diff --git a/franklin/config.py b/franklin/config.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..627d752
--- /dev/null
+++ b/franklin/config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+import configparser
+
+
+class FranklinConfig(configparser.ConfigParser):
+    default_filename = Path("~/.franklinrc").expanduser()
+
+    def read(self, filenames=None, *args, **kwargs):
+        if filenames is None:
+            filenames = self.default_filename
+        return super().read(filenames, *args, **kwargs)
+
+
+franklin_config = FranklinConfig()
+
+
+def load_config():
+    """Load the configuration file from disk."""
+    config = configparser.ConfigParser()
+    config['Elsevier'] = {
+        'api_key': '',
+    }
+    # Read the file from disk
+    config.read(os.path.expanduser('~/.franklinrc'))
+    return config
diff --git a/franklin/fetch_doi.py b/franklin/fetch_doi.py
index 5039bbe..5d79947 100644
--- a/franklin/fetch_doi.py
+++ b/franklin/fetch_doi.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 # along with Franklin.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 import os
+from pathlib import Path
 import argparse
 import re
 import logging
@@ -23,11 +24,18 @@
 
 from .article import Article
 from .version import __version__
+from .config import franklin_config as config
 from . import exceptions
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
+config['fetch_doi'] = {
+    'bibtex_file': "./refs.bib",
+    'pdf_dir': "./papers/",
+}
+
+
 def parse_doi(doi):
     """Validate and extract a digital object identifier."""
     regex = ('(https?://)?((dx\.)?doi.org/)?'
@@ -190,10 +198,10 @@ def main(argv=None):
     )
     parser.add_argument('doi', type=str,
                         help='the digital object identifier to retrieve')
-    parser.add_argument('-p', '--pdf-dir', dest='pdf_dir', default='./papers/',
+    parser.add_argument('-p', '--pdf-dir', dest='pdf_dir',
                         metavar='PATH',
                         help='where to store the downloaded PDF')
-    parser.add_argument('-b', '--bibtex-file', dest='bibfile', default='./refs.bib',
+    parser.add_argument('-b', '--bibtex-file', dest='bibfile',
                         metavar='FILE',
                         help='will add the new bibtex entry to this file')
     parser.add_argument('-i', '--bibtex-id', dest='bibtex_id', default=None,
@@ -214,12 +222,19 @@ def main(argv=None):
     else:
         level = logging.WARNING
     logging.basicConfig(level=level)
-    doi = parse_doi(args.doi)
+    # Load the franklin rc file if available
+    config.read()
+    # Prepare the metadata from the CLI arguments, etc
     force = args.force
-    bibfile = args.bibfile
+    bibfile = args.bibfile if args.bibfile is not None else config['fetch_doi']['bibtex_file']
+    bibfile = Path(bibfile).expanduser().resolve()
     bibtex_id = args.bibtex_id
-    pdf_dir = args.pdf_dir
+    pdf_dir = args.pdf_dir if args.pdf_dir is not None else config['fetch_doi']['pdf_dir']
+    pdf_dir = Path(pdf_dir).expanduser().resolve()
     retrieve_pdf = args.retrieve_pdf
+    print(bibfile)
+    import sys; sys.exit(0)
+    doi = parse_doi(args.doi)
     # Check if the file exists
     if not os.path.exists(bibfile) and not force:
         raise exceptions.BibtexFileNotFoundError("Cannot find bibtex file: {}".format(bibfile))
diff --git a/franklin/publishers.py b/franklin/publishers.py
index 49cbef5..bd6b52b 100644
--- a/franklin/publishers.py
+++ b/franklin/publishers.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import configparser
 
 from .exceptions import PDFNotFoundError, UnknownPublisherError, ConfigError
+from .config import franklin_config as config
 from . import __version__
 
 
@@ -29,15 +30,10 @@
 }
 
 
-def load_config():
-    """Load the configuration file from disk."""
-    config = configparser.ConfigParser()
-    config['Elsevier'] = {
-        'api_key': '',
-    }
-    # Read the file from disk
-    config.read(os.path.expanduser('~/.franklinrc'))
-    return config
+# Prepare default global configuration values
+config['Elsevier'] = {
+    'api_key': '',
+}
 
 
 def get_publisher(publisher):
@@ -108,7 +104,7 @@ def electrochemical_society(doi, *args, **kwargs):
 def elsevier(doi, api_key=None, *args, **kwargs):
     # Make sure the API key is set
     if api_key is None:
-        api_key = load_config()['Elsevier']['api_key']
+        api_key = config.read()['Elsevier']['api_key']
     # Prepare the API request
     api_url = "https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/doi/{doi}?"
     if api_key:
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 559bcc7..fb78b89 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ imagesize==1.1.0
 Jinja2==2.10.1
 MarkupSafe==1.1.1
 more-itertools==7.0.0
+orgparse==0.2.4
 packaging==19.0
 pandas==0.25.3
 pluggy==0.9.0
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 3a3eaea..3106e06 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def read(fname):
     packages=['franklin'],
     long_description=read('README.rst'),
     install_requires=[
-        'bibtexparser', 'requests', 'tqdm', 'pandas', 'titlecase',
+        'bibtexparser', 'requests', 'tqdm', 'pandas', 'titlecase', 'orgparse',
     ],
     entry_points = {
         'console_scripts': [