Where the data is stored

radiowriter --where

The command prints the data folder, the database file with the rule that chose it, and the SCImago file in use. The default data folder is:

macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Radiowriter
Linux	~/.local/share/radiowriter, or $XDG_DATA_HOME/radiowriter
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Radiowriter

Two environment variables change this:

• RADIOWRITER_HOME sets the data folder, for example to keep the archive on an external disk.
• RADIOPAEDIA_DB sets the path of the database file and takes precedence over every other rule. The tests use it, so that a test run cannot change a real archive.

How the database file is chosen

The app uses the first of these that applies:

1. the file named by RADIOPAEDIA_DB;
2. a pubmed_database.db in the folder that contains the radiowriter package, if one exists;
3. pubmed_database.db in the data folder.

Rule 3 is the normal case. An installed program cannot keep its data next to its code: that folder can be read-only, it is replaced at every upgrade, and on Windows it is inside %LOCALAPPDATA%\uv\tools.

Rule 2 keeps older installations working. Earlier versions were run with streamlit run app.py from the project folder and kept the database there. The app does not move an existing archive.

Rule 2 also applies to a developer install. pip install -e . does not copy the package: it points to the source tree. If the source tree contains a pubmed_database.db, the app uses that file and not the one in the data folder.

The sidebar shows which archive is in use. Under 🗄 Archive it gives the number of articles, lists, drafts and PDFs, and the path of the file. When rule 1 or rule 2 chose the file, a third line says so:

🗄 Archive · 2,453 articles · 1 draft(s)
~/Documents/Radiowriter/pubmed_database.db
Next to the source code, not in the data folder (why)

radiowriter --where prints the same information. The app also prints the path of the archive in the terminal when it starts, with the reason when it is rule 1 or rule 2.

The SCImago file

A copy of the SCImago table is included in the package, as radiowriter/data/scimagojr-<year>.csv.gz. It is reduced to the columns the app reads and to the rows of type "journal".

A scimagojr*.csv file you downloaded is used in place of the included copy. The app looks for one in the data folder, in the project folder and its data subfolder, and in the package folder. If there are several, the last one in alphabetical order of file name is used, wherever it is. A downloaded file is used even if its data is older than the included copy.

The table is loaded into the database when the database has no journal metrics. After that, a new file is loaded only when you click ↻ Reload the file and re-match under 📊 Journal metrics.

Other contents of the data folder

Name	Contents
PDFs/	the PDF library, unless another folder is set in ⚙️ Settings
study-browser/	the browser profile of the study window, which holds your Radiopaedia login, and a copy of the reader page
incoming/	PDFs dropped into the Library tab, until they are added to the library
radiopaedia-articles-*.csv	the Radiopaedia article list, if you put one there

These are in the data folder even when the database is next to the source (rule 2).

The database stores the file names of the PDFs and not their full paths, so the library folder can be moved.