10 Best Citation Management Tools in 2026

Jenni AI is an AI-powered academic writing and research tool designed for students and academics. It provides an intelligent workspace to streamline the entire research and writing process, from finding and organizing sources to drafting and citing papers. The platform helps users overcome writer's block with AI autocomplete, generates in-text citations in over 2,600 styles, and allows for easy integration of research from PDF uploads. It aims to accelerate scientific discovery by eliminating research friction, enabling researchers to focus on novel discoveries and sharing their work efficiently. Jenni AI is trusted by universities and businesses worldwide, serving over 6 million academics.

Scite is an AI-powered platform designed to help researchers, academics, and industry professionals discover and evaluate scientific literature. It leverages a vast database of over 200 million scholarly sources and 1.5 billion citations, classifying each citation context to indicate whether a study supports, contrasts, or mentions a particular claim. This unique "Smart Citations" feature allows users to quickly assess the credibility and impact of research papers. The platform offers an AI Assistant for generating cited answers, full-text search capabilities, and contextual citation reports. It is used by researchers to streamline literature reviews, track drug development, monitor research impact, and increase publication visibility. Scite aims to enhance research credibility and efficiency by providing verifiable insights grounded in scholarly evidence.

Litmaps is a literature review software designed to help researchers, students, and professionals discover, visualize, and manage academic papers more efficiently. It transforms the traditional literature review process by using citation networks and advanced search features to identify relevant articles and reveal connections between them. Users can start with a single seed article and let Litmaps build a visual map of related literature, making it easier to understand the historical context and evolution of a research topic. The tool is particularly beneficial for those looking to quickly identify key citations, spot research gaps, and stay updated on new publications in their field. It aims to streamline the entire research workflow, from initial paper discovery to organizing projects and collaborating with colleagues. Litmaps is used by over 350,000 researchers worldwide and offers an intuitive visual interface that can lower the barrier of entry for new researchers and those who find traditional database interfaces challenging.

Inciteful is a tool designed to help researchers and academics navigate the vast landscape of academic literature by leveraging citation networks. It allows users to input a paper and then discover highly cited, influential, and related works, both forward and backward in time. This helps users quickly identify foundational papers, recent developments, and key authors in a specific research area. The platform is ideal for students, researchers, and anyone conducting literature reviews who needs to efficiently uncover relevant publications. By visualizing citation relationships, Inciteful streamlines the process of understanding the impact and evolution of research topics, saving significant time compared to traditional search methods. It aims to make the discovery of important academic works more intuitive and less reliant on keyword matching alone.

Connected Papers is a unique visual tool designed to help researchers and academics find and explore academic papers. By inputting a single 'seed paper', the platform generates a graph of highly relevant prior and derivative works, allowing users to quickly understand the academic landscape around a specific topic. This visual representation helps identify influential papers, discover emerging trends, and navigate complex research fields more efficiently. The tool is ideal for students, researchers, and anyone in academia looking to conduct literature reviews, find related work for their own research, or simply explore new areas of study. It aims to accelerate the research process by providing an intuitive and interactive way to uncover connections between papers that might otherwise be missed through traditional search methods. The visual graphs highlight direct citations, co-citations, and other relationships, making it easier to identify key articles and authors in a given field.

Anara is an AI-powered workspace designed for scientists, students, and research teams to streamline their academic workflows. It allows users to upload various types of documents, such as textbooks, clinical studies, and research papers, and then interact with them by asking questions. The AI extracts key passages, organizes research, and assists with writing, all while providing automatic citations linked to original sources to ensure academic rigor and eliminate hallucinations. The platform is built to enhance research efficiency by offering features like searching major academic databases for comprehensive answers, generating flashcards and multiple-choice questions from uploaded materials, and building a centralized, searchable library for all projects. It aims to significantly reduce the time spent on literature reviews, annotations, and manuscript preparation, making complex research more intuitive and accessible for both individual researchers and collaborative teams.