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AI Tools for Academic Literature Research

This guide includes examples of available AI-powered tools to assist with scholarly literature searches and reference management plus ethical considerations and warnings.

Subscription Databases with AI

Several Academic Research Databases Have Added AI Features

Note: Basic AI features are available for free in some of the subscription-based databases paid for by Texas A&M University-San Antonio Library (e.g. related papers identification, results analyses and visualizations). Other, more advanced AI capabilities require add-on fees. This page highlights the features that are available without extra cost.

JSTOR

JSTOR

  • Read more about JSTOR's integration of generative AI into its products on their explanatory website

JSTOR's BETA Experimental Search

  • BETA Experimental Search: Search using AI capabilities that look at a broader range of relationships among topics to retrieve relevant results. Unlike with traditional keyword searches, the BETA search returns only the "top 25 results."
  • Selecting the Experimental BETA Search option activates the AI-enabled search. Users can offer feedback when using the BETA search.
  • The image shows a sample search on ("generative AI" OR genAI) AND education using the Experimental BETA search with the explanatory box that opens.

    Search screen of JSTOR's BETA search which retrieves top 25 results

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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JSTOR's Experimental AI Chat with Your Retrieved Articles, etc.

  • Chat with Your Results: Click on the title of an article or chapter to access the full-text, and JSTOR's AI Interactive research tool window opens alongside the article text. First, the text in the window explains the AI tool and offers buttons for specific functions it can perform including Summarize, Show related content, etc. A blank "Ask a question" box allows users to direct the AI to extract specific information in response to prompts. Users can download their conversation including the generated output.
  • The image shows a report titled "Generative AI and engagement with reality" and the AI-generated summary produced by the Interactive Research tool, plus additional suggested questions or prompts for the AI.

     

Window showing JSTOR article screen with AI Chatbot summarization and question feature

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • Note: You need to set up a free, individual JSTOR log-in and access Workspace to have these features available to you.

Constellate (Part of Ithaka Alongside JSTOR) Offers AI-enabled Text Analysis and Visualization--NOTE: Access to Constellate is ending July 1, 2025

  • Ithaka is the non-profit organization that provides JSTOR and what was formerly ArtSTOR
  • Ithaka also offers a text analysis platform called Constellate
  • Text analysis involves considering text as data to identify patterns, relationships, and more that are not discernable through reading
  • Sample output from Constellate based on literature about foster care

Two data visualizations for a search of information on foster care. The left one shows a cluster of circles representative of the frequencies of specific terms showing up in the text dataset. The visualization on the right shows the frequency of a selected term, placement, in the dataset across time.

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Faculty can register for a free, semester-long trial for Constellate

ProQuest Central (and Other ProQuest Databases)

ProQuest Central & Other ProQuest Databases

  • Read more about ProQuest's AI initiatives, especially the Research Assistant feature now available in ProQuest Central and related databases, on their blog.
  • Watch a short video about ProQuest Research Assistant

ProQuest Quick Add Keywords

  • ProQuest Central and other ProQuest Databases offer suggested related keywords and phrases that may be helpful to the researcher's database search.
  • The researcher enters an initial search and then when the results are displayed, suggested keywords to add to the search are offered below the search box.

Shows search entered in ProQuest Central Database: trauma-informed AND assessment AND (education OR learning) AND (college OR university OR post-secondary) AND "adverse childhood experiences" The last phrase was selected from the sample AI-generated Quick Add keywords that appear beneath the search box.

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  • The image shows a sample search related to trauma-informed assessment in higher education. The final phrase added to the search is "Adverse childhood experiences." This was a suggested Quick Add keyword that appeared below the search box after the first search was initiated. 

ProQuest Research Assistant

  • When a researcher opens an article from the results list for which the full-text is available, the Research Assistant launches in a side window. 

Shows article selected from a list of ProQuest Central Search results. The Research Assistant feature window is shown enclosed in a gold box.

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  • The Research Assistant offers the following:
    • An AI-generated key takeaway points, usually one or two related sentences. 
    • Suggested related information sources
    • A list of subject indexing terms that were used to classify the document with the option to search using one or more of the terms
    • Sometimes other related filtering options are included, such as location 
    • A Brainstorm related research topics button
      • Upon clicking the related topics  button, 5 potentially related topics are recommended
      • Each related topic is expressed as a phrase plus a sentence explaining why it might be a useful topic to explore
    • A Describe the important concepts button
      • Up to 10 important concepts may be identified
      • A definition is provided for each concept
      • The important concepts identified do not always mirror the terms and ideas the authors have emphasized in the work

Web of Science

Web of Science Core Collection (Clarivate Analytics)

  • Learn more about how Clarivate is developing its AI functionalities by visiting their post titled Clarivate launches "Academia AI Advisory Council."

Web of Science Quick Add Keywords

  • Clarivate Web of Science's Quick Add Keywords offers suggested related keywords and phrases that may be helpful to the researcher's database search.
  • The researcher enters an initial search and then when the results are displayed, suggested keywords to add to the search are offered below the search box.

Shows a search entered into Web of Science plus suggested keywords to add to the existing search query

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  • The image shows the original search, "open pedagogy" and "higher education" entered as topic search terms. The AI-enabled feature generates recommended keywords to add to the search.
  • In the image, examples of the Quick add keywords generated include "open pedagogy", "renewable assignments", "open educational practices", and "OER-enabled pedagogy".

Web of Science Analyze Results 

  • Web of Science provides researchers with tools to analyze and visualize their search results. 
  • At the top of the search results page, researchers can choose the option to Analyze Results 

Shows how to access the Web of Science's Analyze Results feature

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  • One way to analyze the search results is by Web of Science Categories
  • The user can then make other selections about how the data should be visualized. One of these is the type of visualization. The example below shows a tree map. The other option is a bar chart.

Multicolored category-based tree map of the search "open pedagogy" AND "higher education"

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  • The pictured example analyzes the results from the "open pedagogy" AND "higher education" search.
  • In a tree map, the sizes of the rectangles in relation to each other can help the viewer get an overview of distribution of results, in this case, across disciplinary categories. The number in each rectangle is the number of results that fall under that category.
  • For the sample topic, the largest colored block is Education/Educational Research shown in purple with 484 results. Other, smaller, different colored blocks include Education Scientific Disciplines with 38 results, Linguistics: 26 results, Language/Linguistics: 24 results, etc.

Academic Search Complete (and Other EBSCO Databases)

Academic Search Complete (and Other EBSCOhost Databases)

Generate AI Insights

  • When full-text articles are available, the Generate AI Insights button may appear beside the Access Options button.
  • Clicking the button initiates the AI insights feature. The Insights are generally 2 - 5 bullet points that are identified as highlights or important points from the article.

Partial results screen of Academic Search Complete database search for articles related to AI in college or university education with a focus on students. Results 9 and 10 in the list are shown and the Generate AI Insights button for result 9 is encircled in a purple oval. Result 10 does not offer the Generate AI Insights feature.

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Shows the 5 AI-generated Insights for the article AI Governance in Higher Education: Case Studies of Guidance at Big Ten Universities

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  • The Generate AI Insights function has been rolled out across all EBSCO databases; HOWEVER, it's availability depends on publishers to opt in. This is why it appears sporadically in various databases. It is also important to note that it only shows up for resources that include a direct full-text file as an access option.

Nexis Uni (Lexis Nexis)

Nexis Uni (Lexis Nexis)

The AI features have been made available across News searches and results only.

Analytics

  • After entering your search of News, the results screen includes includes three viewing options: Title View, Full View, and Analytics View.
    The image shows a sample search on Google AI advances and the results screen with an arrow pointing to the News results (2,967) and the viewing options shown as icons on the opposite side of the screen above the sorting options.

View of top of Nexis Uni News search result screen with view options indicated

 

 

 

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  • Several downloadable visualizations of the set of results are presented including
    • Timeline of Publications - Timeline graph
    • Top Publications (with the most articles on the topic) - Horizontal bar graph
    • Top Companies Mentioned - Wordcloud
    • Top People Mentioned - Wordcloud
    • Top Subjects Covered - Tree chart
    • Top Industries Covered - Vertical bar graph
    • Publication Type - Donut graph
    • Publication Language - Horizontal bar graph
  • See sample visualizations
    Sample visuals offered under Nexis Uni News results Analytics- Top Industries Covered, Publication Type, and Publication Language shown
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  • The selected visualizations shown in the image are Top Industries Covered as a vertical bar graph, Publication Type as a donut graph (circle with central hole), and Publication Language as a horizontal bar graph.

News Source AI Summarization

  • From the results list, click on the Preview button for the title that you are interested in.
  • At the top of the preview window, above the full-text of the result, an AI-generated summary appears.

Nexis Uni news result source preview showing AI-generated summary before the full-text

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  • Note: Nexis Uni has a copyright statement prohibiting the uploading of content from Nexis Uni into other AI tools.

 

GALE OneFile

GALE

The GALE OneFile and most Gale In-Context databases have an embedded classic or "weak AI" algorithm that counts word frequencies. In the Gale products, the algorithm is applied to the first 100 search results.

  • Learn more about the GALE Topic Finder tool by watching this video tutorial.

GALE Topic Finder

  • GALE Topic Finder: Enter a keyword or simple search phrase into the Topic Finder and identify frequently co-occurring keywords and topic areas.
  • The image shows the Topic Finder activated as tiles for a search on concussion AND sports.
  • The size of the tiles suggests how often the words appeared in the results. NewRx, Football, Athletes, and Brain Injury are examples of the words that are shown in the different-colored tiles.
  • Related subtopics appear in the larger topic tiles.

GALE Topic Finder search screen showing Concussion AND sports search with related visualization

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • The Topic Finder runs a group of your top search results' titles, subjects, and first 100 words through an algorithm to retrieve results. The keywords that appear most often in these results are then featured in the visualization.

GALE Translate

  • The GALE databases also have a built-in language translator which allows for translation of the article text into around 50 languages and a read aloud function.
  • The image shows the report "Are Sex Differences in Collegiate and High School Sports-Related Concussion Reflected in the Guidelines? A Scoping Review." Below the Author, Publication, and Document Type information, a tool bar is available that offers options for increasing or decreasing the text size, translating the article, or reading it aloud. A user can also change the language of the overall interface, so that options to download, print, etc., would appear in their language of choice.

Sample article on Concussions from GALE database with language translation feature identified

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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