---
title: "Notandia | Research-integrity tooling | Mario Marcolongo"
description: "Canonical project record for Notandia, formerly MDPI Filter: publisher-level research-integrity context, Crossref/Retraction Watch notices, browser extensions and Zotero support, product continuity and Mario Marcolongo"
---

[Mario Marcolongo](/)

Current product · one continuous project lineage

# Notandia

**Originally released as MDPI Filter, Notandia is the current public identity and expanded scope of the same continuing open-source project.** It helps researchers identify articles from publishers whose editorial and peer-review practices have attracted scrutiny, check whether a paper has a formal notice such as a retraction or correction, and detect references precisely in browser extensions and Zotero.

**For application reviewers**

CVs and applications sent before the rebrand may use the name _MDPI Filter_ or link to its former GitHub organization. Those references document the same project and contribution history presented here. Existing Chrome and Microsoft Edge store identities are retained for update continuity; the current source repositories and this page document the broader Notandia scope.

[Browser-extension repository ↗](https://github.com/notandia/browser-extension)[Zotero plugin repository ↗](https://github.com/notandia/zotero-plugin)[Master CV](/cv)

Current capabilities

## Publisher-level concerns and article-level notices are separate signals.

Notandia gives researchers context about publishers whose practices have generated concern and, separately, checks external records for formal notices about an individual paper. Neither signal is converted into a blanket verdict about every journal or article.

01

### Publishers under scrutiny

The browser source includes independently controlled MDPI and Frontiers profiles, per-publisher display actions, and validated custom profiles based on publisher domains and DOI prefixes. Both publishers have attracted sustained debate over APC-driven growth, editorial standards and peer-review quality. Finland’s national Publication Forum has classified many journals from these publishers as [“grey area” publication channels ↗](https://julkaisufoorumi.fi/en/news/grey-area-journals-level-0), while continuing to assess individual journals separately. Notandia therefore provides publisher-level context without treating all journals or articles as equivalent.

02

### Retractions, corrections and other formal notices

Optional Crossref/Retraction Watch checks inspect both a paper’s own metadata and notices registered separately about it. Notandia can surface retractions, corrections, expressions of concern, withdrawals or removals, duplicate-publication findings and reinstatements.

03

### Clear evidence and uncertainty

Results show the notice type, date sequence, source and coverage, including deferred, failed or unresolved checks. The product avoids an opaque quality score, and the absence of a detected notice is never presented as proof that a paper is reliable.

04

### Precise Zotero reference detection

The Zotero plugin currently focuses on MDPI item and reference detection through exact DOI, domain, metadata, PMID/PMCID and structured PubMed Central evidence. It maps verified references to exact citation markers and skips uncertain matches rather than guessing.

Current project structure

## One product for browser extensions and Zotero.

The repositories separate the shared multi-browser product from the Zotero integration. Their capabilities overlap where the evidence model is portable, but the browser and Zotero surfaces are described separately rather than implying feature parity.

01

### Browser extension

Canonical shared source for Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox and Safari. It combines publisher-level research-integrity context with optional Crossref/Retraction Watch checks and produces verified release packages from the same source commit.

[notandia/browser-extension ↗](https://github.com/notandia/browser-extension)

02

### Zotero plugin

Reference-management integration for precise MDPI item and reference detection, structured PubMed Central retrieval and exact citation highlighting in Zotero 7–9.

[notandia/zotero-plugin ↗](https://github.com/notandia/zotero-plugin)

03

### Store continuity

The existing Chrome extension ID and Microsoft Edge Product ID remain the technical identities used for updates during the rebrand. Current source capabilities and published store versions are kept distinct until store updates complete their manual review and release process.

[Chrome Web Store ↗](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/mdpi-filter/comknkeimaaadpiopddjoknflbmjeccp)[Microsoft Edge Add-ons ↗](https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/mdpi-filter/efonlkldplkaeekpiajloajjmkappjgi)

04

### Legacy compatibility

The recreated MDPI Filter organization exists only to preserve historical CV and application links. It is not a second active product.

[Compatibility repository ↗](https://github.com/mdpi-filter/moved-to-notandia)[Historical Chrome source ↗](https://github.com/jnton/mdpi-filter-chrome)

My documented contribution

## Requirements, validation rules, behavior testing and release maintenance.

I define product behavior and limits on what the evidence supports; specify publisher-identification, identifier-resolution and formal-notice logic; test browser and Zotero behavior; prioritize false-positive avoidance; reproduce failures; inspect API and implementation behavior; guide AI-assisted changes; and maintain documentation, privacy controls, regression checks, deployment and store releases.

I use AI-assisted implementation, but do not present this work as unaided professional software engineering. My contribution is defining research-integrity requirements, translating them into testable product behavior and verifying that behavior in real use.

**Continuous project**

Notandia and MDPI Filter are two names and scopes within one continuing product lineage, not two separate portfolio projects.

**Interpretation boundary**

Publisher-level concerns are relevant context, not proof that every journal or article is unreliable. The absence of a formal notice is also not a guarantee that a paper is correct.

**Independent project**

Notandia is not affiliated with, authorized by or endorsed by MDPI AG, Frontiers Media, Crossref, Retraction Watch, NCBI, Zotero, browser vendors or any publisher or data provider.

**Stable evidence URL**

This personal-domain page is the canonical application record even if repositories, organizations, store-facing names or compatibility identifiers change again.