Features
See where the evidence agrees, and where it doesn't.
A literature review is more than a pile of PDFs. Search in any language, see which papers back a claim and which push against it, and keep every finding tied to the passage it came from, so your review rests on solid ground.
Write in your language, find papers in every language.
Select a sentence in your draft and PaperQED turns it into an academic query, searches by keyword and by meaning, and returns papers in either language with the paragraph that best matches your sentence.
- A draft in one language finds sources written in others, including the English literature.
- Each result shows the matching paragraph, so you can judge relevance without opening ten PDFs.
- Filter by year, language, open access, quartile and source type.
- Translated abstracts help you read papers in a language you know less well.
One claim, all the evidence: for, partly for, and against.
The evidence map takes a single claim and lays out how many papers support it, partly support it or contradict it, each with its quote. It also points you to the papers that disagree, so your chapter can address them instead of hiding from them.
- See the balance of evidence before you commit to a claim.
- Every paper on the map comes with the passage behind its label.
- Counter-evidence is surfaced on purpose: “This paper reports a different result. Consider discussing it.”
- Examiners love to ask about opposing findings. Now you've already read them.
A literature review matrix that fills itself, with receipts.
Pick the papers you're reviewing. PaperQED extracts aim, method, sample, location, main result and limitations into a table, and every cell links to the quote it came from.
- Compare a dozen studies side by side instead of flipping between PDFs.
- Add your own columns for what matters to your question.
- Click any cell to see the exact passage, so nothing in the table is a guess.
- Export to CSV or Excel for your supervisor or your appendix.
Spot old, thin or second-hand sources before your examiners do.
The citation gap and recency check looks across a whole chapter: how old your sources are, how many come from reputable journals, and where you cite a theory through someone else's summary instead of the original.
- A year-by-year view of your sources shows when a chapter leans on old literature.
- Secondary citations are flagged, with the primary source to read instead.
- See at a glance whether a chapter relies on too few journal articles.
See how the papers in your library connect.
The citation graph draws who cites whom across your library, so clusters, bridges and isolated papers become visible at a glance.
- Find the papers everyone in your field builds on.
- Notice a cluster of literature you haven't read yet.
- Spot papers in your library that connect to nothing else.
Trace a concept back to where it started.
Seminal papers follows the citation trail behind a concept to the original work, so you cite the source an idea came from, not the fifth paper that repeated it.
- Find the origin of a theory your chapter relies on.
- See the chain of papers between the original and today.
- Defend your theoretical framework with the primary source in hand.
Read papers faster, at the level you're at.
The paper reader highlights the research question, method, main findings and limitations, with a side panel to jump between them. The level-based explainer walks you through the paper for undergraduate, master's or researcher level, and every point links back to the paragraph it explains.
- Know where the method and the limitations are before you read line by line.
- Choose undergraduate, master's or researcher depth, in your own language.
- Every explanation points to the original paragraph, so you can check it.
- Works on open-access papers and the PDFs you upload.
One library for every source, ready for the tools you already use.
Keep your sources in a personal library with a folder per project. Import BibTeX, RIS, DOI, URL or PDF, format citations in APA 7, IEEE, Harvard, Vancouver and thousands of other CSL styles, and export again when you need to.
- Paste a DOI and the metadata fills in from the record.
- Export BibTeX, RIS, CSL-JSON or DOCX whenever you want.
- Import from Zotero and Mendeley exports today; direct two-way sync is coming soon.
- When your campus publishes a citation template, it appears in your style list.
From a question to a literature review
A typical week of reading with PaperQED.
-
Step 1: Search in your language
Start from a sentence in your draft and collect papers across languages.
-
Step 2: Map the evidence
For each key claim, see which papers support it and which disagree.
-
Step 3: Read at your level
Use the reader's highlights and explainer to get through the papers that matter.
-
Step 4: Fill the matrix
Compare methods and results side by side to see where studies agree and where they differ.
-
Step 5: Check gaps before you submit
Catch old, thin or second-hand sources while there's still time to read more.
Questions
-
Can I search for regional journals?
Yes. Cross-lingual search covers papers in many languages that are listed in OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar.
-
Where do the papers and quotes come from?
Metadata comes from Crossref, OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar. Full text comes from open-access copies or PDFs you upload. Quotes are always taken from the paper's own text.
-
Can I use it with Zotero or Mendeley?
Yes, through import and export. Bring in BibTeX or RIS exports from Zotero or Mendeley and export back whenever you like. Direct two-way sync is coming soon.
-
Is all of this available today?
Yes. Cross-lingual search, the evidence map, the literature matrix, gap checks, the citation graph, seminal papers, the reader and the library are all available now. Start with a free account.
Keep exploring
- Features
Write & Integrity
Citation suggestions, claim verification, reference checks and the integrity report.
- Features
Learn
Socratic tutor, quizzes and a thesis defense simulation.
- Who it's for
Students
Thesis citations you can defend in front of examiners.
- Who it's for
Researchers
Literature reviews you can verify line by line.
- Who it's for
Lecturers & campuses
Supervision dashboard and integrity reports for your campus.
Build a literature review you can defend
Create a free account and map the evidence for your first claim.