7 Best AI Tools For Literature Review to Save You Months of Research Time

#1 — Julius AI

Available on: Web, Android, iOS (iPad and iPhone).

Pros

Cons

Julius AI stands out as my top recommendation for good reason.

It’s a comprehensive AI solution that combines the ease of use you’d expect from ChatGPT or Claude with the power of a full-fledged data analyst and research assistant.

While Julius AI excels at data tasks through its Python and R capabilities, I’ve found it surprisingly effective for literature reviews.

The secret to its versatility lies in its support for multiple leading LLMs including GPT-4 and Claude 3.5 Sonnet.

This means you can upload research papers, select your preferred LLM, and get precisely the analysis you need.

SIDENOTE: Your output quality depends heavily on how well you communicate with Julius.

What sets Julius AI apart is its brilliant interface design and the game-changing Workflows feature.

Workflows are pre-built templates designed for specific tasks, and as someone who appreciates efficiency, I find them invaluable.

The “Searching and Summarizing Academic Literature” workflow, for instance, streamlines the entire research process.

This workflow systematically searches databases and summarizes academic literature.

You start with a search prompt, optionally specifying databases, research questions, and publication dates.

After identifying relevant articles, you can upload documents and provide context.

The workflow then generates comprehensive summaries including main findings, implications, methodology, data analysis methods, and limitations, complete with APA citations.

Better yet, you can create and share custom workflows within the Julius AI platform.

Let me demonstrate its capabilities with a real example. I used Julius AI to analyze an academic paper titled “Music and the flow state.”

Here’s what it produced with just halfway of interaction:

Beyond the literature review, Julius AI shines in data analysis and visualization. For a deeper dive into its visualization capabilities, check out my article on AI tools for data visualization.

Julius AI also offers a Models Lab feature, where you can directly chat with your preferred LLMs like Claude Sonnet, Claude Haiku, or GPT-4.

For teams, Julius AI offers enhanced capabilities through Julius Teams, including:

Team pricing starts at $50/month per seat, with flexible scaling options and no minimum seat commitment.

Pricing

Julius AI offers three plans to match your needs as they grow:

Lite Plan | $20/month | For individuals starting their AI journey.

Standard Plan | $45/month | For power users who need more processing power and longer work sessions.

Team Plan | $50/month per member | For organizations that require seamless collaboration and advanced management features.

🎓 Academic Discount: Students, professors, and teachers get 50% off any plan. Simply:

1. Sign up for your preferred plan
2. Email team@julius.ai with your academic credentials
3. Get your discount applied

Exclusive discount for my readers: Use code DHRUVIR at checkout for an extra 10% off any paid plan.

Read my complete Julius AI review.

#2 — Elicit

Available on: Web.

Pros

Cons

Elicit is a specialized AI research assistant that automates the tedious parts of academic research—summarizing papers, extracting data, and synthesizing findings.

Unlike general-purpose AI tools, it’s built specifically for academic work.

Elicit’s backbone is its massive database of over 125 million research papers from Semantic Scholar, spanning every academic discipline.

You can search through this wealth of knowledge using either keywords or natural language questions.

Each paper comes with a one-sentence abstract summary, and you can easily find similar papers or extract specific details into organized tables.

This table extraction feature is particularly powerful, somewhat similar to what SciSpace offers (more on that later).

Where Elicit really shines is in synthesis—helping you combine insights from multiple papers sharing a common theme.

Accuracy is a core focus.

Elicit makes verification simple by linking directly to original sources, and they continuously improve their models through task-specific training.

SIDENOTE: Their sweet spot is empirical research, particularly in biomedicine and machine learning, where experiments and concrete results are the norm.

It’s worth noting what Elicit doesn’t do: it won’t answer questions about information that isn’t in academic papers, and it’s less effective for fact-finding queries (like “How many Teslas were sold in the US last year?”) or theoretical domains.

They’re honest about accuracy, suggesting you assume 90% accuracy and verify important information against original sources.

Privacy is built-in—any papers you upload remain strictly private to your account.

The user interface is intentionally minimal, making it easy to:

Their Notebooks feature helps organize your research systematically, letting you collect and categorize findings in one place.

For Zotero users, there’s a seamless integration that lets you import papers directly from your Zotero Collections.

While Elicit doesn’t offer the conversational AI features you’ll find in Julius AI, it excels at its core mission: helping you find and analyze relevant papers quickly.

It’s a focused tool that does a specific job extremely well.

I recommend Elicit for researchers who want a streamlined, efficient way to conduct literature reviews and synthesize findings across multiple papers.

Pricing

Elicit offers four pricing tiers:

Basic (Free) includes access to 125M+ papers, 4-paper simultaneous processing, and 10 monthly PDF uploads. Perfect for students exploring academic research.

Plus ($12/month) upgrades to 8-paper processing, 25 PDF uploads, and adds export options. Ideal for independent researchers.

Pro ($49/month) provides 100 PDF uploads, unlimited high-accuracy columns, and expanded tabular features. Built for professional researchers conducting systematic reviews.

Enterprise (Custom pricing) offers tailored solutions for research teams, with custom limits and collaboration features.

All plans include unlimited database access, with annual billing available for better value.

#3 — SciSpace

Available on: Web, browser extension.

Pros

Cons

SciSpace stands out as an all-in-one AI research tool that manages to pack diverse features into an intuitive interface.

Unlike many specialized tools, it offers a comprehensive suite of research capabilities without sacrificing ease of use.

From literature review generation to PDF chat, AI writing assistance, citation management, paraphrasing tools, and even AI detection – SciSpace serves as a complete research companion.

Let’s focus on what SciSpace does best: its Literature Review capabilities.

The process starts simply – you pose your research question.

From there, SciSpace offers three powerful filtering options:

1. Papers: Compare and analyze relevant papers matching your search criteria.
2. Topics: Extract specific topics and their sources from unstructured text.
3. My Library: Generate insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers in your personal collection.

For the highest quality results, toggle on the ‘High Quality’ option. This surfaces answers from up to 10 of the most relevant and authoritative papers related to your query.

Like Scite, SciSpace provides answers with convenient hover-based citations. But where it really shines is its dynamic table feature – the tool’s true centerpiece.

Remember my earlier comparison to Elicit?

This is where the similarity becomes clear. SciSpace’s dynamic table lets you create and customize columns based on exactly what you need to analyze. With a single click, you can view TL;DR summaries of all relevant papers, for instance.

Impressive stuff!

And while we’ve focused on literature reviews here, remember that SciSpace’s capabilities extend far beyond this.

I encourage you to explore its full range of research tools – each designed to streamline different aspects of academic work.

Pricing

SciSpace offer a limited free plan and a paid plan with a 7-day free trial.

Free Plan includes:

Premium Plan offers:

💰 Exclusive Discount: I’ve arranged special pricing for my readers:

Annual Plan: Use code DHRUVIR40 for 40% off, reducing the price to just $7.20/month (billed annually).

Monthly Plan: Use code DHRUVIR20 for 20% off, bringing the cost down to $24/month.

#4 — Semantic Scholar

Available on: Web.

Pros

Cons

Semantic Scholar stands out in the crowded field of AI research tools by excelling at a crucial task: connecting you with the most relevant papers across all scientific disciplines.

With a database spanning over 214 million papers, Semantic Scholar offers robust search capabilities including filters for journals, conferences, authors, publication types, and date ranges.

But what truly sets it apart is how it makes this vast collection of knowledge accessible and actionable.

At the heart of Semantic Scholar’s user-friendly design is the TL;DR feature.

Every paper you open comes with a concise summary that captures its essential insights, letting you quickly grasp the core concepts without diving into the full text.

The reference management system goes beyond simple citation lists.

When viewing a paper’s references, you can organize them in ways that surface the most valuable content for your research:

This intelligent organization extends to each reference – they all include their own TL;DR summaries and abstracts, creating a seamless research experience.

The Related Papers feature further expands your research horizons, suggesting relevant works you might have missed through traditional search methods.

Citation management is streamlined as well. A single click on the ‘Cite’ button lets you copy citations in BibTeX, MLA, APA, or Chicago formats.

While these four citation styles cover most needs, researchers requiring additional formats should explore the specialized AI citation generators I’ve reviewed in a separate article.

The Library feature transforms Semantic Scholar from a search tool into a complete research management system.

You can:

One of the Library’s most powerful features is AI-powered Research Feeds.

By toggling this feature on for any folder, you’ll receive tailored paper recommendations starting the next day.

PRO TIP: For optimal results, group similar papers within single folders – this helps the AI better understand your research interests and deliver more relevant suggestions.

Pricing

Semantic Scholar is free to use.

#5 — Scite

Available on: Web, browser extensions.

Pros

Cons

Scite stands out by maintaining what it claims is the world’s largest citation statement database.

Their achievement comes from continuously monitoring over 200 million scholarly sources and analyzing more than 1.2 billion citations.

At the core of their offering are Smart Citations, which provide crucial context by classifying citations as either supporting or contrasting evidence.

This feature transforms how researchers evaluate scholarly work.

Their AI research assistant particularly impressed me. You can ask questions in natural language and receive responses backed by academic references and citations.

The interaction feels seamless – you can ask follow-up questions, and with a single click, export all references in RIS, BibTeX, or CSV formats.

What I find especially valuable is the hover-based citation lookup. This intuitive feature lets you quickly verify sources without breaking your research flow.

Scite’s Search feature takes literature review to another level. Instead of just finding papers, you can search citation statements directly for specific facts and insights.

Combined with their AI assistant, this feature dramatically streamlines the literature review process.

Their Reference Check feature adds another layer of rigor to your research. Simply upload your paper (PDF, docx, or URL) to evaluate the reliability of its references.

To make their tools more accessible, Scite offers a free Chrome browser extension that reveals how research articles have been cited across the literature.

For Zotero users, Scite offers seamless integration through their plugin. It lets you instantly see how articles in your reference library are being cited – whether they’re supported, disputed, or mentioned by other publications.

Pricing

Getting offers a 7-day free trial that gives you full access to explore their features.

After the trial period, you can continue using Scite for $20 per month, or opt for annual billing at $12 per month for better value.

#6 — Scholarcy

Available on: Web, browser extensions.

Pros

Cons

Scholarcy is an AI-powered research tool that transforms how researchers handle academic papers through four core capabilities: summarizing, organizing, analyzing, and synthesizing.

What strikes me most about Scholarcy is how they’ve achieved that rare balance between power and simplicity. Their interface is remarkably minimal yet incredibly capable.

The dashboard exemplifies this elegant design:

You’re greeted with a clean layout: a focused left sidebar containing all options and a central workspace prompting you to begin your first summary. Let’s explore what it can do.

Getting your documents into Scholarcy is flexible and straightforward. You have three options:

1. Direct file upload: Supporting comprehensive formats including PDF, Word, PowerPoint, HTML, XML, LaTeX, TXT, CSV, RIS, BIB, and NBIB.
2. URL or text input.
3. Cloud integration: Seamlessly connecting with Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Zotero.

Once you’ve imported a document, Scholarcy processes it within seconds, generating a structured summary that breaks down the research into digestible components.

Key Feature: Scholarcy’s summarizer uses a consistent flashcard format, organizing content under specific headings like – Snapshot, Key Findings, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions, etc.

This structured approach brings clarity and consistency to your research workflow, though it’s worth noting that the format isn’t customizable.

While some might prefer more flexibility, I’ve found this standardization speeds up the review process.

Where Scholarcy changes gears for literature reviews is its ‘Important Points’ section. The AI intelligently surfaces crucial insights from academic papers, presenting them in an easily digestible format with convenient jump links.

Complementing this feature is an integrated notes system in the right sidebar:

Exporting your work is equally streamlined. Scholarcy supports multiple export formats including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Markdown, RIS (compatible with Zotero and EndNote), and References.

For deeper analysis, Scholarcy includes an AI-powered ‘Dig Deeper’ feature that lets you ask custom questions about your papers.

It also offers an innovative ‘Enhance’ feature for re-summarizing documents based on different reader perspectives:

While Scholarcy’s free tier limits you to 10 summaries, their paid plan delivers substantial value for serious researchers looking to streamline their literature review process.

Pricing

Scholarcy offers three pricing tiers:

Free Plan includes:

Monthly Plan ($4.99/month) provides:

Annual Plan ($45.00/year) offers:

The pricing structure makes Scholarcy one of the more affordable options in the market, especially considering its comprehensive feature set.

#7 — Paperpal

Available on: Web, MS Word add-in.

Pros

Cons

Paperpal rounds out my list as a specialized AI academic writing tool that excels at literature review creation.

While tools like Julius AI and Elicit focus on research analysis, Paperpal shines in the writing process itself.

The interface strikes a perfect balance between power and simplicity. You’ll find a Grammarly-style text editor occupying the main screen, with all features neatly organized in the right sidebar.

Paperpal serves as your AI writing companion. The main text editor is where you’ll craft your literature review, with the AI assistant ready to help refine your writing.

One feature I particularly appreciate is the “keep writing” suggestion system. When you hit that dreaded writer’s block, Paperpal steps in with contextually relevant suggestions to keep your writing flowing.

The real magic happens in the ‘Research | Cite’ feature in the right sidebar. Here, you can pose research questions and receive detailed responses complete with citations and related papers.

This combination is what makes Paperpal truly powerful.

You get an advanced writing interface that helps you write, revise, and maintain a consistent style, paired with an AI research tool that’s always just a click away.

The result?

A seamless writing experience that saves hours of work.

For researchers who want a dedicated academic writing tool, Paperpal is my top recommendation. It’s that simple.

Beyond its core writing capabilities, Paperpal offers several valuable features:

The cherry on top?

All these features are available as a Microsoft Word add-in, transforming your familiar word processor into a full-fledged AI academic assistant.

Pricing

Paperpal comes with a free plan and a paid plan (they call it Paperpal Prime).

The Free plan gives you 200 monthly language edits and 5 daily AI uses. You get basic features like unlimited citations, 7,000 words of plagiarism checking, and essential writing tools.

Prime unlocks unlimited everything.

At $25/month, you get unrestricted access to language editing, AI features, and advanced plagiarism checking (10,000 words/month). Quarterly ($55) and annual ($139) options offer better value.

💰 Exclusive Discount: Use code PAP20 for 20% off any plan.

Monthly: $25 → $20
Quarterly: $55 → $44
Annual: $139 → $111.20

SIDENOTE: Paperpal’s price may vary a bit from country to country due to different tax laws.

For serious academic writers, Prime offers the best value, especially with the annual plan plus discount.