Overview
Semantic Scholar is a free AI-powered academic search engine from the Allen Institute for AI. With over 200 million papers indexed, it uses AI to understand paper content, identify key citations, and surface relevant research.
The TLDR feature provides AI-generated one-sentence summaries of papers, helping researchers quickly assess relevance. Citation context shows how papers are cited, while research feeds surface new relevant papers automatically.
Semantic Scholar API is widely used in academic tools and research applications. The commitment to remaining free and open makes it a foundational resource for the research community.
Best For
Free academic paper search and discovery
Key Features
- 200M+ papers indexed
- TLDR summaries
- Citation context
- Research feeds
- Author profiles
- Paper recommendations
- Free API
- Influential citations
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Completely free
- Massive database
- Good AI features
- Open API
- Nonprofit mission
Cons
- Less synthesis than Elicit
- Interface basic
- Full text not always available
- Some fields less covered
- No document analysis
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Full access, free forever |
