Semantic Scholar
Free academic search engine from the Allen Institute for AI, with one-line paper summaries, citation context and a public API.
- Free plan or free tier
- Developer API
- Shows sources for its answers
About Google Scholar
Free search across scholarly articles, theses, books and court opinions, with "cited by" counts and links to full text where available.
Google Scholar is Google's free search engine for scholarly literature. It indexes journal articles, conference papers, preprints, theses, books and court opinions from publishers, university repositories and preprint servers, and shows a "cited by" link under each result so you can follow later work.
Researchers use it as a first broad search, to find a paper they half remember, and to trace citations forward from a key article. Library links can be set up so results point to full text your institution already pays for, and the profile feature lets authors keep a public list of their own work.
Coverage is wide but not curated, so results can include duplicate versions, predatory journals and items that are not peer reviewed. Check the venue before you cite, and use a subject index or a library database when your field expects a documented, repeatable search strategy.
Details
Free plan or free tier
YesShows sources for its answers
Yes
Not enough info yet on open source, works in Word or Google Docs, developer API, mobile app. Check the tool's own site.
Listing written by ResearchBest, checked 2026-11-03. Report a correction or request removal. Back to paper search and indexes.