AI research paper summarizer

Summarize any research paper in 30 seconds

Upload a PDF or paste a link and get a clear, structured summary — key findings, methods, and conclusions — without reading all 20 pages.

Summarize a paper freeExplore research tools

Free to start · No credit card required

Used by 170,000+ learners and professionals worldwide
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Paste a paper and get the summary

Drop in a PDF or a link to a paper and read the structured summary in seconds.

Summarize Your Research Paper

Upload a PDF or paste a URL to a PDF document. Select your desired summary language. You will be redirected to register.

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How it works

From dense PDF to clear summary in three steps

Provide the paper, let AI read and structure it, then act on a summary you can actually use.

01

Step 1: Provide Paper

Upload your research paper as a PDF file or paste a direct link to a PDF document.

02

Step 2: AI Summarizes

Our advanced AI reads and analyzes the paper, extracting key information and main arguments.

03

Step 3: Get Summary

Receive a structured summary. Chat with the PDF and more when you sign up!

Why students summarize with Scholarly

Built for real academic reading

Every summary is grounded in the paper itself — structured, citable, and ready for your literature review.

Structured summaries

Get the abstract, methods, key findings, and conclusions laid out clearly instead of one undifferentiated wall of text.

Key findings extraction

The AI pulls out the results and main arguments that matter, so you know in a minute whether a paper is worth a full read.

Grounded in the source

Every point traces back to the paper you uploaded — no fabricated claims, no generic filler, just what the authors actually wrote.

PDF or link

Upload a PDF straight from your downloads, or paste a direct link to a paper. Either way you get the same clean summary.

Chat with the paper

Sign up and keep going — ask follow-up questions, request a deeper explanation, or pull quotes for your own notes.

Turn it into study material

Convert the same paper into flashcards, a study guide, or a cheat sheet so reading turns directly into revision.

Why summarize papers

Why an AI summary beats skimming an abstract

An abstract tells you what the authors want you to take away; an AI summary tells you what the paper actually contains. Scholarly reads the full document — methods, results, limitations — and structures it so you can judge the work for yourself in a minute instead of fifteen.

For a literature review, that speed compounds. Summarizing twenty papers used to mean a full day of reading. With grounded AI summaries you can triage the stack first — read deeply only the papers that genuinely matter and move past the ones that don't.

Because every summary is grounded in the paper you uploaded, you are not at the mercy of a hallucinated claim. The points trace back to the source, so you can cite confidently and verify anything that looks surprising before it lands in your draft.

And the summary is just the start. Sign in and the same paper becomes something you can chat with, turn into flashcards, or fold into a study guide — so academic reading flows straight into the study loop instead of dead-ending in a highlighter pass.

FAQ

Research paper summarizer FAQ

How do I summarize a research paper?

Simply upload your research paper PDF or paste a direct link to a PDF document. Our AI will analyze the content and generate a structured summary with key findings.

Is the research paper summarizer free?

Yes, you can summarize research papers for free with Scholarly. Premium adds higher limits and extra features like chatting with documents.

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Pricing

Unlock Full Potential with Scholarly

Sign up for free to save summaries, chat with documents, and access more AI tools — go Premium for higher limits and longer papers.

Summarize a paper freeExplore research tools

Trying your first source? Start Free. Working with new material each week? Premium includes 10 AI Creation Credits a week. Need more capacity? Compare Laureate.

Free

Try the workflow with your first source.

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Get Started

  • 3 lifetime AI Chat messages

  • 1 free AI Creation Credit total

  • 2-minute podcasts and video lectures

  • 1 free file upload total (8MB)

  • 5 lifetime quiz questions

  • 1 completed practice exam total

  • 15 lifetime voice minutes

  • 32-page PDF to flashcards

  • 500 lifetime autocomplete words

Use it to generate flashcards, improve a deck, or create a podcast, video lecture, slides, infographic, mind map, study guide, worksheet, spreadsheet, story book, timeline, SOP, flowchart, lesson plan, or outline — or run Deep Research or turn a recording into AI Meeting Notes.

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Billed yearly at $144 · save $216

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  • Everything in Free, plus:

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  • Podcasts up to 60 minutes, videos up to 45 minutes

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  • 1000-page PDF to flashcards

  • Combine up to 10 sources per creation

  • Export to Anki

  • Priority support

Laureate

For heavier workloads and larger source collections.

$99

/month

billed monthly · cancel anytime

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  • Everything in Premium, plus:

  • 80 AI Creation Credits per week

  • Podcasts up to 60 minutes, videos up to 45 minutes

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Pricing shown in USD by default. Local currency may be available in app or at checkout.

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AI chat

Premium and Laureate include unlimited AI chat. GPT 5.6 Sol and Claude Opus 5 are reserved for credit-metered AI creations.

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3 total
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Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

AI Creation Credits

AI Creation Credits share one balance across every creation tool. Most models use 1 credit, Sonnet and Kimi use 2, and Frontier models Sol and Opus use 3.

Free
1 total
Premium
10/week
Laureate
80/week

Podcast length

Free episodes are fixed at 2 minutes. Paid plans can set a target length up to 60 minutes.

Free
2 minutes
Premium
Up to 60 minutes
Laureate
Up to 60 minutes

Video lecture length

Free lectures with a length control are fixed at 2 minutes. Paid plans can set a target up to 45 minutes. Short uses its own short video format.

Free
2 minutes
Premium
Up to 45 minutes
Laureate
Up to 45 minutes

File uploads

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1 total (8MB)
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Unlimited (300MB)
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Unlimited (1 GB each)

PDF to flashcards

Free
32 pages
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1000 pages
Laureate
3000 pages

Sources per creation

Free
Up to 1
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Up to 10
Laureate
Up to 20

Practice questions

Free
5 total
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Unlimited

Practice exams

Free
1 total
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Laureate
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Voice mode

Free
15 min total
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2 hr/day
Laureate
12 hr/day

Autocomplete

Free
500 words total
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Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

Export to Anki

Free
—
Premium
Included
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Included

Support

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Priority
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What customers say

Scholarly has enhanced the quality of notes and questions I administer to my tutees. Insightful, to the point.

TD Georgas

TD Georgas

Tutor

I have very good experience with Scholarly it summarize me scientific text in hovel academic level with citation. I use this for any therapeutic area . It is great and useful tool.

Diana

Diana

Scholarly user

Scholarly has been a valuable tool for my studies. The AI-generated flashcards and intuitive features make organizing and retaining information much easier.

Briana

Briana

Scholarly user

This app is great for studying for big test. Drop your PDF's in the system and it'll do the trick. You can organize it specifically for your needs.

Kelvin

Kelvin

Scholarly user

Your questions, answered

Is Scholarly free to use?

Yes! The free plan includes core study tools with lifetime allowances: 3 AI Chat messages, 500 autocomplete words, 5 quiz questions, 15 voice minutes, 1 practice exam, one free AI Creation Credit total, and 1 file upload. These allowances do not reset. Upgrade to Premium for 10 AI Creation Credits per week and unlimited uploads.

What uses my free AI Creation Credits?

AI Creation Credits are shared across flashcards, podcasts, videos, slides, AI Documents, Deep Research, and the Transcribe tool. The selected model determines the credit cost. Recording live audio and saving its transcript uses your file upload allowance instead; it does not use AI Creation Credits.

Can I cancel anytime?

Absolutely. There are no contracts or commitments. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings, and you'll keep access until the end of your billing period.

What payment methods do you accept?

We accept all major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Pricing is displayed in USD by default, but local currency is available in the app.

Can I use Scholarly with a class or school?

Yes. For a school or organization-wide rollout, contact us at hello@scholarly.so and we'll help you find the right setup.

What happens when I hit a free plan limit?

You'll see a prompt to upgrade. Your existing work is never lost — limits only apply to new actions. Free-plan allowances are lifetime credits and do not reset. Premium includes 10 AI Creation Credits per week, podcasts up to 60 minutes, video lectures up to 45 minutes, unlimited uploads, chat, autocomplete, quizzes, and exams, plus more daily voice time.