Many of the proposed applications raise privacy concerns. Therefore, do not enter any personal data or data belonging to third parties, and carefully consider what information you wish to disclose, even when providing your own details or copyrighted works.

• The University Library of Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen has a very well-organized and curated collection of links and information on the use of AI for scientific work.  
• Hochschulbibliothek der Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz 

Established literature research and management tools featuring AI: 

Most of the tools listed here are either subscription-based or supported by advertisements.

Search engines for literature:

OpenAlex → Open, free scientific database and search engine; freely accessible, all data can be retrieved via an API (application programming interface); supports the visibility of freely available publications (open access focus); the methodology of data collection and processing is openly documented (transparent).

Google Scholar → Google-operated, freely accessible search engine for scientific literature; broad coverage; provides a quick initial overview; it is not always clear which sources are indexed and according to which criteria.

We recommend supplementing your research with domain specific databases.

Commercial literature databases with AI support 

Scopus (Elsevier)

Web of Science(Clarivate)

Science Direct (Elsevier)

Literature management programs with AI features

Zotero →  Free open-source software. AI tools can be downloaded as plugins. Browser integration (automatic import of sources); good Word and LibreOffice plugins.

Citavi →  Commercial literature management program. Popular at German institutions—often licensed at universities. Good integration with MS Word. Native AI tools for research and automatic annotation support.

Endnote → Commercial literature management program. Integration with large commercial databases (e.g., Web of Science). Since 2025, AI functions—from summaries to selecting suitable journals based on title and abstract. 

AI supported literature research tools: 

Elicit.org → AI supported scientific research tool that references the sources used. 

Consensus.app → AI helps to extract research results from papers.  

Scite.ai → Citation context (supports vs. contradicts).

Perplexity.ai → Provides answers to questions, including references and their sources.