Research paper tools
Is there an AI tool that explains a paper PDF with a quote and page for every claim?
Updated by the Vidi team
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You want an AI to explain a research paper. You also want to see exactly where each claim comes from, so you can check it and cite it. Several tools say their answers are cited, but they do not all mean the same thing.
This guide explains what to look for and how a few tools compare, based only on what we could verify. It shows a simple routine for checking any citation yourself. It also shows one way to do it with Research with Vidi, which ties each claim in a paper video to a quote and its page.
How it works
How to get a paper explained with quotes and pages in Research with Vidi
Add the paper
Open Research with Vidi and upload the PDF, up to 50 MB and 300 pages. You can also add it by DOI, arXiv ID, OpenAlex or PubMed ID, a link or its title. Choose a length from 30 seconds to 5 minutes, 16:9 or 9:16, and an AI voice or your own recording.
Check every claim
Each claim is labelled supported, simplified, interpretation or analogy, and it must quote the page it comes from. Vidi checks that the quote is really on that page and leaves unsupported claims out of the video. You check the meaning: open the PDF and read the sentences around each quote.
Present it or keep reading
Download the video with subtitles and a transcript, or share an unlisted link you can switch off at any time. To ask your own questions about the paper instead, open it in Read with Vidi, then export reading notes and an annotated PDF.
Four things a citation can mean
When a tool says its answers are cited, it can mean four different things. It can link to or highlight a passage in the PDF. It can show a verbatim quote. It can give a page number. Or it can point to another paper altogether.
These are not the same check. SciSpace describes its Chat with PDF answers as backed by citations from specific sections of the PDF. That tells you which part of the paper an answer leans on. Its page does not promise a page number or an exact quote, so test it on your own paper.
Literature assistants work at a different level. In Ai2 Asta, clicking an in-text citation shows the cited paper's title and authors. That tells you which paper backs a claim, not where in that paper it appears.
Before you pick a tool, decide which of the four you need. For a thesis, a review or a talk, aim for the quote and the page, so you can find the line quickly.
How to check citations in any tool
Treat every citation marker as a lead, not proof. A link to a passage only shows where the tool looked. It does not show that the passage supports the sentence.
Start by testing the tool on a paper you know well. If it misreads that one, expect it to misread papers you know less well.
For any claim you will reuse, open the PDF next to the answer. Search for the quote with an exact-match search. If the words are not there, the quote is really a paraphrase. Then read the sentences around it and ask whether they say what the answer claims.
Check which page numbering the tool uses. The PDF viewer's page index and the journal's printed page numbers can differ because of cover pages and journal pagination.
Use a clean, text-based PDF and run OCR on scanned files first. Be extra careful with claims about tables, figures and equations, since text extraction can mangle them. If the PDF is unpublished or confidential, read the tool's data-use policy before you upload it.
Which option fits which job
If you want a quick text chat about one PDF, with section summaries and explanations of text you highlight, SciSpace Chat with PDF is a reasonable choice. It has a free tier, supports more than 75 languages and states that it does no data training. A university library guide from HKUST lists it among AI tools that cite genuine sources.
If your question is which papers say something, rather than what one paper says, a literature assistant such as Ai2 Asta fits better. Its paper describes search over around 108 million abstracts in 23 fields of study.
If you want claim-level quotes with page numbers that you can show other people, Research with Vidi is built for that. In a paper video, each claim carries a label and must quote the page it comes from, and scenes that rest on the paper show the quote and its page number on screen. Its reader, Read with Vidi, answers your questions about the PDF and checks quotes and numbers against the paper. The trade-offs: a paper video costs 9 credits, and narration is only in English or Vietnamese.
What makes a good cited explanation
Whether you want notes or a video, the structure matters as much as the tool. Start with the one finding you want people to remember. Then give the two or three steps of evidence behind it, each tied to its own quote and page. End with what the finding does not show.
Keep one claim per scene or paragraph. That way each claim has one quote, and a reader can check it quickly.
Mark the difference between what the paper says and what you add. Research with Vidi does this with its four labels: supported, simplified, interpretation and analogy. You can do the same by hand. Write 'the authors report' for direct claims and 'in simple terms' for simplifications, and flag analogies as analogies.
Match the length to the audience. A short vertical version for social media can carry one finding. A talk or a lab channel can carry the full argument. Research with Vidi lets you choose from 30 seconds to 5 minutes, in 16:9 or 9:16.
How three options cite a paper, based on what we could verify
| SciSpace Chat with PDF | Research with Vidi | Ai2 Asta | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Chatting with one PDF | Explaining one paper in a narrated video, plus a paper reader and literature reviews | Questions across the literature, not one PDF |
| What a citation points to | Specific sections of the PDF | A quote from the paper with its page, for each claim in the video | The cited paper's title and authors |
| Page numbers | Not stated on its page; test it yourself | Yes, each claim must quote its page; scenes that rest on the paper show the quote and page on screen | No; it cites papers, not pages |
| Quote check | Not described on its page | Vidi checks the quote is on that page; you check the meaning | Not described in our notes |
| Main output | Text answers, section summaries, explanations of highlighted text | Video of 30 seconds to 5 minutes with subtitles and transcript; reader notes and annotated PDF | Answers drawn from around 108 million abstracts in 23 fields |
| Cost to start | Free tier | Reader free up to 30 answers a day; paper video 9 credits | Not covered in our notes |
| Languages | More than 75 | Paper video narration in English or Vietnamese; reader answers in 74 languages | Not covered in our notes |
Limits worth knowing
- A quote shows where a claim comes from, not that the reading of it is right. AI explanations can be wrong in any tool, including Vidi, so check the meaning against the paper yourself.
- We found no independent benchmark of how accurate passage or page citations are in single-PDF chat tools. Test any tool on a paper you know before trusting it on one you don't.
- Research with Vidi paper videos are narrated only in English or Vietnamese, and each project costs 9 credits. If you only need a free text chat about a PDF, a tool like SciSpace may suit you better.
- Page numbers may follow the PDF viewer's index rather than the journal's printed pages. Check which one you are looking at before you cite.
Sources
Can ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini give me quotes and page numbers from a PDF?
You can ask a general chatbot to quote verbatim and give a page number. Treat what it returns as unchecked text. Search each quote in the PDF with an exact-match search, and confirm the page yourself before you reuse it in your own work.
Why don't the page numbers match my journal article?
The PDF viewer's page index and the journal's printed page numbers can differ, for example because of a cover page or the journal's pagination. Check which numbering the tool uses, and follow your style guide when you cite.
Does a citation prove the AI's claim is right?
No. A citation marker shows where the tool looked. The passage may be on a related topic without supporting the sentence. Read the text around each quote and decide for yourself whether it says what the answer claims.
How accurate are AI citations to a paper?
We could not find an independent benchmark for passage or page citations in single-PDF chat tools. Researchers do study citation validity in AI output, for example in the GhostCite analysis. Until better evidence exists, test each tool on a paper you know well.
Is it safe to upload an unpublished manuscript?
Read each tool's data-use policy first. SciSpace, for example, states 256-bit encryption and no data training for Chat with PDF. If a tool's policy is unclear to you, keep confidential work out of it.
Can I get quotes and page numbers across several papers?
In Vidi Research, choose 2 to 12 papers from your library and a research question. Vidi builds an evidence table with quotes and page numbers and drafts a literature review section. It costs 5 credits, takes about 10 to 20 minutes and exports as CSV, Markdown or an Overleaf project.
What does Research with Vidi cost?
Asking research questions is free up to 20 a day, and reading help is free up to 30 answers a day. A paper video costs 9 credits and includes one finished video. New accounts get 5 free credits, and one credit is worth one US dollar.