Check out additional university guides specifically focused on AI applications in research.
Table adapted from Georgetown University Library AI Research Tools page. Both are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). 
This page explores a range of AI-powered tools designed to streamline research workflows, enhance discovery, and boost research productivity. Whether you need search engines, literature mapping tools, or citation analysis platforms, this guide can help you identify an AI assistant for your research needs.
| Name | Function | Data Sources | Cost | More Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Supports initial brainstorming and finds additional sources (always verify source credibility). | Free version was trained on data last upated in September 2021. Paid version is connected to internet through Bing. | Free and paid versions available. | Open AI Help Center |
| Chat PDF | Summarizes and answers questions with cited sources and multifile chats. | ChatGPT API from OpenAI | Free up to 2 PDFs/day (up to 120 pages each). $20/month unlimited PDFs |
Chat PDF FAQs |
| Citation Chaser | Input your article(s) to get sources the article references and the works that have cited it. | Lens.org | Free | Citation Chaser home page |
| Connected Papers | Delves into the connections between research papers to help you discover similar studies. Also offers a visual overview of an academic field. | Semantic Scholar and PubMed databases | Free up to 5 graphs/month. $6/mo. (paid annually) for unlimited graphing. |
Connected Papers - About |
| Consensus | Finds and summarizes key findings and claims from academic papers. | Semantic Scholar Database | Free unlimited searches, 10 GPT-4 powered Pro Analyses /month. $8.99/mo. for unlimited use of all features. |
Consensus FAQs |
| Copilot | AI-powered chat for the web. | Bing search service |
Copilot is free. Copilot Pro $20/mo. |
Copilot FAQ |
| Elicit | Searches through academic papers and citations to identify those most relevant to your topic. Extracts and summarizes the key findings and arguments. | Semantic Scholar Database |
Free basic account Paid accounts billed annually |
Elicit FAQs |
| Gemini | Like ChatGPT but designed by Google. Can aid researchers in topic development and initial source discovery. | Publicly available text and large datasets maintained by Google Research. |
Free but requires a Google account. Gemini Advanced in Google One AI $19.99/mo. |
Gemini FAQs |
| HIX Scholar | AI search engine with over 300 million scholarly papers covering all academic disciplines. | Semantic Scholar | Free 7-day trial. $7.99/month thereafter. |
More info |
| Inciteful | Input your article to get citation networks, similar papers, prominent authors in the discipline, and the most relevant journals for the research area. | Microsoft Academic Graph, Semantic Scholar, Unpaywall, Crossref, and Open Citations | Free | Inciteful Getting Started Page |
| Litmaps | Provide a starting paper, and it retrieves related articles based on citation patterns. Additionally, it visualizes these connections to help you understand the research landscape. | Crossref, Semantic Scholar, and OpenAlex |
Free version: Up to 20 basic search inputs, 2 Litmaps Pro version $12.50/mo.: Basic + Advanced searching, unlimited inputs, maps, and articles |
Litmaps About Page |
| Perplexity | Search engine that provides AI-generated answers (like ChatGPT. It includes citations which are linked above the summaries. | Internal search index | Free and paid versions available. Cost | Perplexity FAQs |
| R discovery | Mobile app devivering recent and relevant content in the field of interest. It provides audio renditions of article abstracts, translations in 27 languages, and article sharing using an integrated reference manager. | Microsoft Academic, PubMed, PubMed Central, and Crossref | Free but registration required. Paid option provides audio abstracts, translations, and reference functions. |
More info |
| Research Rabbit | Citation-based mapping tool. It focuses on relationships between research works and uses visualizations to help researchers find similar papers and researchers in their field. | OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar | Free | Research Rabbit FAQs |
| Scholarcy | Summarizes key points and claims into 'summary cards' to read, share, and annotate when compiling research on a given topic. | Uses research papers uploaded or linked by researchers. Not a comprehensive search engine. | Free: 3 summaries/day. Plus: $9.99/mo. unlimited summaries with notes, highlights, and editing. |
Scholarcy FAQs |
| SciSpace | Paraphrases articles, answers questions about PDFs (search or upload your own), extracts data from articles, aids in construction of literature reviews. Additional functionality with Chrome browser extension. | 270 million research articles and metadata. | Free basic account. $12/month for customization, unlimited searches, and messages. |
SciSpace FAQs |
| SciteAI | Suite of products for developing topics, finding papers, and searching citations in context (describing whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence). | Multiple. Incomplete list available in FAQs. | $20/month. Unlimited Assistant chats and history, citation search, reference checks, and custom dashboards | Scite FAQs - how scite works. |
| Semantic Scholar | Provides brief summaries of the main ojectives and results of papers. | Semantic Scholar database | Free | Semantic Scholar FAQs |
| Sourcely | Finds, summarizes, and formats sources for academic papers. Advanced filters to tailor searches by publication year, author, relevance, etc. | Undisclosed | Free and paid options. | Sourcely FAQs |
| System Pro | Helps researchers find, synthesize, and contextualize scientific literature, surface new insights, and accelerate research. | PubMed corups. | Free up to 4 searches monthly. Institutional pricing available. |
About System Pro |