SciSummary Reviewed by a University Grad: Is It Worth It?

So, you need to read and understand some complex scientific articles? Be it for school, or any other reason, going through dozens of pages of difficult language can be time consuming and often leave you frustrated.

SciSummary aims to remedy that struggle by easily converting thousands of words into a simple, understandable text.

As a university graduate, I have written so many essays and academic papers that I have genuinely lost count. For that reason, I have tested SciSummary with various texts and articles to determine how good it is, and whether or not it is worth it.

If I had this tool back when I was a student, would things be different?

What is SciSummary?

SciSummary is an AI tool that summarizes scientific articles quickly and easily. It uses custom-tuned GPT models to generate summaries of complex and lengthy scientific articles, making them more digestible and easier to understand for users.

You might be thinking: “I can just use ChatGPT.” See, SciSummary apparently is very proud about how much better their software is than ChatGPT, so much so that once you open their homepage, there is a comparison of the two right away.

I highly recommend checking out the SciSummary homepage as this challenge between SciSummary and ChatGPT is played out in real time. You can see SciSummary’s power for yourself.

Testing Out SciSummary for Myself

In order to test how well this SaaS tool works, I decided to personally test it just like I would if I were still in university conducting secondary research.

Using SciSummary is very easy, simply upload the pdf file, URL, or text input, and in a matter of moments the summary will be completed.

Selecting an Article

After signing in, I am shown some brief instructions regarding how to summarize articles. For my testing I selected single article summaries.

The great thing about this tool is that it gives you the ability to summarize articles in bulk. Of course, you can also do one article at a time.

After selecting the single summary, I was prompted to select the type of text I wanted to summarize, be it a file, a URL, or inputting my own text.

For my first summary, I decided on a URL.

After inputting the URL, I was asked some information regarding how I would like the formatting to be done. Things like summary length and language.

There is also one other option titled “Summary Mode.”

This option allows you to change the output of the article. Whether you want the article to focus on one certain point, or if you want the AI to decipher opportunities for future research.

I honestly find this very handy as when I would do secondary research, I would often have trouble finding exactly what I was looking for. This way, you can tell the AI to focus on what you are specifically researching.

This is a game changer.

SciSummary’s Research Papers Database

Another thing that blew me away about SciSummary was their enormous article database that is part of the service at no additional cost. This database helps users stay up to date with the latest scientific breakthroughs.

On the SciSummary dashboard page, there is a search bar at the top which allows you to find new articles. Being able to search for articles and papers in one location, along with summarizing them seriously streamlines the research process.

SciSummary has over 213 million articles that you can search, spanning all realms of research topics.

This search option also allows you to conduct other types of searches, such as searching your previously summarized articles, or searching for concepts across your uploaded articles.

I decided to search for new articles to test out how good it really is.

It’s really good.

After a quick search for “artificial intelligence,” I got back over 1.5 million results. At the top, there is the option to filter the search results even more to find exactly what you are looking for.

Keep in mind that many of these articles require permission to access, however, if you are affiliated with a university, college, or other research institution you should be able to access many of the articles.

Summarized Article Page

After finding an article that you want summarized, the AI will do its job and give you the result momentarily, extracting the key ideas from the article.

From my experience, SciSummary would take anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute to summarize one article.

Here are the results:

Here is the summarized URL. I got back about 5 short paragraphs simplifying the complicated language.

What I found very interesting is how SciSummary includes Wikipedia links for any words or terms it thinks are confusing. You can hover over these underlined words to show a quick pop-up definition or explanation, or you can click on the link to take you to the Wikipedia page.

Under “ACTIONS” in the top right of the screen, you have the option to turn off these underlined Wikipedia links if you so wish.

Other Key Features

SciSummary does more than just give you a summarized version of complicated articles. They offer some other cool features and functionality that make it a very convenient tool for further understanding research papers.

Their mission is to make scientific articles easier to understand after all.

“Expand Upon” Feature

The most notable of these features is the ability to expand upon any topics from the summary that you wish. Let me explain.

At the bottom of the summarized article, there is this section which allows you to expand upon any part of the summary for more explanation.

Here is one instance in my summarized article where I wanted more explanation. I simply highlighted the part I wanted more details regarding, and a pop-up appears at the top of the page confirming whether I want to expand on the following text.

After confirming the expansion, I was given 4 detailed paragraphs explaining this in more detail. Super convenient.

A list starts to form at the bottom of the page with all of the areas that you expanded upon.

Different Methods to Summarize Scientific Articles

SciSummary does not just summarize an article into text, they go further than that. For file uploads, you will also be given other methods of understanding the research.

This is found at the top of a summarized article.

You can chat with SciSummary’s research assistant chat bot to further break down the article, along with having the opportunity to see figures related to the article.

SciSummary also gives you a list of references from the paper, which you can import and summarize on SciSummary instantly.

Listen, I’ve been there and you probably have too, spending a huge amount of time finding articles that were referenced in a previous article. No more wild searching for the articles, SciSummary gives it to you and gives you the ability to summarize it on the spot.

Now THAT’S convenient. Talk about saving time!

On top of all that, SciSummary offers recommended articles to expand upon your research.

If you select “Paper Recommendations,” you will be shown articles that are relevant to the currently summarized paper. You also have the ability to filter these results.

SciSummary Pricing

SciSummary offers 4 different pricing plans ranging from free to a one time payment of $299.99 for lifetime access.

The free plan is rather generous, and you can easily summarize 2-5 articles with it depending on their lengths. So feel free to try it out at no cost to you.

The other plans are also very affordable for the features you are getting. Their first paid plan starts at $4.99 a month, and with it you will get 1,000,000 words summarized. 2-5 articles is about 10,000 words, so you can imagine how many articles 1,000,000 words is.

Definitely worth it if you are an avid researcher.

The other plans are $8.99 a month for 2,000,000 words, and the final plan is a one time payment of $299.99 and with it you will receive 10,000,000 words.

SciSummary also offers a “Pay As You Go” pricing model, whereby you will pay for each document that goes over your monthly word limit.

These are very cheap so it should definitely be considered.

Summary

With all of the complex scientific literature out there, SciSummary emerges as a transformative tool for students, researchers, and seekers of knowledge. As a university graduate with a multitude of essays under my belt, I’ve tested SciSummary’s prowess in simplifying complex articles and it is indeed formidable.

This AI gem swiftly transforms lengthy texts into easily digestible summaries, revolutionizing the way students approach research.

SciSummary is the key to unlocking a more accessible and efficient understanding of intricate scientific studies.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is SciSummary Free?

SciSummary offers a rather generous free option with only a simple login (no card details required). This free option gives you 10,000 summarized words, which will allow you to summarize anywhere from 2-5 articles depending on their length. This is perfect for testing out the tool before committing to any paid plans.

How does SciSummary work?

The magic lies in its artificial intelligence capabilities. SciSummary analyzes complex texts and transforms them into concise summaries, presenting the key points and results of the articles.

What makes SciSummary different from other summarizing tools?

SciSummary is specifically designed for scientific content. It goes beyond just simplifying language; it ensures that the core ideas and results of scientific studies remain intact in the summaries. SciSummary excels in its speed, easy to understand language, and other features that greatly assist the understanding of scientific articles.

Can SciSummary handle scientific articles from any field?

Absolutely! SciSummary is versatile and can tackle articles from a wide range of scientific disciplines. Whether it’s physics, biology, or psychology, SciSummary is up for the task.

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