SciSpace

SciSpace, from SciSpace. Reading hard papers and running a first-pass literature review in one place.

What it does well

• Asking a dense PDF to explain a method, equation or table in plain language
• Building a literature table with columns for method, sample and findings
• Finding related papers from a research question
• Getting unfamiliar field jargon explained in context while you read

What it does poorly

• Writing your literature review for you
• Final citation lists without checking each source
• Paywalled papers it can only see the abstract of

What makes it different

Combines paper search, a chat-with-PDF reader and a literature review table, so you can go from question to papers to notes without switching tools.

Quick start

1. Upload a paper you're struggling with and highlight a paragraph. Ask for an explanation at the level of a first-year grad student.
2. Ask a follow-up: “What would a skeptical reviewer say about this method?”
3. Run a literature review search on your research question and add columns for sample size and main finding.
4. Open the five most relevant papers and check each extracted cell against the paper.

Strengths and limits

• Strength: Explains papers in context
• Strength: Literature tables save hours of skimming
• Strength: Beginner-friendly
• Limit: Extraction errors on complex tables
• Limit: Free tier is limited
• Limit: Coverage is thinner for humanities and paywalled journals

Privacy

Fine for published papers. Don't upload unpublished manuscripts or data you don't have the right to share.

Academic integrity

Use it to read and find, not to write. Cite the papers themselves, never SciSpace's summary of them.