The Scite.ai browser plugin: a free tool for citation context
1 October 2025
The number of AI platforms is currently exploding, and even for a more specialised environment, such as academic research, there are already a growing nubmer of providers. The AI is strong in you, and everybody wants a slice of the cake - or, even better, the entire cake. Especially if services are paid for it is not always easy to evaluate and test them thoroughly, especially with free services becomeing better by the second. However, some providers offer genuinely useful services. One such provider is Scite.ai. Scite.ai offers a subscription service, which they describe as: "Discover facts, figures, and relevant research from the world's largest collection of full-text scholarly content". The restriction to scholarly content is indeed a very important one for researchers, as it avoids halucinations. However, it comees at a price, which, at the time of writing, is £14 per month, a paid service which, for this very reason, I have not yet used. However, they offer a browser extension, which is currently available at no cost, and this extension is genuinely useful little tool.
What is the Scite browser plugin?
The Scite browser plugin is a free extension available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari that integrates citation analysis directly into the web browsing experience. The plugin leverages Scite's "Smart Citations" system, which classifies citations based on whether they provide supporting evidence, contrasting evidence, or simply mention the cited work.
Core functionality
When viewing scientific articles online, here exemplified by one of our own articles, the plugin provides three primary functions:
– Citation Classification Display: A popup appears alongside articles showing tallies of how many times the publication has been cited, how often citing papers were supportive, simple mentioning of the paper, and papers with contrasting evidence. This provides immediate context about the article's reception in subsequent literature.
– Integration Across Platforms: The plugin operates across various websites where scientific literature appears, including PubMed, Google Scholar, preprint servers, and general web pages where scientific articles are discussed.
View in PubMed 1
– Access to Full Citation Reports: Users can click through from the popup to view complete Scite reports, which contain the actual citation contexts and classifications for each citing article. Howeer, most of this is part of the subscription model and not available for free.
Scientific applications
The plugin addresses a fundamental limitation of traditional citation metrics. Standard citation counts treat all citations equally, whether they represent confirmatory findings, contradictory evidence, or tangential mentions. This creates significant challenges for literature evaluation, particularly when:
- Assessing the reliability of specific findings during literature review
- Evaluating controversial claims that may have been subsequently challenged
- Identifying well-supported conclusions versus contested hypotheses
- Conducting systematic reviews where evidence quality is paramount
By providing classification of citation intent, the plugin enables researchers to rapidly assess not merely citation frequency, but citation quality and context. This is particularly valuable when evaluating unfamiliar literature or assessing claims outside one's immediate expertise.
Limitations of this assessment
As noted, this description is based on limited exposure to the free browser plugin specifically. The full Scite platform promises additional features including comprehensive search capabilities, detailed analytics, and citation alerts. Obviously, the free plugin serves as a gateway to the paid service, but it remains a little addition that I find genuinely useful, even though it will require more extensive testing, especially when assessing how accurate the information provided actually is. For example, for the particular example of our own paper, 24 citations are given, with Google Scholar stating 27 - numbers with a reasonable similarity, but they are not identical, so a careful evalutation will be necessary. However, its capacity to surface supporting and contrasting citations directly during web browsing may enhance critical appraisal of scientific literature.
The plugin is available here.