January 2026 Release Notes

January was a big month for Scite. We focused on expanding what researchers can explore, improving how work gets organized, and strengthening the foundation for faster innovation throughout 2026.

Here’s what’s new.

Explore Papers and Patents Together with Scite Assistant (Private Beta)

We’ve launched a private beta of Mixed Patents in Assistant, enabling researchers to ask natural language questions across:

• Academic research papers
• Global patent data
• Or both together

This includes access to:

• Over 200 million patent applications
• More than 90 million patent families
• Data from USPTO, EPO, and WIPO

For the first time, you can explore how research informs patents—and how patents reference academic work—in a single, validated AI-assisted workflow.

This beta will be gradually rolled out to more users over the coming weeks.

A New Assistant Sidebar for More Organized Research

We introduced a redesigned Assistant sidebar to make research sessions easier to manage.

With the new sidebar, you can:

• Quickly return to recent chats
• Use quick actions to jump-start work
• Manage longer research threads more easily

This update is part of a broader effort to make Scite feel more workflow-driven and cohesive, with similar improvements coming to Search and other areas of the product.

Introducing Our First MCP Prototype (Open Access Papers)

We released the first prototype of our MCP integration using Open Access papers.

This marks a new way to access Scite’s validation technology and complements our:

• Web platform
• API
• Zotero plugin
• Browser extension

Over time, this will make it easier to bring Scite into more research environments and workflows.

Faster, More Reliable Assistant Experiences

Behind the scenes, we made major improvements to performance and reliability across Scite.

You’ll notice:

• Faster Assistant responses
• Smoother experiences on mobile
• Improved stability for longer research sessions

We’re also beginning to expose more of the validation steps Assistant takes when generating answers — with more transparency improvements coming soon.

Additional Improvements

• Zotero plugin now supports Zotero 8
• Improved Assistant experience on mobile devices
• Expanded API functionality for managing collections
• Ongoing bug fixes and usability improvements

What's Next

January set the stage for what’s ahead:

• More datasets
• Deeper validation transparency
• Expanded integrations
• Even more powerful research workflows

We’re excited to build on this momentum throughout 2026.

👉 Try Scite today or join the beta to explore what’s next.