Key Features
Smart Citations
Shows whether citing papers support, contradict or simply mention a paper โ goes beyond just citation counts.
Research Search
Search 1.2B+ citation statements โ find papers that directly address your research question.
Citation Dashboard
See the full citation profile of any paper โ how many support vs contradict its findings.
Assistant
AI research assistant that answers questions with cited academic sources โ similar to Perplexity but academic-focused.
Reference Check
Paste a reference list and Scite checks how well-supported each paper is โ flags contradicted or retracted work.
Alerts
Get notified when new papers cite, support or contradict your saved papers โ stay current in your field.
Pros & Cons
What we like
Smart citations is a unique and genuinely useful feature
Identifies contradicted research โ critical for evidence-based work
1.2B+ citation statements is comprehensive
Reference check catches problematic citations before publication
Citation alerts keep researchers current
Watch out for
Premium required for full access
Less intuitive than Elicit for literature discovery
Smaller paper database than Elicit's 200M papers
Best Alternatives
Elicit AI
Better for literature search and data extraction โ broader paper discovery
Consensus
Better for yes/no research questions with consensus scoring
Perplexity AI
Better for general research beyond academic papers
PaperGuide
Better for reading and annotating individual papers
Frequently Asked Questions
Scite has a limited free plan that includes basic citation searching and smart citation previews. Premium at $20/month unlocks unlimited searches, the full Assistant feature and reference checks.
Google Scholar shows how many times a paper has been cited but not whether citations support or contradict it. Scite's smart citations classify each citation as supporting, contradicting or mentioning โ letting researchers quickly assess how well a paper's findings hold up across subsequent research.