OpenAI leads the general AI space, but big Silicon Valley AI companies are developing new tools and experimenting with AI-powered academic searching in support of research. Perhaps you have faculty or students asking you to present these tools to classes.
How will AI tools affect our traditional bibliographic databases? Will we see GenAI being put into our search platforms? Can we stop it?
Scite.ai is a literature discovery and evaluation platform that uses AI to find, analyze, and understand scientific publications. The platform requires signing up for a profile, which entitles you to three (3) free prompts. However, after it processes your prompt request or question, you have to provide a credit card number to see the extraction and report analysis.
The platform integrates large language models (LLMs) into a research assistant that responds to natural language queries with cited evidence from literature sources. Its ”SmartCitations” feature extends traditional citation metrics by providing context regarding whether a paper supports, contrasts or mentions previous works. Scite.ai's corpus includes articles, book chapters, preprints, and datasets. Its AI-powered Research Assistant extracts structured data as PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison,Outcome) terms or lists of biomarkers when set to Table Mode.
With the paid version, Scite.ai offers visual citation maps, customizable dashboards, real-time citation alerts, and a Reference Check feature that examines manuscript drafts for retracted or heavily contested sources. Its limitations are predictable: a lack of systematic search abilities, poor methodological reporting on how the articles were found, other than its citation retrieval capabilities. Retrieving non-peer-reviewed content limits its use in knowledge synthesis (KS) but may bolster grey searching.
In a study conducted by Hunter, Booth et al (2025), the researchers said, "...by demonstrating the application of tools such as Scite and Undermind, this case study shows how AI can support targeted, conceptually driven searches—enabling researchers to access rich, relevant data with greater efficiency. However, as with any tool, their value lies in how they are used. This is especially true for AI-powered searches, which are still relatively new. We are continuing to learn how best to use these tools effectively, and their role is to complement—not replace—the judgment and interpretive thinking of the researcher."Not to mention information retrievalists and librarians!
Bottom line: For health sciences librarians, Scite.ai might support their work with health professionals but its underlying AI raises concerns for those interested in scientific accuracy, transparency and rigour in reviews. Note information provided to you on this page is changing, so check the tool's website for the current information (or discuss with a librarian). Incidentally, I like to make a distinction between searching for sources and searching for answers. This much is true: LLMs provide the second while hiding the first.
Presentation
Note: This presentation has been selected by a librarian for its concise overview of the product and pricing. Keep in mind that this is a marketing video as much as a tutorial, and some of the claims of the video should be tested and verified.
Note: Please use your critical reading skills while reading entries. No warranties, implied or actual, are granted for any health or medical search or AI information obtained while using these pages. Check with your librarian for more contextual, accurate information.
