AI search tools can supplement your other literature searches, for example at the beginning or the end of your search process. The tools are constantly evolving and often include both free and paid features. The AI tools typically search through content from open, scientific archives.
AI search tools
- Asta
Ask an academic question in ‘Find papers’ and get an answer based on selected sources from the open archive Semantic Scholar. Asta does a thorough ”deep search” when trying to find the most relevant sources. Create a free user profile to save your searches. - Elicit
Ask an academic question in ‘Find papers’ and get an answer based on selected sources from the open archive Semantic Scholar. The answer is supplemented by a table with key points from the sources. Requires a free user profile. - Inciteful
Enter an article title or DOI and get a network of articles that share citations with the entered article. The citation network is based on content from the open archives OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, Crossref, and OpenCitations. - Perplexity
Ask an academic question and get an answer based on selected sources. Choose ‘Academic’ and search within scientific sources from the open archive Semantic Scholar and the PubMed database. Create a free user profile to save your searches. - ResearchRabbit
Enter one or more articles or DOIs and get a network of articles that share citations with the entered articles. The citation network is based on content from open archives such as OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar. Requires a free user profile. - Scite
Ask an academic question in ’Assistant’ or ’Tables’ or do a keyword search in ’Search’ and get an answer based on selected sources from Scite’s own scientific database. For most sources a citation network classifies whether a citation mentions, supports, or contrasts the source. As an AU user you have access through a license from AU Library. Create a user profile to get access to additional features. - Undermind
Ask an academic question and get an answer based on selected sources from the open archive Semantic Scholar. Undermind does a thorough ”deep search” when trying to find the most relevant sources. Requires a free user profile.
Open archives
Open, scientific archives contain titles, abstracts, and sometimes the full text of a large number of articles, working papers, etc. The content in the open archives is not selected in the same way as in established scientific databases, so reflect critically on your search results. You can search the open archives either via an AI search tool or directly in the archive.
- OpenAlex
Retrieves data from sources such as PubMed, arXiv, DOAJ, Unpaywall, Zenodo, and ORCID. - Semantic Scholar
Retrieves data from sources such as PubMed, arXiv, and publishers like Sage, Springer, Wiley, and Taylor & Francis. - Lens
Retrieves data from sources such as PubMed, OpenAlex, Crossref, and Unpaywall. - Core
Collects metadata and, in many cases, the full text of scientific articles. - Crossref
Collaborates with a wide range of publishers and institutions to provide open metadata, e.g., on articles, books, preprints, datasets, etc.
