Verify and cite research claims for research & learning
Scite is a citation intelligence platform that finds, classifies, and displays supporting and contrasting citations for scientific claims; it’s ideal for researchers, librarians, and journalists who need evidence-backed literature verification, and it offers a free tier plus paid plans for heavier users and teams.
Scite helps researchers, students, and journalists check how scientific papers are cited by automatically finding supporting, contrasting, and mentioning citations. Its core capability is “Smart Citations,” which surface the context and classification (supporting/contrasting/mentioning) of citation statements across the literature. Scite differentiates by combining machine-classified citation statements with direct quote snippets and linked sources, serving academics, publishers, and R&D teams in the research & learning category. Pricing is accessible with a functional free tier and distinct paid plans for power users and institutions.
Scite is a citation-intelligence platform founded to help users evaluate scientific claims by analyzing how research is cited across the literature. Launched in 2016 (company founded 2016), Scite positions itself between discovery tools and bibliometrics by offering contextualized citations rather than only citation counts. The platform ingests citation statements from millions of full-text articles and pairs them with machine learning classifiers to indicate whether a citation supports, contradicts, or merely mentions a claim. This core value proposition helps users move beyond “how many times” toward “how and why” a paper is cited, which is crucial for evidence evaluation in literature reviews and reproducibility checks.
Key features focus on actionable citation context. Smart Citations display the citing sentence snippet, the classification (Supporting, Contrasting, Mentioning), bibliographic metadata, and a link to the citing article so you can read the full context. The Citation Statement search lets you query for specific claims or phrases and returns exact in-text citation locations across the corpus. Scite’s reference checking and manuscript tools allow authors and editors to scan a bibliography and see which references have supporting or conflicting evidence, helping flag controversial or under-supported citations. The platform also offers browser extensions and an API for programmatic access so teams can integrate citation checks into workflows and extract batch results for dozens or hundreds of DOIs.
Pricing includes a free tier with limited monthly access and pay plans for individuals and organizations. The free account allows basic Smart Citation lookups and limited monthly search credits. Paid individual subscriptions (as of 2026) include a Professional plan priced monthly and a Research/Team plan or institutional subscriptions with higher quotas and API access; Scite also offers enterprise/custom pricing for large institutional deployments and library consortia. Paid tiers unlock bulk bibliography checks, higher query quotas, full-text citation contexts, and API keys. Exact prices and institutional licensing vary and are listed on Scite’s website and sales channels for up-to-date details.
Scite is used by researchers doing literature reviews, librarians verifying reference claims, scientific editors screening manuscripts, and journalists checking claims in reporting. For example, an Assistant Professor in immunology might use Scite to quantify and read contrasting evidence when writing a review article, while a science journalist uses it to quickly find primary sources that support or contradict an emerging health claim. Compared with traditional citation indices like Web of Science, Scite emphasizes classification of citation statements and in-text context rather than raw citation counts, making it complementary to discovery tools such as PubMed and Dimensions.
Three capabilities that set Scite apart from its nearest competitors.
Current tiers and what you get at each price point. Verified against the vendor's pricing page.
| Plan | Price | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Limited Smart Citation lookups and monthly search credits (view-only) | Casual users verifying a few papers |
| Pro | $11/month | Higher monthly searches, bibliography checks, export access | Individual researchers and graduate students |
| Team | $99/month | Shared team seats, API requests, bulk DOI/biblio checks | Research groups and small labs |
| Enterprise | Custom | Site license, full API, SSO, admin controls, high quotas | Universities, publishers, large organizations |
Copy these into Scite as-is. Each targets a different high-value workflow.
You are a Scite assistant. Role: Given a single DOI or full paper title, produce a concise citation-classification snapshot optimized for quick decisions. Constraints: use only Scite Smart Citations data; report counts for Supporting, Contrasting, and Mentioning; extract the top three representative direct-quote snippets for each classification with source metadata (authors, year, journal, DOI) and link; limit citations to the last 20 years. Output format: numbered sections “1. Supporting”, “2. Contrasting”, “3. Mentioning”; under each: numeric count, three bullets with quote + source metadata, and a one-sentence synthesis of what that distribution implies about the paper’s reliability. Example input: DOI:10.1234/abcd.
You are a Scite research assistant. Role: For a short health or policy claim, find up to five primary research articles that most strongly support or contradict the claim. Constraints: prioritize human primary studies and highest-evidence designs (RCT, cohort); prefer publications within the last ten years; include Scite classification (support/contrast/mention), one direct quote snippet per paper, and one concise sentence explaining relevance to the claim. Output format: ranked list (1–5) with fields: full citation (authors, year, journal, DOI), Scite classification, direct quote snippet, one-sentence relevance. Example claim: 'Vitamin D supplementation reduces respiratory infection incidence.'
You are a Scite compliance auditor. Role: Given a list of DOIs or references (up to 100), generate a structured audit report for a faculty review committee. Constraints: for each reference return a JSON object with fields doi, title, authors, total_citations, supporting_count, contrasting_count, mentioning_count, contested_flag (true if contrasting ≥25% of classified citations), and top_contrasting_quote with source metadata. Also produce an executive summary (exactly three bullets) listing the top five most contested references and recommended committee actions. Output format: single valid JSON object with keys 'summary' (array of 3 strings) and 'references' (array of reference objects). Example input placeholder: ["10.1111/abcd","10.2222/efgh"].
You are a Scite analysis assistant. Role: For a review manuscript, analyze a corpus (list of up to 250 DOIs or a Scite query) to quantify supporting vs contrasting evidence across 4–6 themes. Constraints: cluster citations into 4–6 themes using abstract keywords; for each theme provide: theme name, number of papers, supporting/contrasting/mentioning counts, percent supporting, and two representative quotes (one supporting, one contrasting) with source metadata. Output format: CSV table with columns Theme, Papers, Supporting, Contrasting, Mentioning, %Supporting, TopSupportingQuote (source), TopContrastingQuote (source), followed by a 5-line interpretation paragraph that notes potential biases and next steps. Example variable: keywords='insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes'.
You are Scite R&D research lead. Role: Create an annotated bibliography that prioritizes candidate papers for product development. Multi-step: 1) For each input DOI (max 12) fetch Scite Smart Citation profile; 2) Extract representative supporting and contrasting quotes; 3) Assess methodological strength and replication status; 4) Assign a confidence score (0–100), replication status (single study / replicated / contested), and recommendation: 'Adopt', 'Further validation', or 'Avoid'. Constraints: include a one-sentence rationale and a 3-point risk assessment (technical, clinical, regulatory). Output format: JSON array of entries. Few-shot example entries: {"doi":"10.x/abc","title":"...","confidence":78,"replication":"replicated","recommendation":"Further validation","rationale":"Small RCT with partial replication","risks":["tech","clinical","regulatory"]}.
You are a Scite editorial strategist and journal editor. Role: Prepare a professional rebuttal letter to authors whose manuscript misrepresents prior literature. Multi-step: 1) Identify the top five contested citations in the manuscript using Scite classifications and extract the exact contested quote from the manuscript plus the direct Smart Citation quote(s) showing the contesting evidence; 2) For each contested citation produce a one-paragraph correction listing 1–2 supporting primary sources (full citation and DOI) and a concise rebuttal sentence; 3) Draft a 450–600 word neutral, firm, evidence-focused rebuttal letter integrating these corrections and recommending specific revision actions. Output format: numbered contested items (with quotes and sources) followed by the full rebuttal letter. Tone example: neutral, firm, evidence-focused.
Choose Scite over Dimensions if you need sentence-level classified citations and quick context rather than citation counts.
Head-to-head comparisons between Scite and top alternatives: