Scilit

Scilit is the free comprehensive scholarly publication database providing access to 187 million scholarly publications, 47 million open-access articles, 8 million preprints, and 2.2 billion citation relationships in a fully free, no-subscription-required platform. Operated by MDPI (a leading open-access publisher), Scilit has grown into one of the largest free scholarly databases globally, particular value for researchers in regions or institutions that lack subscriptions to commercial alternatives (Web of Science, Scopus) or that work in disciplines where open-access coverage is critical. Pricing is fully free for all users — no subscription tiers, no premium features locked behind payment, and no institutional licensing required. The free model is sustained by MDPI's broader open-access publishing operations rather than by Scilit itself, which means Scilit's long-term sustainability depends on MDPI's ongoing commitment to open scholarly infrastructure rather than direct revenue from the database. Scilit's differentiation versus Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar is the open-access focus combined with comprehensive coverage at no cost: rather than positioning as paid premium scholarly databases (Web of Science, Scopus pattern) that require institutional subscriptions, Scilit provides comparable scale (187M publications vs Scopus 84M+ and WoS 92M+) at no cost. The Top Cited Scholars 2025 list and annual recognition programs add curatorial value beyond raw database access. The MDPI ownership is meaningful context — MDPI has faced both growth and academic scrutiny in recent years, with implications for Scilit's editorial independence and long-term roadmap. Scilit capabilities include comprehensive scholarly publication search (187M+ publications), open-access article filtering (47M+ OA), preprint coverage (8M+), advanced search with multiple facets, citation network analysis (2.2B+ citations), publisher and source rankings, scholar profiles, organization rankings, and free access from any institution or independent researcher. The platform serves academic researchers, students, librarians, and independent researchers globally with particular value in low-resource regions and OA-focused disciplines. Scilit operates under standard SaaS security practices and GDPR compliance.