> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.scite.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Documentation

> The Scite API gives you tools to search, analyze, and evaluate scientific literature.

Get access to 1.6B+ Smart Citations across 315M+ indexed articles, drawn from 41M+ full-text sources.

Papers and Tallies are public so **no API key is required:** . [Make your first requests →](/quickstart)

For Search, Citation Graph, Collections, and other authenticated tools, you can [create an API key](https://scite.ai/users/me/api) with a Pro account. Enterprise teams can [contact sales](https://scite.ai/contact) to learn more about high-volume access and custom plans.

## Why use the Scite API?

Most literature APIs tell you what a paper is. Scite also shows how later research has cited and evaluated it.

* **Updated daily.** Keep literature and citation signals current as new publications are processed.
* **Citation-aware search.** Search paper metadata and the context in which papers are cited.
* **Evidence for AI.** Use [Smart Citations](/guides/smart-citations) to surface supporting, contradicting, and mentioning research in verifiable outputs.

## What you can build

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Find & evaluate literature" icon="magnifying-glass" href="/guides/search">
    Search metadata and citation context, retrieve papers by DOI, and trace how later research cites them.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Build research workflows" icon="folder-tree" href="/guides/collections">
    Manage reusable paper collections and screen manuscripts for retractions or contradicting citations.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Ground AI in evidence" icon="messages" href="/mcp/overview">
    Generate cited answers or connect Scite to ChatGPT, Claude, and other MCP-compatible tools.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Explore broader evidence" icon="folder-open" href="/guides/evidence">
    Search patents, grants, clinical trials, and FDA/MHRA regulatory records.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Key concepts

Scite uses a few terms (target/source, tallies, dashboards) that don't map 1:1 onto other citation databases. Start with [Citations & Tallies](/concepts/citation-model) and the [Glossary](/concepts/glossary).