Scite
Research intelligence platform that classifies 1.2B+ citation statements as supporting, contrasting, or mentioning - showing whether papers actually back each other up.
Scite is a Brooklyn-based research intelligence platform founded in 2018 that classifies how academic papers cite one another, distinguishing between supporting citations, contrasting citations, and mere mentions. This classification, built from 1.2 billion citation statements across 160 million papers, lets researchers quickly assess whether a paper's claims have been supported or challenged by subsequent work - a critical signal missing from standard citation counts. Scite Assistant, the AI chat layer, allows researchers to ask scientific questions and receive answers with cited evidence from the academic literature. Scite Dashboard lets research teams track citation sentiment for their own publications or competitors over time. Scite raised $29 million in Series A funding in 2023. A free plan provides limited monthly searches; the Researcher plan at $20/month unlocks unlimited access.
Key Features
- Citation classification - distinguishes supporting, contrasting, and mentioning citations for 160M+ papers
- Scite Assistant - AI chat for scientific questions with answers grounded in academic citations
- Citation Dashboard - monitor citation sentiment trends for specific papers over time
- Smart Citations browser extension - overlays citation classification on Google Scholar and PubMed
- Retraction and erratum tracking - flags papers that have been retracted or corrected
- Reference check - validate a manuscript's references before submission to detect weak citations
- Custom feeds for tracking new papers that cite specific studies or topics of interest
Use Cases
- Scientists evaluating whether a highly-cited paper has been supported or challenged by subsequent research
- Peer reviewers quickly assessing the quality and consensus around references in a submitted manuscript
- Grant writers building a strong evidence base by identifying the most robustly supported claims in a field
- Research teams monitoring how their published work is being cited and whether claims are being replicated
Pros
- Citation classification is unique - no other tool distinguishes supporting from contrasting citations at this scale
- Smart Citations browser extension works directly on Google Scholar and PubMed without leaving the page
- Retraction tracking prevents building arguments on invalidated research without manual checking
Cons
- Pricing at $20/month is steep for individual academic users, especially students without institutional access
- Coverage strongest for biomedical and natural sciences - social sciences and humanities have lighter classification
- AI assistant (Scite Assistant) is less capable than general-purpose tools for synthesis across many papers
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