Note that I think materials_search and materails_search_ents should be combined into one function anyway (search_materials handles all cases) - just like how there is only one function to search the documents that combines both text search and entity search.
Also:
close_words --> get_close_words
get_journals --> get_close_journals
get_similar_materials --> get_close_materials
get_ner_tags --> perform_ner (since you are not getting anything from the database)
I suggest renaming all the search functions in Rester as:
search_<<SOMETHING>>
e.g.:
Note that I think materials_search and materails_search_ents should be combined into one function anyway (search_materials handles all cases) - just like how there is only one function to search the documents that combines both text search and entity search.
Also:
close_words --> get_close_words
get_journals --> get_close_journals
get_similar_materials --> get_close_materials
get_ner_tags --> perform_ner (since you are not getting anything from the database)