AI doesn’t do the research for you, and it guarantees no reference. With clear limits, it speeds up what surrounds the science: finding the literature, polishing your English, preparing a grant application, putting together an exam.
AI helps academic researchers with tasks such as “Read a paper outside your field,” “Take a first pass through the literature,” and “Query a project’s corpus.” Start with a single task, in SciSpace: allow 10 minutes the first time, and always review the result before you use it.
For each task: how it goes today, then with the tool. And the time it takes the first time.
SciSpace · “Chat with PDF”
TodayA paper close to your topic rests on a method you don’t practice, and it costs you half a day.
With SciSpaceA guided reading of the paper, passage by passage, to decide whether it deserves a full read.
Elicit · “Find papers”
TodayA new topic, and in a few days you have to spot the work that matters, outside the journals you already follow.
With ElicitA table of the relevant studies and a first comparison of their methods, to complete with your own reading.
Gemini Notebook · A notebook per project
TodayForty papers read in two years, and no way to find which one defined the concept differently, or on which page.
With Gemini NotebookA comparison table drawn from your own corpus, with the exact passage to cite.
Also
DeepL · “DeepL Write,” academic style
Smoother English, with the meaning checked sentence by sentence.
A table of all the comments, then a first draft of the response letter to rewrite with your coauthors.
Claude · “Projects”
A critical read of your application, criterion by criterion, before you submit.
MacWhisper · Model marked “Speaker Recognition”
The full text of each interview, speaker by speaker, without the recording ever leaving your Mac.
Claude · With an attached file
Two equivalent exams, with a grading scale and an answer key, to check yourself before printing.
Claude · Incognito chat
A one-page first draft, based on your own observations, to rewrite and sign.
What to check
SciSpace can confuse a hypothesis with a result, or leave out a caveat from the authors: open the cited passage before you reuse a number. Upload only published papers, never a manuscript you are reviewing or unpublished results.
Read a paper outside your fieldSciSpace · “Chat with PDF”The prompt to copy
I’m a researcher in [your field] and I’m reading this paper from [another field]. Answer in English. Explain to me: the question asked and the hypothesis, the method step by step as you would to a colleague from another field, the data and the sample size, the main result with the exact numbers from the paper, and the limitations the authors acknowledge. Then flag the methodological choices a specialist might challenge, and the technical terms I need to understand to cite the paper correctly. For each point, give the passage of the paper. If the paper says nothing on a point, write “not specified.”
In Nova, “My path” starts from your level: one next step at a time.
The first moves, with free tools.
In your jobWrite a letter of recommendation
In your jobRead a paper outside your field
In your jobPrepare the response to reviewers
In your jobTake a first pass through the literature
For a team: everyone moves forward in their own job. You see the team’s progress, never one person’s activity.
One research question, and the studies laid out in a table: one row per paper, with the method and the result. Then you ask questions about the papers you kept.
Recommended planBasic, $0. Then: Pro, $49 per user per month, billed yearly ($588).
For long, delicate texts: the response to reviewers, the review of a grant application, an exam and its answer key. It gives you real Word files.
Recommended planFree to start. Pro, $20 per month ($17 per month if billed yearly).
You add a project’s papers: it answers from those documents alone and shows the quoted passage.
Recommended planFree: 100 notebooks, 50 sources per notebook, 50 questions per day.
For reading a paper outside your field: you highlight a formula, a table, or a method, and it explains it and cites the passage.
Recommended planBasic, $0. Then: Premium, $20 per month, or $12 per month billed yearly.
DeepL Write polishes your English in an academic style, sentence by sentence, without touching your reasoning.
Recommended planFree, with a limit. Then: Individual, €7.49 per month, billed yearly.
On a Mac, it transcribes your research interviews and separates the speakers, and the recording never leaves your computer.
Recommended planMacWhisper Free, €0. To export to Word or PDF: MacWhisper Pro, €64, one-time payment.
Prices taken from the vendors’ official pages, dated on each tool page. These subscriptions are not included in Nova. Brands are named to identify the tools. No affiliation.
Nova recommends 6 to start with: Elicit, Claude, Gemini Notebook, SciSpace, DeepL, and MacWhisper. All of them can be used for free to get started.
One research question, and the studies laid out in a table: one row per paper, with the method and the result. Then you ask questions about the papers you kept. The plan to choose: Basic, $0. Then: Pro, $49 per user per month, billed yearly ($588).
With “Read a paper outside your field,” in SciSpace (“Chat with PDF”). Allow 10 minutes the first time. A guided reading of the paper, passage by passage, to decide whether it deserves a full read.
No. Nova is software, not an accredited training provider: it issues no diploma or certification. It costs €19 per month for one person, and €129 per month for a team of up to ten people.