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scite

by Scite LLC (Research Solutions) · Platform · also known as scite.ai, Scite Smart Citations

Citation-analysis platform whose Smart Citations show whether later papers support, contrast or merely mention a claim, with an AI assistant and reference checking

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Link verified Nov 2, 2026

Overview

scite is a subscription research platform, now part of Research Solutions, built around "Smart Citations": for each citing sentence it classifies whether the citation supports, contrasts or simply mentions the cited work, and it aggregates those signals for papers, authors, journals, institutions and funders. On top of that index it offers a search interface, an AI Assistant that answers questions with claims linked back to the exact sentence in the source paper, collections, citation alerts, and a Reference Check tool for manuscripts.

Integrations include a browser extension that displays citation badges on publisher pages and Google Scholar, a Zotero plugin that pulls citation data into a library, an API on higher tiers and MCP connectivity for AI agents. Plans are sold to individuals on monthly or yearly billing after a short free trial, with enterprise and university licences that bundle SSO and pooled usage.

The classifications are produced by a machine-learning model and should be treated as a triage aid rather than a verdict; coverage depends on full-text agreements with publishers, so some fields are indexed more completely than others.

Editorial note on uncertainty. The help centre (help.scite.ai) did not respond during checks, so feature details rely on the marketing and pricing pages.

Capabilities

  • Smart Citations classifying citing statements as supporting, contrasting or mentioning
  • AI Assistant with sentence-level provenance
  • Browser extension showing citation badges
  • Zotero plugin
  • Reference Check for manuscripts
  • API and MCP access on higher tiers

Typical workflows

  1. Checking whether a key finding has been contradicted before citing it
  2. Auditing a manuscript's reference list for retracted or contested sources

Strengths

  • Citation context rather than raw counts
  • Claims link to the exact source sentence

Limitations

  • Paid subscription after a short trial
  • Classification is model-based and can mislabel
  • Full-text coverage depends on publisher agreements

Prerequisites

  • Account; subscription for sustained use

Who it is for

  • Researchers evaluating evidence
  • Journal editors and reviewers
  • Research-integrity teams

Alternatives & comparison

Semantic Scholar also extracts citation intent but is free and API-first; Consensus and Elicit answer questions from the literature without scite's per-citation support/contrast classification.

  • Connected Papers

    Visual literature-exploration tool that builds a similarity graph of papers around a seed paper, with prior and derivative works lists

    ProprietaryFreemium
  • Consensus

    AI search engine over peer-reviewed literature that synthesizes answers, shows a Consensus Meter for yes/no questions and summarizes studies

    ProprietaryFreemium
  • Elicit

    AI research assistant that finds papers, extracts structured data from them into tables and runs systematic-review style workflows and reports

    ProprietaryFreemium
  • Google Scholar

    Free scholarly search engine from Google that indexes articles, theses, books and court opinions with citation counts and author profiles

    ProprietaryFree
  • Semantic Scholar

    Free AI-assisted literature search from Ai2 with an Academic Graph API, recommendations and downloadable datasets of papers, authors and citations

    ProprietaryFree
Compare scite with its alternatives →

Sources & verification

Primary sources consulted for this record. Claims are tied to the fields each source supports; the automated link checker re-verifies every URL on a schedule.

  • Official site
    AI for Research | Scite

    https://scite.ai/

    Supports: name, summary, capabilities, vendor

    checked Nov 1, 2026
  • Pricing page
    Scite Pricing

    https://scite.ai/pricing

    Supports: pricing_model, capabilities

    checked Nov 1, 2026
Confidence
Medium
Reviewed
Nov 1, 2026
Links
Verified · Nov 2, 2026

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