Top 10 Best AI Tools for Literature Review (Free + Paid)

AI tools are revolutionizing the literature review process, offering researchers a powerful alternative to manual searches. These tools can rapidly analyze vast amounts of data, identifying relevant studies and key information with precision and efficiency. 

By streamlining the research process, AI-powered literature review tools save time and reduce frustration, allowing researchers to focus on analysis and interpretation.

This article examines the top AI tools for literature review, evaluating both free and paid options. 

We'll explore how these tools can enhance your research workflow and help you conduct more comprehensive literature reviews.

So let's get started.

Best AI Tools for Literature Review at a Glance 

1. Elephas: Best for comprehensive AI-powered literature reviews and writing.

2. Research Rabbit: Best for organizing and discovering academic papers.

3. Semantic Scholar: Best for personalised, context-aware academic searches.

4. R Discovery: Best for personalized research feeds and multilingual access.

5. Mendeley: Best for reference management and collaborative research.

6. Scholarcy: Best for generating concise academic summaries.

7. Rayyan: Best for systematic literature reviews with collaboration.

8. Consensus: Best for finding evidence-based answers quickly.

9. Unpaywall: Best for accessing open-access scholarly articles.

10. Lateral: Best for organizing and analyzing research documents

Top 10 Best AI Tools for Literature Review

​1. Elephas 

​Elephas is the best AI tool for literature review, designed to revolutionize your writing and research experience. With its robust suite of features, Elephas ensures that every aspect of your writing process is covered. From its offline capabilities, which keep your data secure, to the ability to integrate multiple AI models like OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini, Elephas offers unparalleled versatility. 

The Super Brain feature takes it a step further by indexing YouTube videos and web pages, allowing you to store and access valuable research material easily. Whether you need to generate content, fix grammar, or create engaging replies, Elephas has the tools to enhance your productivity and creativity.

Key Features:

• Multiple AI Providers: Experiment with various writing styles and voices from OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, and Groq.

• Offline Functionality: Write with confidence using local LLms that ensure your data is never shared or used for external training.

• Web Search: Seamlessly search the web and incorporate relevant information into your writing.

• Super Brain: Index YouTube videos and web pages, store them for future use, and retrieve content easily for in-depth research.

• Rewrite Modes: Choose from Zinsser, Friendly, Professional, and Viral modes to tailor your writing style to any need.

• Smart Write: Generate high-quality content quickly with just a few prompts or keywords.

• Continue Writing: Overcome writer's block by letting Elephas continue your text based on the context you provide.

• Personalized Tones: Train Elephas to match your unique writing voice and style for a more personalized touch.

Elephas Pricing 

Elephas Reviews

Many users have shared how Elephas has transformed their daily workflow, making it an essential tool they can’t live without. One user mentioned that Elephas is incredibly addictive, boosting productivity by 10x and ensuring their emails always look great.​

Another long-time user praised the app for lasting through the years and highlighted the "brains" feature, which speeds up content creation, programming, and editing. 

With Elephas, users experience unmatched efficiency and quality, making it the best tool for anyone looking to enhance their productivity and content creation.

2. Research Rabbit  

Research Rabbit is a versatile AI-powered tool designed to streamline the process of finding, managing, and analyzing research papers. As one of the best AI tools for literature review, it offers a user-friendly platform for anyone to access academic publications. 

After registering, users can search for research articles by author, topic, or keyword, and organize their findings in a personalized library. This tool is dedicated to enhancing scholarly work by supporting every stage of research, from discovery to collaboration. 

Research Rabbit Key Features:

• AI-driven search engine: It has AI search engines that can find and index relevant academic papers from across the web.

• Customizable collections: It has already built in collections for organizing and managing research articles in a way that suits your specific needs and preferences.

• User-friendly interface: It is designed for seamless navigation and an intuitive research management experience.

• Broad search criteria: It includes detailed filters for author, topic, and keyword to refine your research findings.

• Free access: It has all features for free, providing a cost-effective solution for research management.

Research Rabbit Pricing 

• Free to use 

Research Rabbit 

We could not find any public reviews on the tool, so we advise users to be cautious while using the tool.

3. Semantic Scholar

Semantic Scholar is an advanced AI tool designed to enhance your literature review process by providing in-depth, context-aware search results. Ideal for researchers across various disciplines, it simplifies the search for academic papers, helping users navigate through over 200 million publications efficiently. 

By understanding the content and context of scientific articles, Semantic Scholar delivers personalized search outcomes, making it an invaluable resource for accelerating your research efforts. As one of the Best AI Tools for Literature Review, it stands out for its ability to filter and present the most relevant literature based on your specific needs.

Semantic Scholar Key Features:

• Speeds up literature searches: Delivers context-rich results that save time and streamline the research process.

• Customized search outcomes: Provides personalized results by deeply understanding the content and context of academic articles.

• Versatile academic support: Accommodates a wide range of disciplines, enhancing its utility across different research areas.

• Extensive database access: Offers a comprehensive database of over 200 million papers, ensuring broad coverage of research topics.

• Enhanced research efficiency: Utilizes advanced AI to drive personalized search capabilities, improving overall research productivity.

Semantic Scholar Pricing 

• Free to use 

Semantic Scholar Reviews 

We could not find any public reviews on the tool, so we advise users to be cautious while using the tool.

4. R Discovery 

R Discovery is a powerful tool designed to enhance the research discovery process for students and researchers. With access to over 250 million research papers, it provides personalized reading feeds customized to your specific interests, ensuring you stay updated with the latest research in your field. 

The platform allows you to create and manage multiple reading lists, offers multilingual and full-text audio features for enhanced accessibility, and sends smart research alerts to keep your research organized. 

R Discovery Key Features 

• Personalized Research Feeds: R Discovery curates a customized reading list based on your interests, ensuring you stay up-to-date with the latest research.

• Multiple Reading Lists: Organize your research with separate reading lists for different projects.

• Multilingual & Full-Text Audio: Access research in over 30 languages, including audio versions for enhanced comprehension.

• Smart Research Alerts: Receive targeted notifications about relevant research without being overwhelmed.

• Integration with Reference Managers: Seamlessly sync your library with tools other research tools. 

R Discovery Pricing 

• Paid Plan stats from 2.29$/month 

R Discovery Reviews 

We could not find any public reviews on the tool, so we advise users to be cautious while using the tool.

5. Mendeley

Mendeley is a versatile reference management software, ideal for researchers, academics, and students involved in literature reviews. As one of the best AI tools for literature review, it helps users organize and manage their references efficiently, making research more streamlined. Mendeley also enables users to annotate PDFs, collaborate with others, and discover relevant literature, ensuring a comprehensive research experience.

Mendeley Key Features:

• Reference Management: Easily organize, store, and search through all your references from a single, centralized library, simplifying literature management.

• PDF Viewing and Annotation: Open PDFs directly within Mendeley’s viewer, where you can add highlights and detailed notes, all stored for easy access.

• Collaboration: Share references and annotated documents with research teams by creating private groups, enhancing collaboration and teamwork.

• Literature Discovery: Import references from external sources and use Mendeley’s network to find and share key research papers with ease.

• Citation Generation: Effortlessly generate accurate citations and bibliographies in multiple styles using the Mendeley Cite add-in for Microsoft Word.

Mendeley Pricing 

• Paid Plan starts from $4.99/month

Mendeley Reviews 

Several users have expressed disappointment with Mendeley, noting that it has become increasingly frustrating to use. One user mentioned that the tool has too many flaws, requiring constant log-ins and failing to save passwords, making it unbearable. 

Another user shared that Mendeley is now a pain to use, with issues like the Word plug-in needing constant reinstallation, corrupted passwords, and disappearing or duplicated references.

6. Scholarcy

Scholarcy is a powerful AI-driven tool that simplifies the literature review process by generating concise summaries from academic papers. Designed to assist researchers, students, and academics, it quickly extracts key information, making it easier to evaluate and understand complex research. Scholarcy stands out as one of the Best AI Tools for Literature Review, ensuring efficient management of vast academic content.

Scholarcy Key Features:

• Flashcard Summaries: Quickly grasp the main points of research papers with interactive flashcards that provide a concise, easy-to-read overview of the content.

• Smart Highlighting: Easily identify factual statements and research findings with color-coded highlights that guide you to the most critical sections of the text.

• Full-Text Access: Directly access full-text articles and cited papers through convenient links, streamlining your literature review process.

• Literature Discovery: Efficiently discover and screen relevant literature with detailed synopses and highlights, helping you absorb key points in minutes.

• Reference Management Integration: Seamlessly export flashcard summaries and key highlights to reference management tools like Zotero for organized and efficient citation management.

Scholarcy Pricing 

• Paid Plan starts from $4.99/month

Scholarcy Reviews 

A user expressed dissatisfaction with Scholarcy, describing it as offering "no value added." The review highlighted concerns that Scholarcy essentially copies and pastes sections of articles or chapters and misleadingly labels it as "AI summarizing." 

The user also noted that the quality of the service dropped significantly after their free subscription expired, and they experienced issues with the interface being glitchy. The review strongly advises against paying for this service.

7. Rayyan

Rayyan is a powerful AI-driven app designed to streamline the systematic literature review process. It helps researchers quickly sift through vast amounts of research by enabling efficient reference management, de-duplication, screening, and organization. 

With Rayyan, users can import references from diverse sources, apply inclusion and exclusion criteria, assign labels, and export data for detailed analysis. The tool also supports collaboration among remote teams, making it an excellent choice for students, librarians, and researchers globally.

Rayyan Key Features:

• Collaborative Reviews: Seamlessly collaborate with distributed teams from anywhere using Rayyan’s intuitive mobile app.

• Efficient Reference Management: Quickly import, de-duplicate, and organize your research references to save time and reduce errors.

• Customizable Criteria: Easily apply and adjust inclusion and exclusion criteria to fit your specific review needs.

• Advanced Analytics: Export your data for in-depth analysis and generate comprehensive reports to support your findings.

• Priority Support: Benefit from dedicated training and VIP support to enhance your productivity and overcome challenges efficiently.

Rayaan Pricing 

• Paid Plan starts from $8.33/month

Rayaan Reviews 

We could not find any public reviews on the tool, so we advise users to be cautious while using the tool.

8. Consensus 

Consensus AI is a cutting-edge search engine designed to help you quickly find evidence-based answers from scientific research. It uses artificial intelligence to extract and summarize findings from peer-reviewed studies, providing a fast and efficient way to access reliable information. 

Consensus allows users to refine their searches, explore various research topics, and save time by delivering concise answers and full-text access to relevant papers. For academic research, Consensus AI is among the Best AI Tools for Literature Review due to its ability to synthesize and present information clearly and accurately.

Consensus Key Features:

• AI-Powered Insights: Extracts and synthesizes findings from over 200 million scholarly documents.

• Advanced Search Capabilities: Answers direct questions and explores relationships between concepts.

• Consensus Meter: Provides a summary of agreement levels among multiple studies.

• ChatGPT Integration: Access scientific research directly within the ChatGPT interface.​

• Customizable Searches: Offers tools to refine searches and explore more options based on research needs.

Consensus Pricing 

• Paid Plan starts from $8.99/month

Consensus Reviews 

We couldn’t find any trustworthy reviews available on the internet for the Consensus. We advise users to use the tool with caution.

9. Unpaywall

Unpaywall is a free tool that aims to make scholarly research more accessible by providing open access to a vast collection of academic articles. It is integrated with major databases like Scopus and Web of Science, searching over 50,000 publishers and repositories globally. 

Users can find free, full-text versions of articles using Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), making Unpaywall a vital resource for researchers seeking literature without barriers. This makes it one of the Best AI Tools for Literature Review.

Unpaywall Key Features:

• Simple Query Tool: Allows users to quickly determine if an open access version of a specific list of articles, identified by DOIs, is available in the Unpaywall database.

• Browser Extension: Automatically searches for and highlights legally available, free versions of scholarly articles as you browse, providing instant access to full texts.

• Extensive Database: Offers access to a comprehensive index of over 20 million free, legal full-text PDFs, ensuring that users can find a wide range of open access literature.

• Global Integration: Seamlessly integrates with major academic databases like Dimensions, Scopus, and Web of Science, enhancing the reach and effectiveness of your literature search.

• API Access: Provides flexible data retrieval options, including REST API, R API Wrapper, or full dataset download, catering to various research and data management needs.

Unpaywall Pricing 

• Free to use 

Unpaywall Reviews 

We could not find any public reviews on the tool, so we advise users to be cautious while using the tool.

10. Lateral

Lateral is one of the Best AI Tools for Literature Review, designed to enhance your academic research process. This AI-powered app helps streamline your workflow by organizing, searching, and saving information from various research papers. 

With Lateral, you can efficiently analyze key concepts, relationships, and trends across your documents. The tool supports literature reviews by enabling you to manage sources and citations effortlessly, making research and paper writing much faster and easier.

Lateral Key Features:

• Auto-Generated Table: Keeps an organized overview of all your research findings and references.

• AI-Powered Concepts: Suggests relevant text across all your papers based on named concepts.

• Super Search: Allows searching across all papers at once with highlighted similar results.

• Smart PDF Reader: Facilitates reading and highlighting directly in the browser for better connection discovery.

• Powerful OCR: Converts text from scanned PDFs into searchable and highlightable formats.

Lateral Pricing 

• Paid Plans starts at $11.02/month

Lateral Reviews

We could not find any public reviews on the tool, so we advise users to be cautious while using the tool.

What is a Literature AI Tool? 

Literature AI tools are designed to significantly speed up the process of conducting literature research, helping researchers, students, and professionals save valuable time. These tools use advanced algorithms to automate various tasks, making literature research more efficient. Here’s an overview of the different types of literature AI tools available:

• Literature Summary Tools: Quickly condense lengthy texts into concise summaries, making it easier to grasp key points.

• Literature Research Tools: Assist in finding and organizing relevant research papers and articles.

• Literature Review Tools: Provide detailed analyses and critiques of existing literature to support comprehensive reviews.

• Writing Assistance Tools: Aid in drafting and editing texts, improving writing quality and coherence.

However, there are some tools such as Elephas which have all the features combined and it is perfect for researchers. It can summarize, review, write, assist, and many.​

Benefits of Using AI Tools for Literature Review 

Using AI tools for literature review brings significant advantages, making the entire process smoother and more effective. These tools are particularly valuable for researchers, students, and anyone engaged in extensive literature work.

Here are some key benefits of these tools:

• Time Efficiency: AI tools cut down the time needed to gather and summarize information. This can make research tasks much faster, almost halving the time you spend on literature review.

• Accuracy: With AI handling data analysis, you can trust that the summaries and insights are precise, reducing the likelihood of mistakes.

• Better Organization: AI tools help keep research materials neatly organized. This makes it easier to track and retrieve relevant information when needed.

• Deep Insights: These tools dive deep into texts, offering detailed analysis and extracting essential points that might be missed otherwise.

• Boosted Productivity: By automating repetitive tasks, AI tools let you focus on more critical parts of your work, increasing overall productivity.

How Did We Pick the Best AI Tools for Literature Review

To select the best AI tools for literature review, we carefully evaluated several key factors to ensure that each tool provides significant value to researchers, students, and academics. Here’s how we picked the top tools:

• Functionality: We looked at the core features each tool offers, such as summarization, reference management, and advanced search capabilities. Tools that provide comprehensive and unique features stood out.

• User Experience: The ease of use and intuitive interface were essential. We favored tools that are user-friendly and require minimal training, making them accessible for everyone.

• Pricing: We assessed the cost-effectiveness of each tool, considering both free and paid options. Tools that offer a good balance between features and affordability were given priority.

• Performance and Accuracy: We tested how well each tool performs its tasks, such as summarizing research papers or managing references. Tools that deliver accurate and reliable results were preferred.

• Customer Reviews: User feedback and reviews helped us gauge the real-world effectiveness of each tool. We considered both positive and critical reviews to ensure a well-rounded selection.

By focusing on these criteria, we identified the best AI tools for literature review that provide robust features, ease of use, and excellent value, making them ideal choices for anyone involved in academic research. 

Conclusion 

To wrap things up, the right AI tool can make a huge difference in your literature review process, turning hours of work into a streamlined, efficient task. Each tool on the list has its strengths—like Research Rabbit’s intuitive organization or Semantic Scholar’s smart search options. However, Elephas really shines when it comes to an all-in-one solution.

With its blend of multiple AI models, offline support, and features like Super Brain indexing, Elephas isn't just another tool—it's a game-changer for anyone serious about research. 

It simplifies complex tasks and adapts to your workflow, making it an indispensable part of your toolkit. If you want to elevate your literature review experience and work smarter, Elephas is the choice to make.

However, test out each tool according to your requirements and choose the one that fits best to your needs. All the best AI tools for literature are the best; you need to choose the one that can exactly fit your research requirements.

FAQs

1. What is the best AI tool for literature review?

Elephas is the best AI tool for literature review, offering a comprehensive suite of features including offline capabilities, multiple AI models, and advanced indexing options like Super Brain for YouTube and web pages.

2. Are AI tools for literature review suitable for all types of research? 

AI tools for literature review are versatile and can be adapted to various research fields. However, their effectiveness may vary depending on the complexity of the research topic and the specific needs of the researcher. Research and choose the tool that aligns with your research objectives. 

3. Are there any limitations to using AI tools for literature review?

Some limitations of AI tools for literature review include potential biases in AI algorithms, the need for human oversight to ensure accuracy, and the possibility of missing nuanced information that requires expert interpretation. It’s important to use AI tools as a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, thorough research