1. Semantic Scholar
Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered Google Scholar alternative that gained votes on Reddit. It has over 200 million academic papers and articles with an option to help you filter the search results. Like other free sites like Google Scholar, it has a modern and friendly interface for efficient searching and browsing.
Similar to Google Scholar, it helps scholars and researchers find research papers, theses, conference papers, books, and patents across many disciplines. Still, the content can be downloaded in PDF format only. It is ad-free and accessible only through a web browser.
Let’s check the steps to download a paper from Semantic Scholar.
Step 1: Open Semantic Scholar and sign in to your account.
Step 2: Select Library under Research at the top-right corner.
Step 3: From the All Papers list or a specific folder, tickmark the checkbox next to the items to export.
Step 4: Choose Export in the Papers Selected bar and pick your desired export method.
2. CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE is an academic search engine and Google Scholar alternative for research dedicated to open-access research papers. Each search result links the full-text PDF or full-text web page. It covers approximately 303 million papers and lets users sort search results by relevance or date.
Similar to other websites like Google Scholar, CORE offers free and quick access to a vast range of academic publications with citation information. Like Google Scholar, this platform also provides robust search capabilities. While it does not have a dedicated mobile app or desktop software, you can download documents in PDF format on your web browsers using its ad-free, clean, and simple UI.
Here’s how to download a paper from CORE in a few steps.
Step 1: Open the CORE official website.
Step 2: Enter your search items in the center Search field and click the Search link.
Step 3: Tap Get PDF to download your desired research document.
3. ResearchGate
ResearchGate is one of the many alternatives to Google Scholar, with over 160 million publication pages. It is amongst the many research paper PDF search engines like Google Scholar that lets you filter search results by publication, date, type, and relevance. You can view, access, and download full-text PDF documents of journal articles, conference papers, preprints, theses, and book chapters with citation metrics in different formats. While you get an ad-free and clean UI on the site, ReserachGate is also available on the App Store and PlayStore.
Check the super-easy process to download a paper, article, or book from ResearchGate.
Step 1: Open ResearchGate, an excellent site like Google Scholar, to view the abstract, citations, or references online.
Step 2: Tap Download Full-text PDF at the upper-right corner to view the full-text document without creating an account.
4. PubMed
Among many other websites like Google Scholar, PubMed qualifies as the best free alternative to Google Scholar. It has over 37 million biomedical literature citations from MEDLINE, life science journals, and books (online) accessible ad-free with a functional and friendly interface.
PubMed is better than Google Scholar in terms of indexed articles, advanced search features, full-text links, citation management, and clinical and practical guidelines, but Google Scholar outperforms PubMed in terms of broader coverage, ease of access, comprehensive indexing, link to related research and inclusion of conference papers and theses.
Learn how to use PubMed to download academic content like papers, journals, articles, or books in simple steps.
Step 1: Open PubMed and enter the paper’s title/author name or year and publication volume in the Search field. Click Search.
Step 2: Click on the paper title to open a specific article or Research paper. Click the SpringerLink or PMC.
Step 3: Tap Download PDF to download your paper in PDF format. Click the downloaded paper/article to save it and hit the Download icon in the top bar at the right.
Step 4: Save the File Name and choose a Save As Type. Click Save.
5. arXiv
arXiv is one of the top Google Scholar similar sites, where you can find articles other than preprints, conference papers, theses, and technical reports. Access this Google Scholar alternative for free to explore, read, and download nearly 2.4 million documents in PDF with citation information online across various fields. Sort search results by relevance or submission date. Like Google Scholar, arXiv does not have ads or a dedicated mobile app/desktop software. However, you can access the clear and straightforward site on your web browser hassle-free
Follow these simple steps to download a paper, journal, article, or book from arXiv.
Step 1: Find the paper’s identifier in yymm.nnnn form. Older submissions can be in arch-ive/yymmnnn.
Step 2: Enter the identifier in the Search or Article-id box and visit the paper’s abstract page.
Step 3: Choose a paper-downloading format from PDF, PostScript, HTML, and Source.
Step 4: To download bulk articles, space out your accesses by at least three seconds. Or, contact arXiv support to download over a thousand articles simultaneously.
6. Microsoft Academic
Microsoft Academic is another best alternative to Google Scholar as it helps scholars and researchers stay on top of their game. It has indexed over 230 million academic articles, including theses, conference papers, and patents, where researchers can sort results through relevance, citation count, and publication date. Like many websites similar to Google Scholar, it did not display any ads and instead featured a modern, user-friendly interface to work on any web browser.
Learn how to download and view academic papers, journals, articles, or books from Microsoft Academia.
Step 1: Open Microsoft Academia and search for any topic, author, journal, etc.
Step 2: Choose a desired reference paper and click the Download icon underneath it to save on your device.
7. Sci-Hub
Sci-Hub is a free and trendy alternative for Google Scholar. It has over 84 million academic papers and articles across different disciplines. Unlike other sites similar to Google Scholar, Sci-Hub does not have advanced sorting, categorizing, or filtering options.
Its user-friendly interface lets you download full-text articles in PDF format; however, the performance can vary depending on the mirror site in use. This best scientific and research article PDF book downloader does not have a dedicated mobile app or desktop software, but it welcomes you to explore the ad-free site on any web browser.
Find out how to download and access academic research papers, journals, articles, or books from Sci-Hub.
Step 1: Visit Sci-Hub, a great website like Google Scholar, on your browser. You can use any of the updated proxy links.
Step 2: Enter the full name of the DOI, URL, or URL in the paper you want to download.
Step 3: Select Open to access it.
8. Consensus
Consensus stands out among many Google Scholar-like websites but with an AI-driven search engine for research to offer synthesized summaries and insights from academic research. Similar to other databases and research sites like Google Scholar, Consensus has many academic researchers from different sources and lets scholars research by asking questions or entering prompts.
Consensus boasts a modern, user-friendly interface for quick, ad-free research. While free, a subscription may be required to access full-text articles.
Consensus does not offer full-text downloads. However, you can access the summarized points and critical insights from academic research. Let’s find the best way to use Consensus to read a paper, journal, article, or book.
Step 1: Open Consensus, the AI-based alternative of Google Scholar, and ask your query in the Search bar at the center.
Step 2: Select and open a preferred search result to review the summaries and decide if they align with your needs.
How to Edit PDFs Downloaded from Google Scholar Alternatives
After learning about sites and things like Google Scholar, you can download and keep all the scholarly materials for future reference. You may also need to edit the downloaded PDFs to annotate, reformat, convert formats, redact information, and customize it per your usage. SwifDoo PDF can come in handy when editing PDF files. It lets you view and edit PDFs downloaded from a website similar to Google Scholar on Windows, iOS, and Android.
Using AI technology, SwifDoo PDF can quickly and easily add texts, links, images, backgrounds, or annotations to a PDF document. It also lets you change the font, size, and text color and search/replace a word to fix all types.
Let’s see how to edit a PDF using SwifDoo PDF in four steps.
Step 1: Launch the SwifDoo PDF and open a PDF document.
Step 2: Enter the edit mode by tapping Edit in the top bar. Then, select an edit mode: Edit All, Edit Text, or Edit Image.
Step 3: Modify the PDF text and change the font alignment or color if needed. Then, add images or hyperlinks to the file.
Step 4: Press Ctrl+S or tap Save to save your changes.
Once you settle for an alternative to the Google Scholar site, downloading PDFs and other scholarly documents will be easier. You can then access and edit them using the SwifDoo PDF. It has several useful features for reading, editing, and managing your PDF publications, academic papers, books, etc. While SwifDoo PDF is an all-rounder, here's a glimpse of its rich functions.
- Read your documents in dark and light themes for an immersive viewing experience;
- Translate the document and read the PDF aloud for multitasking;
- Convert your PDFs with original formatting;
- Streamlining PDF processing efficiently with AI;
- Password-protect and digitally sign your PDF and other documents for security.
Final Wrap
Google Scholar might be a student's go-to solution, but advanced scholars and researchers often look for reliable and sophisticated Google Scholar alternatives to search and view journals, research articles, conference papers, theses, etc. We have discussed the eight best PDF tools for seamlessly downloading and editing your research articles with SwifDoo PDF.
