Every tool starts at zero and earns points for what it does and what it costs. Here is exactly what earns them.
The short version
- We check each tool on 6 things a buyer cares about. Together they are worth 100 points.
- The final score is those points out of 10. A tool with 84 points scores 8.4.
- Everything comes from the tool's own website. We don't take payment for points.
Finding papersReading and analysing papersSystematic reviewsPricingCiting and writingAccess, teams and privacy
What earns points
1. Finding papers
20 of 100 pointsCan it find the papers you need? Search across published research, answers to a research question that cite their sources, maps of connected papers and alerts when something new comes out.
Searches a database of papersup to 3
Answers a research question from the literatureup to 2.5
Map of connected papersup to 1.5
Alerts for new papersup to 1.5
Shows if later papers support or dispute a paperup to 1.5
Each section adds up to 10, then counts for 20 of the 100.
2. Reading and analysing papers
25 of 100 pointsOnce you have the papers, can it help you understand them? Asking questions of a paper, summaries, pulling data out of many papers at once, and answers you can check against the text.
Ask questions of a paperup to 2
Pulls data from many papers into a tableup to 2
Summarises papersup to 1.5
Answers show the passage they came fromup to 1.5
Reads tables and figuresup to 1.5
Writes a literature review for youup to 1.5
Each section adds up to 10, then counts for 25 of the 100.
3. Systematic reviews
10 of 100 pointsCan it run a systematic review: screening with include and exclude decisions, AI help with screening, removing duplicates, a PRISMA diagram and risk of bias?
Screening with include and exclude decisionsup to 3
AI help with screeningup to 2
Removes duplicate referencesup to 2
PRISMA flow diagramup to 1.5
Risk of bias assessmentup to 1.5
Each section adds up to 10, then counts for 10 of the 100.
4. Pricing
20 of 100 pointsWhat the cheapest paid plan costs, at the academic rate where the vendor publishes one. A free tool earns the most points.
Tools charge in different ways, so there is one price table for each. Only the table that matches how a tool charges counts, so a fee per use or a yearly price is never compared with a monthly plan.
Monthly price, cheapest paid plan (academic rate if offered)up to 10
| Free | +10 |
| Up to $10 | +9 |
| Up to $15 | +8 |
| Up to $20 | +7 |
| Up to $30 | +5.5 |
| Up to $50 | +4 |
| Up to $80 | +2.5 |
| Over $80 | +1 |
Yearly price, sold by the year onlyup to 10
| Free | +10 |
| Up to $120 | +9 |
| Up to $180 | +8 |
| Up to $240 | +7 |
| Up to $360 | +5.5 |
| Up to $600 | +4 |
| Up to $960 | +2.5 |
| Over $960 | +1 |
Each section adds up to 10, then counts for 20 of the 100.
5. Citing and writing
15 of 100 pointsDoes it fit how you write? Your reference manager, the export formats you need, help with writing, and add-ins for your browser and word processor.
Works with Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote and othersup to 3.5
| None | 0 |
| 1 reference manager | +2 |
| 2 reference managers | +3 |
| 3 reference managers or more | +3.5 |
Export formatsup to 2.5
| None | 0 |
| 1 format | +1 |
| 2 formats | +2 |
| 3 formats or more | +2.5 |
Helps you write and adds citationsup to 1.5
Browser extensionup to 1.25
Word or Google Docs add-inup to 1.25
Each section adds up to 10, then counts for 15 of the 100.
6. Access, teams and privacy
10 of 100 pointsCan your university or library license it, can you share projects with your team, and does it keep your uploads out of its AI training?
University or library licenceup to 3
Shared projects with your teamup to 2
Works in languages other than Englishup to 1
Does not train AI on your dataup to 1
| Yes | +1 |
| Only if you opt out | +0.5 |
| No | 0 |
Each section adds up to 10, then counts for 10 of the 100.
When a tool doesn't say
If a tool's website doesn't answer a yes-or-no question, it gets half the points for that item. Not zero, because a missing answer isn't the same as a no, and not full marks, because silence shouldn't beat a vendor who answers honestly. For a number, like a price, it gets the typical value of the tools that do publish one. Every item scored this way is marked on the tool's scorecard.
If a tool leaves out more than a third of what we check, we don't show a score for it at all. A number built mostly on guesses wouldn't be fair to you or to the tool. Right now 23 of the 23 tools we checked have enough information to be scored.
A real example: Elicit
Here is how Elicit got its 7.8.
| Section | Points |
|---|
| Finding papers | 14 of 20 |
| Reading and analysing papers | 25 of 25 |
| Systematic reviews | 8.5 of 10 |
| Pricing | 14 of 20 |
| Citing and writing | 8.6 of 15 |
| Access, teams and privacy | 7.5 of 10 |
| Total | 77.6 of 100 = 7.8 out of 10 |
See every fact behind Elicit's score.
What the score doesn't tell you
We score what a tool offers and what it costs, as its own website describes it. That's not a hands-on test. The score can't tell you whether a tool is easy to use, whether its data is accurate, or whether support answers quickly. The review covers that.
See the AI Research tools ranked or read how we review tools in general.