How to Search for Sources and Manage Them

Université de Genève, CC BY-NC-SA

Cautious: AI tools "hallucinate" (give  false answers that seem credible, especially if you are unfamiliar with the subject) and even make up bibliographic references. They can also be "infected" to spread false narratives.

Here is a selection of tools designed specifically for an academic use.

	Freemium Enter a search question Generates a synthesis from the papers, and also provides a "consensus-meter" (proportion of papers answering yes or no to the search question). Uses the Semantic Scholar database Zotero integration
	Freemium; account creation required Enter a search question Gives a one-sentence abstract summaries, extracts details from papers into an organised table Allows to follow "citation trails", like the literature mapping tools Users can upload their own PDFs and ask questions about the content Uses the Semantic Scholar database Zotero integration
	Freemium; based in a European country (Norway) Starts with a PDF file; Keenious analyses it to find relevant papers Integrated with Google docs and Microsoft Word; you can use your own drafts to search for new papers Uses the OpenAlex database
	Open source and free; based in a European Union country (Germany) You do not need to create an account Attaches importance to data protection Enter a search question Generates a synthesis from the top 5 papers Uses the CORE database; retrieves only open access articles.
	Free and AI-powered Looks like Google Scholar, gives normally less but more relevant results Explores the citation graph both ways (citing and cited papers), whereas Google Scholar goes only one way (citing papers). Distinguishes between "highly influential citations" and "background citations" A project at the Allen Institute for AI, a non-profit research institute created by Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder
	Freemium, you need to create an account Enter a search question with keywords Helps readers to understand articles more easily; provides a synthesis of top 5 articles You can ask follow-up questions to the "copilot", and even ask it to explain tables or figures You can also upload a PDF and ask Scispace to explain the content of the text Uses OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, Google Scholar and "other trusted repositories" There is a Chrome add-on

Deep research tools promise better, more comprehensive reports and literature reviews, but they "think" slower, taking minutes rather than seconds to answer. They usually ask you a few questions to better define the purpose of your research. It is an iterative process, they run multiple searches and refine the search by taking into account the results of previous searches. Users can see the different steps of their report generation, and intervene if necessary. Be careful! They can also hallucinate and often go off topic. The sources used are not always academic, and usually limited to open-access articles.
Deep research can be very expensive. Here are some affordable options (and two less affordable) to try. Cross-checking required!

	Open source, a project of the Allen Institute for AI and Semantic Scholar Searches for academic sources in Semantic Scholar An agentic research assistant Finds papers on a specific topic Or generates a report on a scientific question
	Basic search accessible without account, account required for enhanced research. 3 free enhanced queries each day. Seems to use only a minority of the sources in the report and often goes off topic.
	You need a 50$ pro month subscription (in August 2025) to access this service Uses academic sources Asks you follow-up questions to improve your query Iterative process with refinement of the queries Provides follow-up questions that help continue the research process
	Open source, research prototype Writes a "Wikipedia-like report" or a roundtable conversation on your search topic English only Uses a non-academic search engine (Bing)
	Freemium (5 searches per-month with the free plan) Uses Semantic Scholar, usually title and abstract only Invites you to have a conversation with it, as you would do with a colleague asks you a few questions to clarify your search Uses the Semantic Scholar database