Find the papers that actually matter
Describe what you're researching in plain language. LitFinder turns it into focused searches over 300M+ scholarly works and ranks what it finds by how well each paper matches.
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How it works
Understands your request
An LLM reads your description and picks up any constraints you mention, such as a date range.
Searches by meaning
OpenAlex's semantic search finds papers across 300M+ works that describe your topic, even in different words. The papers those matches cite most often are added too, so the classics aren't missed.
Ranks by meaning
A cross-encoder reads every title and abstract against your request. Relevance decides the order, with a small boost for well-cited papers so the classics don't get lost.
Agent mode lets the LLM run the searches itself: it reads abstracts, follows up on promising leads, looks up researchers, and explains why it picked each paper. It's slower but handles multi-part questions and "who works on X?" well.