AI in the Academic Setting

Academic research is a time-consuming and complex endeavor so it is not surprising that AI is being used to create tools with the intent to make research more efficient.  Keep in mind that quicker and easier does not necessarily equate to valid and accurate!  We have explored some of the resources currently available and wanted to provide some information on their functionality, possible benefits, and limitations.  

Please note that Oxy library is not recommending the use of any of the AI-based tools on this page.  Please personally critically evaluate these sites/tools for validity and accuracy before using them. If you choose to use any of these tools, we do recommend that they be used only as a supplement to traditional validated scholarly databases.  This list is not exhaustive as this is a rapidly advancing field.  If there is a tool that you are curious about and want help with evaluating, then please reach out to us.

The main function of the following sites is to search for research articles and help with literature reviews however they may have other features such as article summarizers and features for answering questions about the articles.  Caution is needed with these extra features as during our testing, we found some inaccuracies in the summaries and some incorrect citations when the tool was answering a question about the paper.  Avoid any site where you can't figure out where they are getting their articles from.

The resources listed below are currently best used as a supplement to traditional databases.  If you need help on how to conduct a literature review, then please read our literature review research guide.

Free and no account creation needed:

• Semantic Scholar
  • Developed by the non-profit Allen Institute for AI and has been around for about 8 years 
  • Focused on science literature
  • Functions similarly to Google Scholar however returns more specific results and has more ways to filter results
  • Search results yield academic (scholarly) articles but not necessarily peer-reviewed since it includes preprints
• Inciteful 
  • Creates a graph of academic papers based on “seed papers” of your choice
  • Obtains its papers from OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, Crossref, OpenCitations
• Open Knowledge Maps
  • Creates a map of a research topic to help find documents and identify relevant concepts
  • Obtains its papers from PubMed and BASE
  • Type in a few keywords related to your topic and it will retrieve the 100 most relevant papers for the topic, grouping them by theme

Free version with upgrades requiring paid subscription:

• Elicit
  • Uses Semantic Scholar as its search engine
  • Can find relevant papers even without exact keyword matches
  • Summarizes and pulls out the key details from the abstract or the entire article if you've selected "has pdf" or if the article is open access (Selecting "has pdf" will limit your search results to only those that have a pdf so keep this in mind when doing lit reviews.)
  • Elicit tutorials
• Research Rabbit  
  • Citation-based literature mapping tool similar to Inciteful (listed above)
  • Uses PubMed and Semantic Scholar as its search engine
  • Creates citation maps as well as networks of recommended articles based on user provided collections of articles; import collection from Zotero or build a new collection using Pubmed ID, DOI, or keyword search
• Connected Papers 
  • Uses Semantic Scholar as its search engine
  • Uses a similarity algorithm to identify related papers based on your paper of interest
  • Input the title of one paper and Connected Papers will create a literature map; each node is a related paper and the size of the node indicates how many citations the paper received
• Consensus  
  • Uses Semantic Scholar as its search engine
  • Works best with a specific research question such as 'does x cause y' or 'what is the side effect of x.'
  • It answers your question with a series of results that have a one line "finding" from the paper and then it lists the paper from which it retrieved the finding.
• Iris 
  • Uses natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to comprehend the context of a research project and suggest pertinent literature
  • Can navigate and find data sources without relying on specific keywords; key data points are automatically extracted from text and tables into a table of your own design
  • Searches only open access articles via CORE and PubMed
• Scinapse
  • Similar to Elicit (listed above): find relevant papers, filter by critieria, and analyze research insights
  • Obtains articles from PubMed, OpenAlex, and Semantic Scholar

Paid subscription required (may have a short free trial or a free option with very limited features):

• Keenious 
  • Upload a document or copy/paste text and it will analyze it and find related research articles, essentially finding the keywords in the text of origin and searching the metadata of published research articles to generate a list of relevant articles
  • Effective for cross-disciplinary research
  • Built upon the OpenAlex dataset which is where it gets its articles
  • Has a plugin for Microsoft Word and Google Docs

• Scite 
  • Uses AI to provide detailed citation information for research papers including the context of the citation and whether or not the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence
  • Obtains its content from preprint servers, open access, and agreements with various publishers
• Litmaps 
  • Creates interactive literature maps starting from a "seed article"
  • Obtains its content only from open access metadata repositories

The main function of these is to summarize articles and help you more easily find information in articles.  Basically, you start by uploading a PDF of the article into the website and then you can ask questions about it and/or generate a summary of the paper.  Some have additional features.  Always double check the information contained in the summary before you use it in your own papers or research as during our testing, we found some inaccuracies in the summaries and some incorrect citations when the tool was answering a question about the paper. 

• ChatPDF
  • Can read a PDF in any language and answer questions in any language
  • Can chat with multiple PDF's at one time
  • Free version: 2 PDF's per day
  • Paid version: ChatPDF Plus
• Humata
  • Summarizes findings in uploaded PDF and can compare multiple documents
  • Ask questions of the document and the answers will come with cited links
  • Free version: basic features, 60 page limit, 10 answers limit
  • Upgrades to different paid versions available
• SciSummary
  • Send an email or upload an article with text, a link, or PDF and within minutes you'll receive a summary in your inbox
  • Free
• Scholarcy
  • Summarize papers, articles, textbooks, and videos
  • Can convert large complex texts into interactive summary flashcards
  • Free version: 3 summaries per day
  • Paid version: unlimited summaries, enhanced summaries, more flashcard capabilities

Unlike traditional databases that Oxy library subscribes to, obtaining free full text using these tools may take some extra steps.  If the article you found using an AI-based research tool does not have free full text available, then:

• Copy and paste the title of the article into Oxy OneSearch and click search
• If you see the article, click on the title to either access full text immediately or to order the article for free via Oxy's Interlibrary Loan system.
• If you don't see the article listed, then click on "expand your search" at the top of the search results page.  Your article should appear.  Click on the title to order the article for free via Oxy's Interlibrary Loan system.
• In the rare case where you don't see your article by doing any of the steps above, then order it via the manual Interlibrary Loan form.  Make sure you choose "article" at the top of the form.