| Votes | By | Price | Discipline | Year Launched |
| MDPI | OPEN SOURCE | Interdisciplinary |
Scilit is a free, comprehensive scholarly database developed by MDPI (the Swiss open-access publisher). It operates as a discovery engine for academic literature, it indexes millions of scientific articles, books, conference papers, and preprints from a wide range of sources. Its goal is to provide a fast, up-to-date, and transparent platform for researchers to track new publications.
Key Features
- Real-time indexing: Scilit uses automated crawlers to track newly published scientific content and update records quickly.
- Wide coverage: Includes journal articles, book chapters, preprints, conference proceedings, and more.
- Full-text links: Where possible, it links directly to open-access versions or publisher sites.
- Advanced filtering and search: Search by authors, keywords, journals, publishers, affiliations, or DOIs.
- Profiles and analytics:
- Author profiles
- Journal metrics
- Publisher lists
- Citation links (where available)
- Integration with MDPI ecosystem but also indexes material from other publishers.
Use Cases
- Tracking the latest scientific publications across disciplines
- Discovering open-access content
- Monitoring specific authors, institutions, journals, or topics
- Quickly accessing bibliographic metadata for research workflows
- Finding alternative sources to Google Scholar or Crossref for metadata lookups
Why It Matters
Scilit provides an open, fast, and free alternative discovery platform that avoids the paywalls and limitations of commercial databases. Its real-time updates make it particularly useful for researchers in fast-moving fields who need immediate access to fresh literature. It complements larger bibliographic ecosystems like Crossref and PubMed, giving users another tool for literature discovery.