Frequently asked questions

What does litscout actually do?

It turns a research question into a ranked, explainable set of research artifacts. You describe what you are trying to find out — in messy prose, with a DOI, a pasted abstract, or examples of papers you already like — and it extracts the references and requirements, searches along several paths at once, and ranks the results against your objective rather than against your keywords.

How is this different from Google Scholar?

Google Scholar matches keywords and sorts largely by citation count, which favours older and more cited work. litscout models what you are trying to achieve, expands the search along the citation graph and by meaning as well as by term, and explains why each result was selected. Scholar indexes far more and is free; litscout aims to return a smaller, better-justified set.

What kinds of documents can it find?

Journal papers, conference papers and preprints, plus patents, standards, technical reports, theses, datasets, benchmark suites and books. Restricting a search to one artifact type is often the point — the answer to an engineering question is frequently a patent or a standard rather than a paper.

Does it write literature reviews for me?

It writes research reports, in three depths and six tones, and every report cites its sources. It is not a substitute for reading them. litscout does not judge methodological quality and does not check whether a paper has been retracted or superseded, so a report is a starting point for your own reading rather than a finding you can cite.

Is my research data used to train AI models?

No. Your queries, notes, uploads and results are never used to train any model, and are never sold or shared for advertising. To interpret what you typed, the text of your query is sent to AI providers — your name, email and account identifiers are not. If your work is confidential or unpublished and you are not willing for it to leave our systems at all, do not paste it into a query.

What does it cost?

There is a free plan with 3 searches a day, 45 a month, and one deep research report a month. Pro is US$6 a month and raises that to 300 searches and 15 deep research reports, plus exports, alerts and collections. There is no minimum term and you can cancel any time from Settings.

Do I need an account?

Yes. Searches, collections and reports are tied to your account so you can return to them, and quotas need something to count against. You can sign in with Google or with an email address and password. You must be at least 18 to create an account.

Can I export results to a reference manager?

Yes. Results and collections export to BibTeX and RIS, which Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote and most other reference managers import directly.

Where is my data stored, and can I delete it?

On infrastructure we operate in US East (N. Virginia), United States. You can export everything as machine-readable JSON, or delete your account outright, from Settings — both are self-service and immediate rather than a support request.

Can I use it for clinical, legal or financial decisions?

Not as the sole or primary basis for one. litscout ranks literature against a research objective; it does not read papers, weigh their quality, or check whether they have been retracted. In any setting where a decision affects a person's health, legal position, finances, employment, housing, insurance or education, a qualified professional must read the underlying sources and take responsibility for the decision.

Not answered here? Ask us directly — or read the Privacy Policy and Terms, which are written to be read rather than to be survived.