Description
AcademicCrew turns a WordPress site into a complete web presence for an academic research group. It manages member profiles, an auto-generated team directory, a course catalogue, a project/collaboration showcase, and a publications archive — all unlimited and free to manage by hand.
AcademicCrew Pro adds CSV/Web import, automatic publication sync from ORCID, Google Scholar, an IRIS/DSpace-CRIS repository, and CrossRef, full appearance and content customization, and native Avada/Fusion Builder and Elementor integrations.
It works with any theme: Gutenberg blocks are provided for every feature, so the plugin renders correctly on any theme, with or without a page builder.
Member profiles & team directory
Each researcher gets a profile page — photo, role, contact details, research areas, and a live publication/citation count — automatically generated the moment a member is added. The team directory lists everyone, grouped by role, with search and filtering built in. No limit on the number of members.
Courses
A course catalogue with code, credits, teaching language, degree programme, and an academic-year-aware period system — semester, trimester, quarter, or a single annual period. No limit on the number of courses.
Projects & collaborations
A showcase for funded research and industrial collaborations, with a filterable archive (by class and status) and a dedicated page per project — team, partners, funding source, and outcomes. No limit on the number of projects.
Publications
Every publication gets a card with authors, venue, DOI, citation count, and one-click BibTeX export. The archive is searchable and filterable by year, type, and tag. Add and edit as many publications as you need by hand, plus a manual “merge duplicates” tool to keep your list clean.
Works with any theme
Gutenberg blocks are provided for every feature, so AcademicCrew renders correctly on any WordPress theme, page-builder or not.
No institution lock-in
Nothing is hardcoded to a specific university, department, or data source — every identifier (organization name, IRIS repository URL, and so on) is a Settings field.
AcademicCrew Pro
Pro is a separate product (flowygo.com) that adds:
- CSV & Web import — bulk-import members, courses, and projects from a CSV file, or pull a publication straight from a URL (BibTeX/JSON).
- Automatic publication sync — from ORCID, Google Scholar, an IRIS/DSpace-CRIS repository (any institution, not locked to one provider), and CrossRef for metadata enrichment, with fuzzy deduplication and automatic author/course/project cross-linking.
- Full customization — Roles & Classes (rename/recolor/add/delete member roles and project classes), Appearance (colors and fonts), archive page text, and academic year period settings.
- Avada / Fusion Builder — a native element for every shortcode.
- Elementor — a matching widget for every shortcode.
External services
AcademicCrew Pro’s automatic publication sync (a separate product — see the “AcademicCrew Pro” section above) connects to the following third-party services to import and enrich publication data. None of these connections are made by the free plugin: they only run when a site owner has entered Pro credentials/identifiers in Settings and manually enabled sync for a member.
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ORCID — used to import a member’s publication list when an ORCID iD is configured for them. Sends the member’s ORCID iD to
https://pub.orcid.org(ORCID’s public read API) when a sync runs. No account credentials are sent; no data is sent unless sync is triggered.
ORCID Terms of Use — ORCID Privacy Policy -
Google Scholar — used to import a member’s publication list and citation stats when a Google Scholar profile ID is configured for them. Fetches the member’s public Scholar profile page from
https://scholar.google.comwhen a sync runs.
Google Terms of Service — Google Privacy Policy -
SerpApi — an optional, paid alternative to the direct Google Scholar connection above, used only if a site owner enters their own SerpApi key in Settings. When configured, the member’s Google Scholar profile ID is sent to
https://serpapi.cominstead of scraping the page directly.
SerpApi Terms of Service — SerpApi Privacy Policy -
CrossRef — used to enrich publication metadata (e.g. filling in missing venue/abstract details) after a publication has already been found via ORCID, Google Scholar, or IRIS. Sends the publication’s DOI to
https://api.crossref.org.
CrossRef Terms of Use — CrossRef Privacy Policy -
IRIS / DSpace-CRIS repository — optional and disabled until a site owner enters their own institution’s IRIS repository URL in Settings IRIS Repository. When configured, member identifiers are sent to that admin-provided URL (any institution’s own repository, not a fixed Academiccrew-operated service) to import publication data.
Screenshots









Blocks
This plugin provides 11 blocks.
- AcademicCrew: Featured People
- AcademicCrew: Stat Counters
- AcademicCrew: Featured Publications
- AcademicCrew: Featured Projects
- AcademicCrew: Featured Courses
- AcademicCrew: Courses Archive
- AcademicCrew: Publications
- AcademicCrew: Recent Publications
- AcademicCrew: Recent Projects
- AcademicCrew: Recent Courses
- AcademicCrew: Member Card
Installation
- Upload the plugin to
wp-content/plugins/academiccrew/, or install it through the WordPress plugin uploader (Plugins Add New Upload Plugin). - Activate the plugin — this creates the plugin’s database tables and the Members, Courses, Projects, and Publications archive pages automatically.
- Add members, courses, projects, and publications from their respective admin menus under AcademicCrew.
FAQ
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Does this plugin work with my theme?
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Yes. AcademicCrew ships Gutenberg blocks for every feature, which work on any theme, including ones with no page builder at all. Avada/Fusion Builder elements and Elementor widgets are available in AcademicCrew Pro.
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Is there a limit on how many members, courses, projects, or publications I can add?
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No. The free plugin manages an unlimited number of each — everything is entered by hand.
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What’s the difference between Free and Pro?
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Free covers full member, course, project, and publication management, entirely by hand, with no item limits. AcademicCrew Pro (a separate product, not hosted on wordpress.org) adds CSV/Web import, automatic publication sync, full appearance/content customization, and the Avada/Elementor integrations. See the Description tab for the full comparison.
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What happens to my content if I deactivate the plugin?
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Deactivating the plugin does not delete any content, settings, or database tables. Data is only removed on uninstall, and only if you choose to remove it.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“AcademicCrew” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
ContributorsTranslate “AcademicCrew” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.0
- Initial release: unlimited member, course, project, and publication management by hand. AcademicCrew Pro (sold separately) adds import, automatic publication sync, full customization, and Avada/Elementor integrations.
