creating a new manuscript. |
| Citation style creation | Creating a custom citation style. |
| Manuscript guideline creation | Creating a custom manuscript guideline. |
Each action has a fixed credit cost displayed on the credits page.
Transaction history
Every credit-consuming action is recorded in your transaction history:
- Go to Settings > Credits.
- Scroll down to the Transaction History section.
Each transaction shows:
- Action - What was done (for example, "Document Upload", "AI Chat").
- Description - Additional context about the transaction.
- Amount - How many credits were deducted or added.
- Date - When the action occurred.
Low balance warnings
When your workspace balance drops below a certain threshold, Alfred Scholar displays a warning. This gives you time to manage your usage before running out of credits.
Adding credits
Credits are managed by the system administrator. If your workspace needs more credits, contact your organization's admin or reach out to Alfred Scholar support at [email protected].
Tips for managing credits
- Upload selectively - Only upload documents you plan to actively use for AI chat or citation extraction. Uploading every paper you encounter will deplete credits quickly.
- Batch your AI questions - Plan your questions before starting an AI chat session to minimize back-and-forth messages.
- Reuse citation lookups - Once a citation is in your library, you can use it across manuscripts without additional cost.
- Share wisely - Remember that all workspace members share the same credit balance. Coordinate with your team to avoid unexpected depletion.
Next steps
- Manage your account settings - Update your profile and preferences.
- Secure your account - Set up two-factor authentication.