17 Best Academic Research Tools For All Your Needs

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Are you struggling to explore the complexities of academic research tools, hoping to enhance your writing and write efficient papers, summaries, and articles with AI? Dive into this guide to uncover valuable insights to help you achieve your objectives smoothly.

Looking for a valuable tool to enhance your writing and efficiently craft papers, summaries, and articles with AI? Unriddle's AI Research Assistant solution could be just what you need.

What Is Academic Research?

Academic research is the cornerstone of higher education, driving the creation and enhancement of knowledge within universities and facilitating student learning. Through a rigorous and systematic process of studying various research problems or situations, researchers aim to identify facts that can help solve these problems or address the conditions at hand. This process ultimately contributes to developing new knowledge to improve social development, a critical responsibility for faculty members working within educational institutions.

The Academic Research Process: A Methodical Approach to Problem Solving

Academic research is a valuable tool for universities to create or enhance knowledge and support learning. By investigating various research problems or situations, researchers aim to generate new knowledge that can help address these issues. Academic research is a critical resource for universities to solve different social and economic challenges within their communities.

Academic research is a systematic process of studying a research problem or situation. The intention is to identify facts that help solve the problem or deal with the situation. Through this methodical approach, researchers uncover valuable insights that can lead to significant advancements in knowledge and learning.

Academic research aims to generate new knowledge that improves social development. This research is one of the essential responsibilities of a faculty member working at an educational institution. Universities rely on academic research to tackle important social and economic issues within their surrounding communities, making it a vital tool for driving positive change.

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What Is An Academic Research Tool?

An academic research tool is a software or platform that assists researchers in organizing, analyzing, and managing the various components of their research projects. Reference management software, like Mendeley or Endnote, allows researchers to organize and manage their bibliographic references and citations. Data visualization software like Tableau or R facilitates exploring and understanding data through interactive visualizations like charts and graphs. Data collection software, like QuestionPro, helps design and administer surveys, manage participant information, and ensure data quality.

How can Unriddle help Researchers?

Unriddle.AI is an innovative tool that enables researchers to read faster and write better. It simplifies complex topics, helps find information in documents quickly, and generates an AI assistant to assist in summarizing and understanding information. Unriddle allows users to link to relevant previous writings, prevent citation loss, and improve writing with autocomplete suggestions. Additionally, users can engage in real-time collaboration with a shared document workspace, among other features.

Read faster and write better—try Unriddle for free today.

17 Best Academic Research Tools For All Your Needs

1. Unriddle AI

Unriddle.AI is a powerful tool designed to make the research process more efficient. It allows users to read faster and write better by simplifying complex topics, summarizing information, generating text with AI autocomplete, and providing a collaborative workspace.

Pros

Helps users read faster and write better

Simplifies complex topics

Generates text with AI autocomplete

Provides a collaborative workspace for real-time interaction

Cons

May not cover all issues or questions of interest

May not provide enough details for complex or controversial topics

May not reflect the most updated research

May not account for the quality of individual papers

Pricing

Free to try, with premium plans starting at $8.99 per month.

2. Consensus

Consensus is an AI-powered search engine that delivers evidencebased answers by synthesizing academic community consensus on various topics. Users can ask yes/no questions and receive responses backed by academic papers.

Pros

Provides evidencebased answers quickly

Only searches through peer-reviewed, published sources

Uses natural language processing to extract key findings

100% ad-free, ensuring unbiased information

Cons

May not cover all topics of interest

May not provide detailed context for all topics

Not always reflective of the latest research

Does not assess the quality of individual papers

Pricing

There is a free plan, a premium plan at $8.99 per month, and a team plan at $9.99 per month.

3. Jasper

Jasper is an AI assistant that helps users write tasks by identifying core arguments, providing outlines, and supporting tasks like creating titles and writing introductions and conclusions.

Pros

Offers basic editing functions like Grammar, Rephrase, and Explainitto5thgrade

Provides templates for various writing tasks

Useful for writing cover letters or emails

Has around 60 templates for different research tasks

Cons

Requires user guidance during the writing process

The learning curve for users

Unused credits do not carry over

The paraphrasing function is limited to short paragraphs

Pricing

Creator plans at $39/month, Pro plan at $59/month.

4. Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a free search engine that indexes scholarly literature across various disciplines and formats. It helps users find relevant academic resources, including articles, theses, and conference papers.

Pros

Indexes a wide range of scholarly literature

Free to use

Easy to search if familiar with Google

Provides tools for tracking citations, finding similar articles, and exporting citations

Cons

Cannot search by subject area or material type

Limited full-text access to most articles

Limited filters available

Content not organized by experts

Hard to identify peer-reviewed sources

Pricing

Free to use.

5. Avidnote

Avidnote is a software product that offers AI tools to assist researchers in organizing their work. It includes time-saving templates, a user-friendly interface, and a free plan.

Pros

Timesaving templates available

User-friendly interface

Free plan offered

Cons

Not ideal for particular research tasks

Pricing

Free plan, Professional plan at $19, Premium plan at $59.

6. Zotero

Zotero is the only software that detects research on the internet automatically. Do you need an article from JSTOR? Or a preprint from ArXiv.org. Need a news story from The New York Times? Or a book from a library. Zotero covers everything. Zotero makes it easy to organize your research in any way you like. You can organize items into collections and tag them using keywords. You can also create saved searches that fill automatically with relevant materials as your work progresses.

Zotero can optionally sync your data across devices. This lets you keep your notes, files, and bibliographic records up-to-date. You can access your research from any internet browser if you choose to sync. Zotero allows you to co-write a paper, distribute course materials, and build a collaborative bibliography. You can share your Zotero library with as many people as you wish; it is free.

Pros

Fairly easy to learn

All features come with the free version, and all software upgrades are free.

Collaborative group libraries

Add citations with one click with Zotero Connector

Import citations to Microsoft Word, Google Docs, & LibreOffice with plugins

Edit PDFs in the desktop app and iOS app

Identifies retracted articles with Retraction Watch

Opensource software

Cons

Requires desktop/laptop application to use all features

Only 300 MB of free cloud storage

No firstparty mobile app for Android

No professional customer support services

Pricing

free, with paid cloud storage upgrades (2 GB for $20/year, 6 GB for $60/year, unlimited for $120/year)

7. Scite.AI

Although language models like ChatGPT are not designed to deceive intentionally, it has been proven they can generate text that is not based on factual information and include fake citations to papers that don't exist. But there is an AI-powered app that gives you real citations to published papers: Scite. Like Elicit, Scite delivers answers with a detailed list of all the papers cited in the response upon being asked a question.

Pros

Assess article credibility quickly.

AI assistant for evidencebased answers.

Handy Chrome extension.

Cons

Subscription costs could be a hurdle.

Limited full-text access due to publisher agreements.

Pricing

7-day free trial, Monthly Plan: A simple $20/month, Yearly Plan: Save big with $12/month (paid annually).

8. Research Rabbit

Research Rabbit is an incredible tool that FASTTRACK your research. The best part: it's FREE. Called by its founders "the Spotify of research," Research Rabbit allows adding academic papers to "collections." These collections will enable the software to learn about the user’s interests, prompting new relevant recommendations. Research Rabbit also allows the scholarly network of papers and coauthorships to be visualized in graphs so that users can follow the work of a single topic or author and dive deeper into their research.

Pros

It uses artificial intelligence to help researchers save time and improve the quality of their research.

It allows researchers to visualize papers and discover author networks using interactive graphs.

It offers personalized digests of the latest papers related to the user's collections.

It is accessible for researchers forever.

It supports citation management and article summarization.

Cons

It may not cover all the relevant sources or databases for a specific research topic.

It may be unable to handle complex or ambiguous queries or provide accurate summaries of long or technical papers.

It may not be compatible with some citation styles or formats.

It may not have enough user reviews or feedback to evaluate its reliability or usability.

It may not offer enough customization or personalization options for users' preferences or needs.

Pricing

Free

9. ChatPDF

ChatPDF is an AIpowered app that makes reading and analyzing journal articles easier and faster. It's like ChatGPT but for research papers. Users start by uploading the research paper PDF into the AI software and then start asking it questions. The app then prepares a short paper summary and provides the user with examples of questions it could answer based on the full article.

Pros

Intuitive Chat Interface

‍ChatPDF offers a user-friendly chat interface, allowing users to interact with their PDF documents in a natural, conversational manner. By typing in a question or command, the AI swiftly responds with relevant information extracted from the document, streamlining the process of finding required data. This intuitive chat feature makes navigating complex and lengthy PDFs more efficient, reducing the time spent on manual searching.

Multilingual Support

‍ChatPDF demonstrates strong multilingual capabilities, catering to a global audience. It enables users to upload PDFs in one language and make inquiries in another, effortlessly breaking down language barriers.

Generous Free Plan

‍ChatPDF stands out with its generous free plan. It allows users to upload up to three PDFs per day, each up to 120 pages, which is more than many competitors in the market offer. This plan is a significant benefit for users who need to process multiple documents regularly but are not ready to commit to a paid plan.

Cons

Absence of a Chrome Extension

‍Unlike some of its competitors, such as PDF.AI, ChatPDF does not offer a Chrome extension. This absence could limit the platform's accessibility and convenience for users who prefer to operate directly from their browser, requiring them to adjust their workflows accordingly.

Lack of Private Document Functionality

‍ChatPDF currently does not provide a private document option similar to what PDF.AI offers. This feature in PDF.AI ensures the documents never come into contact with cloud storage, enhancing data privacy. The absence of such functionality in ChatPDF might make it less appealing to users who prioritize high-level data confidentiality.

Pricing

free plan, plus plan at $5/month

10. Semantic Scholar

Semantic Scholar offers free, AI-driven search and discovery tools and open resources for the global research community. It allows researchers to understand a paper quickly. The system extracts meaning from papers and identifies connections. These insights are then presented to Scholars to help them understand and discover research.

Scholars are driven to use AI in new ways to make a significant impact. Semantic Scholar also improves the quality and efficacy of AI research by incorporating real-world applications. All people should have access to scientific knowledge.

Pros

Comprehensive access to scholarly publications

Advanced filtering options for more refined search results

Recommendations for related articles based on search history

Ability to claim publications as an author and track their impact

Cons

Less popular and well-known compared to Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Search

Limited user interface customization options compared to competitors

Pricing

Free

11. Bit AI

Bit AI is an AI program designed to help teams collaborate on documents, wikis, and knowledge bases. It goes beyond just text and images, allowing users to create interactive documents containing videos, cloud files, and audio. It works much like Google Drive, allowing for real-time collaboration on documents. Multiple people can work on documents simultaneously and chat with one another within the interface.

Pros

BuiltIn AI Writing Assistant

AI Genius is the perfect tool for generating documents, wikis, and other information based on a text prompt

Multiple Use Cases

Bit AI is great for researchers and marketers, but also for product management, startups, and Human Resources due to its document development features

Collaboration Tools

Bit.ai allows multiple users to simultaneously collaborate on documents, notes, wikis, and other content in real-time

Wide Range of Integrations

Bit AI integrates with a large number of third-party tools, including YouTube, Google Sheets, Figma, GitHub, and more

Cons

Limited Customizations

Bit AI would be better if it had text formatting or options to customize the appearance of documents, such as matching company branding

Pricing

Bit AI offers a free plan with paid plans starting at $12 monthly.

12. Jenni

It’s an AIpowered writing assistant designed to help students and researchers with academic writing tasks. It uses machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to provide content suggestions, writing feedback, and research assistance. It’s handy for writing essays, research papers, literature reviews, and more. Jenni can also help with citations and references and check for plagiarism.

Pros

AskJenni

Use an AI research assistant that can help answer research questions and provide document-related clarifications

Citation and Reference Assistance: Jenni can properly format citations and references in styles like APA, MLA, and Chicago

AI Commands

Jenni can perform tasks like paraphrasing, rewriting, and simplifying existing text

AI Autocompletion

Jenni can suggest and complete sentences to help you write faster

Cons

Compared to other AI tools, Jenni.ai only offers limited content types, such as blogs, essays, emails, and free-flow writing.

Pricing

Jenni offers a free plan with paid plans starting at $20 monthly.

13. EndNote

EndNote gives you the tools to search, organize, and share your research. It allows you to easily create bibliographies while writing your following paper with features like Cite While You Write. Maximize your time with features like finding full text for your references and automatically updating records.

Whether on your desktop, online, or iPad, EndNote’s syncing capabilities let you access your references, attachments, and groups from anywhere.

Pros

Copes well with a very large library

A large number of citation styles

iPad and iPhone App

Cons

Not compatible with Linux

Limited upgrades and resources with the free version

It is not as user-friendly, not able to save webpage snapshots, and is complex to learn

Pricing

It's free with 2GB of online storage. The upgrade to EndNote X9 is $115.95. You can request a 30-day free trial.

14. Margin Note

MarginNote is a powerful reading tool for learners. Whether you are a student, a teacher, a researcher, a lawyer, or someone with a curious mind to learn, MarginNote can help you quickly organize, study, and manage large volumes of PDFs and EPUBs. The all-in-one learning app enables you to highlight PDF and EPUB, take notes, create a mind map, and review flashcards, and it saves you from switching endlessly between different apps. It is available on Mac, iPad, and iPhone.

Pros

Flexible, extensive features give seemingly endless options for annotating and sorting pre-existing texts into usable notes.

Cons

With tons of features and hard-to-follow how-to advice, the user experience can be overwhelming and potentially offputting.

Pricing

Free (reader only) version available; $12.99 for full version.

15. RefWorks

RefWorks is a web-based commercial reference management software package. Users’ reference databases are stored online, allowing them to be accessed and updated from any computer with an internet connection. Institutional licenses allow universities to subscribe to RefWorks on behalf of all their students, faculty, and staff. Individual licenses are also available. The software enables linking from a user’s RefWorks account to electronic editions of journals to which the institution’s library subscribes.

Pros

Many databases include direct exporting features to it.

Good tech support.

Cons

Metadata may need to be cleaned up.

Platforms can be unstable.

Price

Free (library subscribes)

16. Typeset

Typeset is a great tool when it comes to writing your research papers. You can upload all your references for simple citations and check your work for spelling errors and plagiarism. Typeset also offers features to collaborate with your teammates and complete the job.

Pros

Easy to name equations, easy to track created eq.

It supports multiple export formats and allows amazing control of the article sections (authors, title, abstract, etc.).

The tool is lovely in neatly integrating academic journal templates and smoothens the writing and editing process.

Excellent customer service (answers emails speedily and goes the extra mile to help customers).

Cons

Horrible experience with a few hundred dollars wasted.

The software gets messy when the document size increases, I see wrong references, weird symbols, etc.

Conversion to Word doc is awful, equations get messy, and references are not correctly formatted.

Pricing

$199/person/year

17. ReadCube

ReadCube is a desktop and browser-based program for managing, annotating, and accessing academic research articles. It can sync your entire library, including notes, lists, annotations, and even highlights, across all your devices, including your desktop (Mac/PC), mobile devices (iOS/Android/Kindle), or even the Web.

Pros

Lovely interface.

Enhanced PDFs provide impact stats, research recommendations, and linked references.

Watch Folders feature keeps your library tidy and current.

Syncs your documents across all your devices.

Cons

Minor support is needed for scholars outside of life and medical sciences.

Older or nonOCR PDFs are ineligible for enhancement.

Annotations are not Acrobat compatible.

Pricing

$5 per month or $45 per year

Complete StepbyStep Guide On How To Use Unriddle's AI Research Tool

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to use Unriddle. I’ve also copied it below :)

From here, it's pretty simple.

Unriddle helps you read, write and learn faster.

Interact with documents via AI so you can quickly find and understand info.

Then start writing in a new Note and Unriddle will show you relevant content from your library as you type.

Get started by uploading a document.

Or read on for the full rundown.

Interact with documents

When you upload a document, Unriddle generates an AI assistant on top of this data.

Click 'New' in the right sidebar and then select 'Upload' to get started.

Use this assistant to answer specific questions about the text, summarize content and simplify jargon.

The trick is to be super clear about what you want.

If you're summarizing a research paper, for example, instead of saying “Summarize” or “Summarize this research paper”, say something like “Explain this research paper to me in simple terms. What method did the researchers use? What did they find? Why does it matter?”.

The second prompt will produce a much better overview of the paper because we're giving the AI more hints about what we want.

Automatic relations

Unriddle grasps the context behind each Note and Document in your library and automatically links them based on meaning.

Let's say you have a collection of nuclear physics papers in your library.

When you start writing a note about The Manhattan Project, simply mentioning "The Manhattan Project" will prompt Unriddle to find the connection between this note and the nuclear physics papers.

Even if you didn't explicitly mention the research papers, Unriddle's knowledge of Oppenheimer, his work, and the significant relevance of these papers means it understands the connection and automatically links them together.

In short, Unriddle shows you relevant content from your library at the exact moment you need it, even if you haven't explicitly mentioned it.

Citing your sources

Writing is hard when you have a ton of sources to track.

So we made it easy.

Highlight some text, click ‘Cite’ and you’ll see items from your library that contain information related to the selection of text you just highlighted as determined by our AI.

When you select an item Unriddle inserts a link into highlighted text that, when clicked, takes you to the referenced item.

Writing with AI

Click ‘New’ in the sidebar and hit ‘Note’ to open up a new note.

Here you’ll find all the text formatting options you’re used to and more.

Type ‘++’ to generate text based on the context of what’s already written.

Highlight text and click ‘Ask AI’ to open up the AI menu where you’ll find options to improve, expand, summarize and explain.

You can type custom prompts too!

Finally, you can open any note in a pane on the right side of the screen while interacting with documents. Just click the orange pencil icon at the top of the chat window.

Chat Settings

Adjust the model, temperature and response length in the Setting sidebar.

Click the cog icon in the top right corner of the screen and look for "Chat Settings".

These apply across all documents but you can easily flip between them regardless of settings at the time of upload.

Model: the machine learning model used to generate responses.

Temperature: the amount of creative license you give to the AI.

Max length: the maximum number of words generated in a response.

Got feedback or questions? Send us an email and we'll get back to you within a day.

— Naveed

10 Benefits Of Using Academic Research Tools

1. They are highly credible

Academic research tools are crucial because they provide highly credible information sources. Authors must verify their information sources through citations and links, enhancing their work's quality and reliability.

2. They offer clarity

Scholarly articles discuss and outline the merits of other viewpoints, helping you understand the pros and cons of various claims expressed in the journals.

3. They offer evidence for their claims

Authors provide proof by referencing their information sources to support their claims, enabling you to access the truth and draw conclusions.

4. Research options

Academic journals offer several research options, allowing you to explore quantitative and qualitative research for comprehensive results.

5. Provides case studies

Academic journals include real-life case studies that help you apply your knowledge to practical situations, enhancing your understanding of the topic.

6. Provides great reading with a wealth of knowledge

Academic journals promote active reading and critical thinking, enriching your understanding and sharpening your authority on specific topics.

7. Focused research

Online academic journals provide information in large quantities, making it easier to focus your research by narrowing your search to specific keywords.

8. Freedom to collect journals

Unlike print copies, online academic journals offer free downloads, enabling you to build your journal library and access information without an internet connection.

9. Broadened perspective

Academic journals present thoughts and opinions from various authors, broadening your perspective on different topics and helping you formulate your conclusions.

10. Information comes in many forms

Most journal articles include graphs, tables, images, videos, etc., in various downloadable forms, enhancing how information is illustrated and presented.

Read Faster & Write Better With Unriddle

Unriddle.AI allows you to read faster and write better. Quickly find info in documents, simplify complex topics, take notes, and write with the power of AI. Unriddle is trusted by thousands of researchers and students, from the classroom to the boardroom. Unriddle generates an AI assistant on top of any document so you can quickly find, summarize, and understand info.

Unriddle understands the meaning behind your writing and automatically links you to relevant things you’ve read and written about. Highlight text, and Unriddle will show you the most appropriate sources from your library using AI. Never lose a citation again. Generate text with AI autocomplete to improve and expand your writing, with suggestions based on the context of your work. Step into a collaborative workspace where everyone can contribute and chat with the same documents in real-time.

Read faster & write better — try Unriddle for free today.

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Types Of Online Research Tools

Reference Management Tools

Reference management tools are excellent timesaving tools for researchers. They are invaluable for creating a library of relevant articles, formatting references, detecting duplicate entries, replacing incomplete references, and sharing articles with other researchers. These tools are instrumental in correctly linking sources and citing referenced articles. Furthermore, they streamline organizing and managing research materials, facilitating the research process and increasing productivity.

Academic Writing Tools

Academic writing tools are essential for enhancing research writing skills. These tools offer various capabilities, including language editing, abstract writing, and plagiarism checking. They significantly improve the quality of research papers, enabling researchers to produce high-quality academic content efficiently. Utilizing these tools can help researchers enhance their writing skills and ensure the credibility and originality of their work.

Project Management Tools

Project management tools are crucial for researchers to manage and organize their work effectively. These tools help track task completion, set deadlines, and keep all research-related information in one place. Tools such as Trello, GanttPRO, Evernote, and My Research Projects can help researchers optimize their productivity and stay organized throughout the research process.

Academic Search Engines

Academic search engines are vital in helping researchers stay updated on the latest developments in their research fields. These search engines use keywords to help researchers access and read relevant scientific information, including peer-reviewed articles, genuine information, author home pages, and university websites. By providing quick and easy access to relevant research, academic search engines help researchers stay informed and up-to-date.

Journal Selection Tools

Researchers must select the right journal for their research papers. Finding the most suitable journal can be challenging, as numerous scholarly journals are available. Online journal selection tools assist researchers in identifying respected, relevant, and reliable journals for publishing their research. These tools help researchers navigate the complexities of the publishing landscape and ensure that their work reaches the right audience.

Read Faster & Write Better With Unriddle for Free Today

Unriddle.AI is a cutting-edge research tool that enables users to read faster and write better. Using artificial intelligence (AI), this tool simplifies complex topics, locates specific information in documents quickly, generates an AI assistant for enhanced understanding, and facilitates note-taking. Unriddle is a trusted resource for numerous researchers and students, from academic settings to professional environments.

Efficient Information Retrieval

One of Unriddle's key features is its ability to understand the meaning behind the user’s writing and automatically link information to relevant content they have previously read or written about. With AI assistance, this function eliminates the need for endless skimming and helps users find the most pertinent sources within their library. Unriddle’s text highlighting feature also allows users to uncover relevant sources conveniently, ensuring no citations are lost.

Enhanced Writing Capabilities

Unriddle provides an autocomplete function that generates text suggestions based on the user’s current context, aiding in expanding and improving their writing. These tailored recommendations help users refine their work seamlessly, enhancing the overall quality of their writing. Furthermore, Unriddle offers a collaborative workspace where multiple users can contribute to and discuss documents, fostering real-time collaboration and productivity.

Embrace the Future of Academic Research Tools

Unriddle represents a significant advancement in academic research tools, offering a comprehensive suite of features designed to streamline the research and writing processes. By leveraging the power of AI, Unriddle empowers users to dive deeper into their research, make meaningful connections between topics, and produce high-quality written work efficiently. With its user-friendly interface and range of capabilities, Unriddle is poised to revolutionize the academic research landscape.

Try Unriddle Today

Experience the transformative capabilities of Unriddle for yourself. By unlocking the power of artificial intelligence in academic research tools, Unriddle enables users to enhance their research and writing practices significantly. Say goodbye to tedious skimming, lost citations, and disjointed writing processes – try Unriddle today and unlock a new level of efficiency and effectiveness in your academic endeavors.