AI tools may generate incorrect information, make up facts (“hallucinate”), and present biased or one-sided perspectives. Even when using specialized AI research tools, be aware of these risks and critically evaluate the results.

Like traditional literature search engines, databases, and catalogs, AI research tools generally do not provide comprehensive lists of literature. Therefore, use a variety of search strategies and databases/search engines to ensure a thorough overview of the entire literature on a given topic.

How input data is used is often not transparent at a glance and should be critically assessed from a data protection perspective. Therefore, as a general rule, do not enter any personal, sensitive, or otherwise confidential data.

When entering texts or uploading materials into AI-supported research tools, always comply with the copyright and licensing requirements of the sources and content used. Furthermore, the purely machine-generated nature of the results typically precludes the AI tool from being recognized as a creator or from assuming an author role.

As the author of your academic work, you are responsible for avoiding plagiarism and complying with the principles of good scientific practice. Please note that AI-generated content may also contain plagiarism. For this reason, never use such results without careful review, and, when using AI-supported tools, follow the guidelines and requirements that often apply from teaching staff, publishers, funding organizations, or institutions.

Consensus is an AI-powered research tool that allows users to enter search queries in natural language. Filtering options help refine the results. The tool generates a summarized answer based on the results, provides a list of sources in table format, and includes a “Consensus Meter” for answering yes/no questions. Results can be exported to a reference management tool.

The “Deep Search” feature generates literature overviews in the form of a comprehensive report.

Creation of Knowledge Maps, which use AI to identify relevant terms for the searched topic and link the discovered publications to these terms. Each Knowledge Map can include up to 100 publications.

The Knowledge Map is generated based on entered search terms and optional filters. Concepts are represented as bubbles, where the proximity of the bubbles indicates the conceptual closeness of the terms. The size of each bubble is determined either by the number of included documents (when using BASE) or by the total citations received by the included documents (when using PubMed).

Open Knowledge Maps is provided by a non-profit organization.

ORKG Ask is a research tool for scholarly literature developed as part of the Open Research Knowledge Graph (ORKG) project by the TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology. It processes queries in natural language and is open source as well as privacy-friendly. The tool offers various filtering options and allows users to export results. Search results are presented in tabular form and include information on how individual papers answer the research question, along with summaries and applied methods.

Research Rabbit is an AI-powered research tool that helps users find relevant literature on a given topic. Research Rabbit visually displays connections between papers on a map and uses initial search results to discover additional relevant literature. Results can be saved in collections and exported to a reference management tool.

SciSpace is an AI-powered research tool that processes queries in natural language. Based on the search results, it generates both a summarized answer and a tabular list of sources. It offers various filtering options and allows results to be exported. In addition, SciSpace provides features for article analysis, AI and plagiarism detection, as well as the creation of comprehensive literature overviews in the form of reports. This makes it not only a research tool, but also an analysis and writing tool.

Scopus AI is an AI-powered search and analysis tool integrated into the Scopus database. In Scopus AI, users can search in natural language—for example, by entering a research question. The tool provides an AI-generated summarized answer to the query (optionally as an extended summary), along with a list of the literature used, key sources in field, and related results. Additional features include: Creation of a Concept Map showing relevant concepts and connections between subtopics; Generation of a list of experts on the searched topic; Identification of emerging and important topics.

When the optional “Deep Research” mode is activated, Scopus AI generates detailed literature reports based on the entered research question.

An AI-powered literature search engine that allows users to search with keywords. Results can be further refined using filters. The platform provides detailed citation information and recommends additional relevant papers.

Not all, but selected results offer the following AI features:

> AI-generated short summaries (TLDR)
> “Ask This Paper”: Ask questions about the text
> Semantic Reader with Skimming Assist for quick browsing, and Citation Cards that highlight connections (citations) with saved results

The Research AI tool is integrated into the Statista database, which provides statistical data, charts, and reports. In Statista Research AI, queries can be formulated in natural language. The tool then searches the available Statista content and generates an AI-based response, including a short summary, source references, and suggestions for further research.