Scite: a research discovery and analysis platform, now available via the Library

13 Dec 2023

We have a new subscription to Scite – a platform to provide staff and students with additional context around research publications

Scite is a Brooklyn based start-up and is funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health. The Library’s Research Services Team has identified and procured Scite to enhance the support provided by our Research Metrics Team.

A key feature of Scite is Smart Citations which provide additional context to the citations a publication has received using a deep learning model trained to identify three categories of statements:

citations that provide supporting evidence;
citations that provide contrasting evidence;
citations that mention the cited study without providing evidence for its validity.

This allows the Research Metrics Team to better support University of Manchester authors, Faculties, Schools and Research Institutes by increasing our understanding of how the University’s research is being cited.

Scite recently added the Scite Assistant. This is a conversational ChatGPT-style tool that lets users ask questions in simple language and receive answers backed by real, up-to-date references from the Scite database. It will typically bring back a couple of paragraphs outlining some information on the topic and include references from research papers.

The Library’s Research Metrics Team have produced a general FAQ which includes information on how to sign up using your University of Manchester email, how to access the tool and links to training material. Guidance has been developed by the Library's Teaching, Learning and Students Team to support understanding of Smart Citations and promote appropriate use of the Scite Assistant feature.

If you have any questions relating to Scite, please contact Research Services