Scite

Scite is a research tool built around Smart Citations, which show how a scientific paper has been cited — specifically whether each citing paper supports, mentions, or contradicts the original claim. Instead of a raw citation count, this gives researchers a way to judge how well a finding has held up over time.

Scite is actively maintained and is part of Research Solutions. It offers a Scite MCP (Model Context Protocol) integration that lets the Smart Citation database and Assistant work inside ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Perplexity, VS Code and other MCP-compatible AI tools, giving access to its database of 300M+ scholarly sources and 1.6B+ citations directly from those tools.

Core capabilities span three areas: the Smart Citation database and browser extension, an AI Assistant for literature search and report writing, and the MCP layer that exposes search and full-text retrieval to external AI tools. Higher-tier plans add datasets beyond journal articles, including patents, clinical trials and grants, plus — at the Enterprise level — regulatory and safety data such as FAERS, MAUDE and 510(k) filings.

Pricing is tiered with no free plan; a 7-day free trial auto-enrolls you into the selected plan. Basic costs $20 per month billed yearly (saving $96 compared with the unpublished monthly rate) and includes the Assistant, Search, 250 MCP credits per month, and Collections up to 1,000 papers. Pro costs $50 per month billed yearly and adds API access, 2,500 MCP credits per month, Collections up to 10,000 papers, and the patent, clinical trial and grant datasets. Team costs $250 per month for 8 seats, with additional seats at $50 per month each, and includes shared Collections and team analytics. Enterprise pricing is custom-quoted and adds unlimited pooled users, SSO, and enhanced security. Discount codes are available for students and academics who recommend Scite to their institution, though no percentage is published.

Coverage is strong in the sciences but thinner in some humanities fields, and Smart Citation classifications are automated and occasionally wrong. There is no free tier, so even light use of the Assistant or MCP requires a paid plan or the 7-day trial. Enterprise pricing is opaque until you request a quote.

Scite fits researchers, graduate students, librarians and evidence analysts who need to verify claims rather than just count citations, and it is particularly useful if you already work inside an AI assistant or coding tool and want scholarly, patent, clinical-trial or grant search available there through MCP.