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Generative AI Tools for Literature Reviews

Comparison of AI Tools for Literature Reviews

There are a growing number of AI tools available to support different parts of the literature review process, including generating new keyword ideas, providing context for citations, summarizing sources, and creating visualizations of the connections between sources. We chose to review tools that fit the following criteria:

  • free/freemium tools that are available to everyone in the OSU community,
  • have a clear connection to the literature review research process

Our rating of these tools included considerations of their usefulness and transparency. 

As the AI tools landscape is fast-changing, we will work to keep this table up-to-date, but feel free to contact us with corrections or to ask more questions.

Table last edited on September 20, 2024

  Scite Browser Extension Badge Elicit Semantic Scholar Lateral Research Rabbit
Access & Fees

The extension is free, but the fully featured version of Scite is $20/month.

Free version allows for unlimited search of 4 papers at once.

Paid version is $12/month for the Plus plan; $49/month for the Pro plan.

 Free

500 page uploads free

~$8.80/month, 21600 page uploads and 2160 OCR credits per year

 Free
Role in literature review Understand citations in context Generates a matrix based on literature characteristics Generates article summaries; suggests related articles based on textual analysis Lateral searching of uploaded journal articles by concept Citation-based literature mapping for article discovery
Features

Provides context to citations - indicates whether citations are used to support, contrast, or mention the original work.

View citation context for individual articles or in a list of search results in Google Scholar or PubMed.

Summarizes papers

Creates a research matrix with customizable columns to compare content (e.g., sample size, methods)

Summarizes papers

Recommends papers based on relevance

Sends related alerts alerts and suggests related articles based on citations or related topics

 

Search across all uploaded papers simultaneously

Creates a matrix of collected passages from uploaded papers along with your notes

Searches for relevant concepts across papers

Recommendations based on collections of papers or individuals

Visualizes connections between papers and generates exportable bibliographies

Custom email alerts for collected papers
Drawbacks The extension version doesn't provide summaries; only citing publications and references with DOIs are included in their review; links to contextual snapshots of the original source citation within the document are only included in the paid version.

Most effective for researchers in fields using empirical research, as the matrix generated draws on data and questions commonly generated in these types of sources. 

Sources generated for concept searches are not linked in the free version, making it difficult to track where in those sources the information is coming from.

 Potential text hallucinations: may include "serious factual errors"; full-text options are limited; basic search

Upload page counts could be limiting

Have to provide the papers yourself

Paper access still dependent on institutional accounts
Privacy Tracks your data across websites visited. Collects personal information you disclose upon registering, anonymized device and usage information, uses cookies Collects personal information and browsing information, uses cookies Collects personal information upon registering, as well as tool usage information; data you upload for usage by the tool remains private Collects personal information you provide
Data sources CrossRef, full-text of articles referenced through publisher agreements.

Abstracts from Semantic Scholar (200M+ papers)

Full-text from OA articles

 200M+ abstracts and OA material from 50+ publishers Proprietary Originally based on Microsoft Academic Graph, current data sources include Semantic Scholar and PubMed
Number of references included in summary NA 4 with the free version NA NA NA

Reference management and integration

 a Zotero plugin is also available Can import sources from Zotero Exports to reference managers; no direct integration Exports to reference managers; no direct integration Zotero integration
Save search/research progress NA Chat history auto saves, you can also create a research notebook Yes Yes Yes
Share with others NA Exporting is only available to Plus users Yes Yes Yes
Allows prompt searching No Yes Ask This Paper feature generates text about paper contents No No
OSU Librarians' Rating (based on a 5-star system)

3 stars out of 5

limited functionality for the extension, but it has a clear scope 

4 stars out of 5

comparison table is a helpful addition to the lit review process; summaries lack nuance and focus on findings

2 stars out of 5

The focus on abstracts and OA articles limits the tool's most potentially transformative features. Compare searches to Google Scholar. However, the related articles may be worth a look.

4 stars out of 5

If the user has already found the literature they want to review, this tool offers significant time savings in understanding and placing specific papers within the greater body of work they're investigating

3.5 stars out of 5

Ease of use in mapping out and discovering connections between papers makes this tool a worthwhile addition; does sometimes make spurious connections

This table was inspired by Aster Zhao's Comparison of GenAI Tools LibGuide from The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology CC-BY 4.0.

For information and a comparison of more generative AI tools, visit the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology Library's comprehensive table of tools.