Google Scholar AlternativesAcademic Research Tools and other similar apps like Google Scholar

Google Scholar is described as 'Freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes most peer-reviewed online journals of Europe and' and is a popular academic research tool in the education & reference category. There are more than 25 alternatives to Google Scholar, not only websites but also apps for a variety of platforms, including iPhone, iPad, Windows and Linux apps. The best Google Scholar alternative is Semantic Scholar, which is free. Other great sites and apps similar to Google Scholar are WorldCat, ResearchGate, Scopus and Scinapse.

filter to find the best alternatives

Google Scholar alternatives are mainly Academic Research Tools, but if you're looking for Research Managers or Social Networks you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Free. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Google Scholar.
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Alternatives list

  1. Semantic Scholar (paywall free) is a science publication aggregator that collects citation-data from PubMed, CiteSeer, IEEE etc and rank each article according to the percieved number of impactful citations.

    24 Semantic Scholar alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
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    1
  2. WorldCat icon
     21 likes

    WorldCat is the world's largest network of library content and services. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to providing access to their resources on the Web, where most people start their search for information.

    64 WorldCat alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Android Tablet
     
  3. ResearchGate icon
     29 likes

    Enables users to upload and share scientific papers, connect with researchers globally, discover and follow research topics, access datasets, send direct messages, participate in discussions, track citation metrics, and explore academic job opportunities.

    40 ResearchGate alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
    • iPhone
     
  4. Scopus icon
     5 likes

    Elsevier’s Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Search and access research from the science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts and humanities fields.

    16 Scopus alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  5. Scinapse icon
     14 likes

    Scinapse is a free search engine for academic papers. As of September 2018, it indexes more than 200 million articles from more than 40,000 journals.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
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    1
  6. Connected Papers is a unique, visual tool to help researchers and applied scientists find and explore papers relevant to their field of work.

    22 Connected Papers alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
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    1
  7. BASE is one of the world's most voluminous search engines especially for academic web resources. BASE provides more than 300 million documents from more than 10,000 content providers. You can access the full texts of about 60% of the indexed documents for free (Open Access).

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  8. Thomson Reuters Web of KnowledgeSM is a research platform that gives you access to objective content and powerful tools to search, track, measure and collaborate in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  9. AMiner icon
     3 likes

    ArnetMiner (AMiner) is designed to search and perform data mining operations against academic publications on the Internet, using social network analysis to identify connections between researchers, conferences, and publications.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  10. Elicit icon
     8 likes

    Elicit is an AI-powered research assistant designed to help users efficiently discover, organize, and analyze academic papers and insights.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  11. ResearchCollab is a web-based research collaboration platform designed to support individual researchers and teams throughout the research process.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
     
12 of 36 Google Scholar alternatives