Elevate your academic research and writing with an ethical AI assistant that challenges assumptions, manages literature reviews, and offers secure self-hosting.
Sourcely
Streamline academic research by finding, summarizing, and citing credible papers from a database of 200 million articles with this AI-powered search assistant.
$14/mo

About Sourcely
Sourcely is an AI-powered academic search engine designed to assist students and researchers in locating credible scholarly literature. Unlike traditional search engines like Google Scholar that rely primarily on keyword matches, Sourcely allows users to input entire paragraphs or full essays. The platform then analyzes the context of the text to identify relevant peer-reviewed articles, journals, and papers from a massive database containing over 200 million entries. This approach effectively automates the literature search process by matching specific claims or draft text with existing academic evidence. The tool provides a suite of features to enhance research productivity beyond simple discovery. Users can apply advanced filters to refine results by publication year, authorship, and relevance. Once sources are identified, Sourcely can generate factual summaries of each paper, allowing users to quickly assess their utility without reading the full text. It also includes a "Chat with Sources" feature, enabling researchers to ask specific questions directly to the document to clarify findings or methodologies. For referencing, the tool automates the creation of citations in multiple styles, including APA, MLA, and Chicago, which can be exported directly to a bibliography. Sourcely is built for the academic community, ranging from high school students working on their first research assignments to PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers managing complex literature reviews. It is particularly useful for those who have written a draft but need to find supporting evidence, or for researchers entering a new field who need to quickly identify foundational papers. The "Deep Search" functionality caters to more rigorous academic needs where surface-level search results are insufficient, utilizing more advanced AI models to uncover niche insights. What sets Sourcely apart is its ability to handle long-form text inputs rather than simple keywords, bridging the gap between a user's drafted thoughts and formal academic evidence. By integrating summarization and citation management into a single interface, it reduces the need for multiple disparate tools. The platform is developed by a team with direct academic experience, including PhDs in Artificial Intelligence, ensuring that the tool addresses specific pain points such as finding the exact citation for a specific claim or managing a personal library of references.
Sourcely pros & cons
Pros
- Supports searching using entire paragraphs and notes instead of just basic keywords.
- Accesses a massive database of over 200 million peer-reviewed academic papers.
- Generates instant factual summaries to help assess the relevance of research materials.
- Automates citation generation in multiple academic styles including APA, MLA, and Chicago.
- Includes a conversational interface to interact with and ask questions of sourced documents.
Cons
- The free 'Believer' access is limited to a small character count of 300.
- Advanced AI models and high-volume deep searches require the most expensive Max plan.
- Monthly limits on deep searches exist even for users on the Pro and Ultra paid tiers.
- Annual billing is required to reach the lowest advertised monthly price points.
Sourcely use cases
- PhD students can use Deep Search to identify niche peer-reviewed articles for the literature review section of their dissertation.
- Undergraduate students can paste draft paragraphs to find credible supporting evidence and insert citations before submission deadlines.
- Researchers can utilize the 'Chat with Sources' feature to quickly clarify methodology or findings in a paper without reading the full text.
- Academic writers can organize their research by storing found references and citations in a centralized personal library.
- Non-native English speakers can find and cite academic sources in multiple languages to broaden their research scope.
Sourcely features
- advanced publication filters
- pdf document downloads
- personal citations library
- automated citation export
- chat with sources
- deep academic search
- factual summarization
- contextual paragraph search
Sourcely pricing
Is Sourcely free? Yes, Sourcely has a free plan, and paid plans start at $14 / month.
Believer
Free
- Up to 300 characters included
- Experience full potential risk-free
- Basic source finding
- No commitment needed
Pro
$14 / month
- Core features
- 10 deep searches per month
- Unlimited source results
- Factual summaries
- Save sources to library
- Export citations
- Priority support
- Ad-free experience
Ultra
$31 / month
- Improved results
- 30 deep searches per month
- Chat with sources
- Unlimited source results
- Factual summaries
- Save sources to library
- Export citations
- Priority support
Max
$64 / month
- Advanced AI models
- 1000 deep searches per month
- Chat with sources
- Unlimited source results
- Factual summaries
- Save sources to library
- Export citations
- Priority support
Sourcely FAQs
How do I find sources on Sourcely?
You can find sources by simply pasting your essay, a paragraph, or notes into the search tool. Sourcely analyzes the text and automatically finds suitable academic sources that match your content.
What citation styles does Sourcely support?
Sourcely can generate citations and export references in multiple formats including APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, Harvard, and Vancouver. This makes creating bibliographies and bibliographical entries efficient.
How large is the academic database used by Sourcely?
Sourcely provides access to a database containing over 200 million academic papers and journals. This allows it to find highly relevant peer-reviewed articles across various disciplines.
Can I read the full text of the sources found?
Sourcely allows users to download free PDFs for many of the sources listed in its results. This helps researchers access the full material needed for their work without leaving the platform.
Does Sourcely support languages other than English?
Yes, Sourcely supports multiple languages besides English for finding and citing academic sources. This allows users to conduct research across a broader range of international literature.
Ratings & reviews
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