LitReview AI

For researchers who already picked their papers

AI literature review from your PDF shortlist

Upload 3–30 PDFs. Get a theme-based, cited draft you can verify page by page — then export to Word.

How the AI literature review pipeline works

Evidence table → thematic outline → cited draft. Cites only PDFs you upload — with page-level verification. Built for the step after Elicit or Zotero, not paper discovery.

1

Upload your shortlist

Up to 30 PDFs + optional Zotero .bib. Full text and per-page index stored — no external citation database.

2

Evidence table (1 pass)

One long-context read builds comparable rows — findings, methods, limits, page refs — across all papers.

3

Themes, not paper lists

Outline clustered from evidence in the same pass (recommended). Edit every section before drafting.

4

Cited draft + page check

Sections grounded in PDF excerpts + evidence. Click any citation for a page excerpt. Export .docx.

Why researchers choose LitReview AI

Your pain pointTypical AI toolLitReview AI
I need themes across 10+ papers, not 10 summariesChatPDF: one PDF at a timeEvidence table + thematic outline in one long-context pass
I'm afraid of fake citationsGeneric writers invent referencesBYOP only — page-level verification on YOUR uploads
My draft reads like an annotated bibliographyPaper-by-paper listsPrompts enforce synthesis by theme
I can't get from Zotero to a Word chapterScattered notes & toolsTable → outline → cited draft → .docx
I don't know how much of each PDF the AI actually readBlack-box summarizersCoverage meter per PDF before you generate

Best AI for literature review? Compare with Elicit, ChatPDF & generic writers →

For you if…

  • ✓ You already have 3–30 core PDFs for your review
  • ✓ You need cross-paper synthesis, not single-doc summaries
  • ✓ You want a verifiable first draft before submission
  • ✓ You export to Word and keep editing in your thesis

Not for you if…

  • — You still need to discover papers (try Elicit first)
  • — You're running a full PRISMA systematic review at scale
  • — You want one-click generation without reviewing sources

LitReview AI sits after discovery: synthesize what you've already chosen to include.

Built for academic integrity

  • ✓ Cites only papers you upload — no hallucinated references from a model database
  • ✓ Long-context reads your corpus; drafts ground claims in PDF excerpts
  • ✓ Thematic synthesis, not an annotated bibliography of one-paper summaries
  • ✓ Source verification panel with PDF page excerpts before you submit
  • ✓ Export to Word with a references list for your thesis workflow

Read our methodology →AI literature review generator demo →