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The 11 best technology tools for researchers.

Research is a meticulous, painstaking process. But thanks to the help of technology ( https://www.bairesdev.com/insights/it-outsourcing-services/ ), the pain is lessened. No matter your field — whether it’s biology or computer science — there’s a tool out there to help you organize your notes, cite your sources, find important articles, connect with colleagues, and more.

Here’s a selection of 11 of the most useful ones.

This free tool wants to be “your personal research assistant.” It’s a free-to-use citation manager that helps you collect, organize, keep track of, cite, and share your research. You can also sync your research across devices, as Zotero offers integrations with browsers and Word processors.

The largest database of abstracts and citations of peer-reviewed research literature in the world, Scopus includes more than 36,000 titles. It covers subjects such as physical, life, social, and health sciences, with numerous publishers from around the world. It’s free to search for author profiles, as well as claim and update your own. Non-subscribers can also view journal rankings and metrics.

3. QuickCalcs

From GraphPad, QuickCalcs allows you to compute statistical analyses for a variety of data: categorical, continuous, statistical distributions, random numbers, and chemical and radiochemical. You’ll simply choose the category and type of calculator, enter the data, and view your results — all within your browser.

A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique code consisting of letters, numbers, and special characters assigned to articles so that others can find them online. With Zenodo, you can receive a free DOI for your research, whether it’s a paper, article, essay, blog post, and nearly anything you can think of. Using it, you can share it with a thriving online community of researchers in all kinds of fields.

EndNote is an all-in-one tool for managing your references and citations. You can share your references with teams and keep track of edits and changes, comb resources to find the right ones for you, and create and format bibliographies. The software is packed with other features, including automatic link and reference updating to keep your citations current.

6. ReadCube

Here’s a web, mobile, and desktop platform that will help you manage your research across your devices. You can find, read, and annotate materials and preserve your notes and lists on your phone, laptop, or whatever device you’re using.

7. ResearchGate

Along with offering free access to research in your field, ResearchGate enables you to connect with others in the scientific community. You can share your work and collaborate with others in the industry, as well as get feedback.

You’re also able to see statistics on the impact of your work and the audience it’s garnering, along with receiving alerts when your connections publish new work. It’s completely free to register, too.

8. Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a free search engine that indexes academic research across a wide array of disciplines and formats, including journals, books, articles, dissertations, and more. It’s free to use for everyone, whether you’re a student or simply a curious person. Some articles are also free to read, while others require a login — although you’ll still generally be able to read the abstract either way.

9. F100Prime

Find news and recommendations for articles you should read about work in your field. Along with receiving the recommendations, you’ll get a quick summary of why you should read them. You can also follow local experts and get alerts about the articles they recommend, as well as save searches and get notified when works matching your interests and criteria become available.

Run by Cornell University, arXiv is a free, open-access repository of more than 1.5 million scholarly preprints that are accessible online. It covers fields including computer science, physics, economics, mathematics, statistics, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, and electrical engineering and systems science.

11. SJ Finder

Not only can you browse more than 30,000 accredited journals with existing research through SJ Finder, but you can also receive recommendations on journals that are best suited to publishing your own articles based on keywords in your paper’s title and abstract. The platform also helps you find a community, including labs, research partners, reviewers, and more.

Instant citations, connections with others in your field, access to peer-reviewed journal articles — what could be better? Research is grueling work, but with the help of these tools, you’ll streamline the process tenfold.

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Your personal research assistant

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research.

Available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and iOS

Just need to create a quick bibliography? Try ZoteroBib .

Meet Zotero.

Collect with a click..

Zotero automatically senses research as you browse the web. Need an article from JSTOR or a preprint from arXiv.org? A news story from the New York Times or a book from a library? Zotero has you covered, everywhere.

Organize your way.

Zotero helps you organize your research any way you want. You can sort items into collections and tag them with keywords. Or create saved searches that automatically fill with relevant materials as you work.

Cite in style.

Zotero instantly creates references and bibliographies for any text editor, and directly inside Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs. With support for over 10,000 citation styles, you can format your work to match any style guide or publication.

Stay in sync.

Zotero can optionally synchronize your data across devices, keeping your files, notes, and bibliographic records seamlessly up to date. If you decide to sync, you can also always access your research from any web browser.

Collaborate freely.

Zotero lets you co-write a paper with a colleague, distribute course materials to students, or build a collaborative bibliography. You can share a Zotero library with as many people you like, at no cost.

Zotero is open source and developed by an independent, nonprofit organization that has no financial interest in your private information. With Zotero, you always stay in control of your own data.

Still not sure which program to use for your research? See why we think you should choose Zotero .

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Top 21 must-have digital tools for researchers

Last updated

12 May 2023

Reviewed by

Jean Kaluza

Research drives many decisions across various industries, including:

Uncovering customer motivations and behaviors to design better products

Assessing whether a market exists for your product or service

Running clinical studies to develop a medical breakthrough

Conducting effective and shareable research can be a painstaking process. Manual processes are sluggish and archaic, and they can also be inaccurate. That’s where advanced online tools can help. 

The right tools can enable businesses to lean into research for better forecasting, planning, and more reliable decisions. 

• Why do researchers need research tools?

Research is challenging and time-consuming. Analyzing data, running focus groups , reading research papers , and looking for useful insights take plenty of heavy lifting. 

These days, researchers can’t just rely on manual processes. Instead, they’re using advanced tools that:

Speed up the research process

Enable new ways of reaching customers

Improve organization and accuracy

Allow better monitoring throughout the process

Enhance collaboration across key stakeholders

• The most important digital tools for researchers

Some tools can help at every stage, making researching simpler and faster.

They ensure accurate and efficient information collection, management, referencing, and analysis. 

Some of the most important digital tools for researchers include:

Research management tools

Research management can be a complex and challenging process. Some tools address the various challenges that arise when referencing and managing papers. 

.css-32cyld{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;background:transparent;border:0;color:inherit;cursor:pointer;display:inline-block;-webkit-flex-shrink:0;-ms-flex-negative:0;flex-shrink:0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;} Zotero

Coined as a personal research assistant, Zotero is a tool that brings efficiency to the research process. Zotero helps researchers collect, organize, annotate, and share research easily. 

Zotero integrates with internet browsers, so researchers can easily save an article, publication, or research study on the platform for later. 

The tool also has an advanced organizing system to allow users to label, tag, and categorize information for faster insights and a seamless analysis process. 

Messy paper stacks––digital or physical––are a thing of the past with Paperpile. This reference management tool integrates with Google Docs, saving users time with citations and paper management. 

Referencing, researching, and gaining insights is much cleaner and more productive, as all papers are in the same place. Plus, it’s easier to find a paper when you need it. 

Acting as a single source of truth (SSOT), Dovetail houses research from the entire organization in a simple-to-use place. Researchers can use the all-in-one platform to collate and store data from interviews , forms, surveys , focus groups, and more. 

Dovetail helps users quickly categorize and analyze data to uncover truly actionable insights . This helps organizations bring customer insights into every decision for better forecasting, planning, and decision-making. 

Dovetail integrates with other helpful tools like ​Slack, Atlassian, Notion, and Zapier for a truly efficient workflow.

Putting together papers and referencing sources can be a huge time consumer. EndNote claims that researchers waste 200,000 hours per year formatting citations. 

To address the issue, the tool formats citations automatically––simultaneously creating a bibliography while the user writes. 

EndNote is also a cloud-based system that allows remote working, multiple-user interaction and collaboration, and seamless working on different devices. 

Information survey tools

Surveys are a common way to gain data from customers. These tools can make the process simpler and more cost-effective. 

With ready-made survey templates––to collect NPS data, customer effort scores, five-star surveys, and more––getting going with Delighted is straightforward. 

Delighted helps teams collect and analyze survey feedback without needing any technical knowledge. The templates are customizable, so you can align the content with your brand. That way, the survey feels like it’s coming from your company, not a third party. 

SurveyMonkey

With millions of customers worldwide, SurveyMonkey is another leader in online surveys. SurveyMonkey offers hundreds of templates that researchers can use to set up and deploy surveys quickly. 

Whether your survey is about team performance, hotel feedback, post-event feedback, or an employee exit, SurveyMonkey has a ready-to-use template. 

Typeform offers free templates you can quickly embed, which comes with a point of difference: It designs forms and surveys with people in mind, focusing on customer enjoyment. 

Typeform employs the ‘one question at a time’ method to keep engagement rates and completions high. It focuses on surveys that feel more like conversations than a list of questions.

Web data analysis tools

Collecting data can take time––especially technical information. Some tools make that process simpler. 

For those conducting clinical research, data collection can be incredibly time-consuming. Teamscope provides an online platform to collect and manage data simply and easily. 

Researchers and medical professionals often collect clinical data through paper forms or digital means. Those are too easy to lose, tricky to manage, and challenging to collaborate on. 

With Teamscope, you can easily collect, store, and electronically analyze data like patient-reported outcomes and surveys. 

Heap is a digital insights platform providing context on the entire customer journey . This helps businesses improve customer feedback , conversion rates, and loyalty. 

Through Heap, you can seamlessly view and analyze the customer journey across all platforms and touchpoints, whether through the app or website. 

Another analytics tool, Smartlook, combines quantitative and qualitative analytics into one platform. This helps organizations understand user behavior and make crucial improvements. 

Smartlook is useful for analyzing web pages, purchasing flows, and optimizing conversion rates. 

Project management tools

Managing multiple research projects across many teams can be complex and challenging. Project management tools can ease the burden on researchers. 

Visual productivity tool Trello helps research teams manage their projects more efficiently. Trello makes product tracking easier with:

A range of workflow options

Unique project board layouts

Advanced descriptions

Integrations

Trello also works as an SSOT to stay on top of projects and collaborate effectively as a team. 

To connect research, workflows, and teams, Airtable provides a clean interactive interface. 

With Airtable, it’s simple to place research projects in a list view, workstream, or road map to synthesize information and quickly collaborate. The Sync feature makes it easy to link all your research data to one place for faster action. 

For product teams, Asana gathers development, copywriting, design, research teams, and product managers in one space. 

As a task management platform, Asana offers all the expected features and more, including time-tracking and Jira integration. The platform offers reporting alongside data collection methods, so it’s a favorite for product teams in the tech space.

Grammar checker tools

Grammar tools ensure your research projects are professional and proofed. 

No one’s perfect, especially when it comes to spelling, punctuation, and grammar. That’s where Grammarly can help. 

Grammarly’s AI-powered platform reviews your content and corrects any mistakes. Through helpful integrations with other platforms––such as Gmail, Google Docs, Twitter, and LinkedIn––it’s simple to spellcheck as you go. 

Another helpful grammar tool is Trinka AI. Trinka is specifically for technical and academic styles of writing. It doesn’t just correct mistakes in spelling, punctuation, and grammar; it also offers explanations and additional information when errors show. 

Researchers can also use Trinka to enhance their writing and:

Align it with technical and academic styles

Improve areas like syntax and word choice

Discover relevant suggestions based on the content topic

Plagiarism checker tools

Avoiding plagiarism is crucial for the integrity of research. Using checker tools can ensure your work is original. 

Plagiarism checker Quetext uses DeepSearch™ technology to quickly sort through online content to search for signs of plagiarism. 

With color coding, annotations, and an overall score, it’s easy to identify conflict areas and fix them accordingly. 

Duplichecker

Another helpful plagiarism tool is Duplichecker, which scans pieces of content for issues. The service is free for content up to 1000 words, with paid options available after that. 

If plagiarism occurs, a percentage identifies how much is duplicate content. However, the interface is relatively basic, offering little additional information.  

Journal finder tools

Finding the right journals for your project can be challenging––especially with the plethora of inaccurate or predatory content online. Journal finder tools can solve this issue. 

Enago Journal Finder

The Enago Open Access Journal Finder sorts through online journals to verify their legitimacy. Through Engao, you can discover pre-vetted, high-quality journals through a validated journal index. 

Enago’s search tool also helps users find relevant journals for their subject matter, speeding up the research process. 

JournalFinder

JournalFinder is another journal tool that’s popular with academics and researchers. It makes the process of discovering relevant journals fast by leaning into a machine-learning algorithm.

This is useful for discovering key information and finding the right journals to publish and share your work in. 

Social networking for researchers

Collaboration between researchers can improve the accuracy and sharing of information. Promoting research findings can also be essential for public health, safety, and more. 

While typical social networks exist, some are specifically designed for academics.

ResearchGate

Networking platform ResearchGate encourages researchers to connect, collaborate, and share within the scientific community. With 20 million researchers on the platform, it's a popular choice. 

ResearchGate is founded on an intention to advance research. The platform provides topic pages for easy connection within a field of expertise and access to millions of publications to help users stay up to date. 

Academia is another commonly used platform that connects 220 million academics and researchers within their specialties. 

The platform aims to accelerate research with discovery tools and grow a researcher’s audience to promote their ideas. 

On Academia, users can access 47 million PDFs for free. They cover topics from mechanical engineering to applied economics and child psychology. 

• Expedited research with the power of tools

For researchers, finding data and information can be time-consuming and complex to manage. That’s where the power of tools comes in. 

Manual processes are slow, outdated, and have a larger potential for inaccuracies. 

Leaning into tools can help researchers speed up their processes, conduct efficient research, boost their accuracy, and share their work effectively. 

With tools available for project and data management, web data collection, and journal finding, researchers have plenty of assistance at their disposal.

When it comes to connecting with customers, advanced tools boost customer connection while continually bringing their needs and wants into products and services.

What are primary research tools?

Primary research is data and information that you collect firsthand through surveys, customer interviews, or focus groups. 

Secondary research is data and information from other sources, such as journals, research bodies, or online content. 

Primary researcher tools use methods like surveys and customer interviews. You can use these tools to collect, store, or manage information effectively and uncover more accurate insights. 

What is the difference between tools and methods in research?

Research methods relate to how researchers gather information and data. 

For example, surveys, focus groups, customer interviews, and A/B testing are research methods that gather information. 

On the other hand, tools assist areas of research. Researchers may use tools to more efficiently gather data, store data securely, or uncover insights. 

Tools can improve research methods, ensuring efficiency and accuracy while reducing complexity.

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10 Best Data Analysis Software for Research

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Discover the Ultimate Data Analysis Software! Unleash the Power of Research with the Best Data Analysis Software for Research for Maximizing Efficiency!

In today’s data-driven world, researchers often struggle to make sense of vast amounts of information. Manual analysis can be time-consuming and error-prone, hindering progress and valuable insights.

Imagine spending hours poring over spreadsheets, struggling to find patterns or make meaningful conclusions. Frustration mounts as deadlines approach, and the pressure to deliver accurate results intensifies.

But fear not! The solution lies in embracing the best data analysis software for research. These 10 powerful tools empower researchers to efficiently analyze data, unravel hidden patterns, and extract valuable insights with ease. 

Say goodbye to tedious manual analysis and unlock the full potential of your research endeavors.

Table of Contents

Top 10 Data Analysis Software for Research: In A Nutshell (2023)

#1. ibm spss statistics – powerful statistical software platform.

IBM SPSS Statistics is a renowned data analysis software widely chosen by researchers for its robustness and versatility. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for data management, exploratory data analysis, hypothesis testing, and predictive modeling. 

Its intuitive interface simplifies the data analysis process, making it efficient and time-saving. With a wide range of statistical techniques, it caters to both basic and advanced research studies. 

However, users should be cautious about its resource-intensive nature, requiring powerful computer systems to handle large datasets. Additionally, the software’s licensing cost can be high, posing financial challenges for some researchers. 

While IBM SPSS Statistics is generally reliable, occasional compatibility issues with operating systems or other software have been reported. Staying updated with the latest software versions and checking for known issues can help alleviate such problems.

• Monthly: $99
• Yearly: $1069

#2. SAS – Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Data Management software

SAS (Statistical Analysis System) is a widely-used data analysis software tool favored by researchers across disciplines. Its robustness, reliability, and comprehensive suite of statistical analysis and data management capabilities make it a top choice for professionals in academia and industry. 

With advanced data manipulation and integration features, SAS enables users to effectively analyze and interpret complex data sets.

While SAS offers numerous benefits, there are a few considerations to keep in mind. The software has a steep learning curve, requiring some programming knowledge and time to master. 

Additionally, SAS can be expensive due to licensing costs, which may pose budget constraints for individual researchers or smaller organizations. 

Compatibility limitations with other software tools and data formats, as well as less intuitive and visually appealing graphical capabilities for data visualization, are some known issues with SAS.

Despite these considerations, SAS remains a reliable and versatile tool for researchers, offering a comprehensive set of analytical capabilities to derive meaningful insights from data.

• Pricing plans of SAS are not publicly available, you need to sign up for a free trial.

#3. MATLAB – High-performance language for technical computing

MATLAB is a highly regarded data analysis software used by researchers in diverse fields. Its popularity stems from its powerful features and user-friendly interface. 

With an extensive library of built-in functions and toolboxes, MATLAB enables users to perform complex computations, statistical analysis, and data visualization effortlessly. Its compatibility with various file formats allows seamless integration of data from different sources.

Researchers value MATLAB for its versatility in handling diverse research needs, from exploratory data analysis to machine learning algorithms. The software’s ability to process large datasets swiftly and its interactive programming environment facilitate rapid prototyping and debugging. 

However, potential users should be aware of the licensing cost, which may be a limiting factor for those on a tight budget, and the learning curve associated with mastering the syntax and advanced features of MATLAB. 

Despite occasional memory limitations and slower performance for certain functions, MATLAB remains an indispensable tool for researchers, offering comprehensive functionality and a vast community of users for support.

• The individual License of MATLAB costs $940.

#4. Stata – Statistical software for data science

Stata is a highly regarded data analysis software widely used in research due to its extensive statistical tools and user-friendly interface. 

Researchers appreciate Stata’s versatility, as it supports various data formats and offers a comprehensive range of statistical models and techniques for analyzing complex datasets. Its intuitive command syntax and robust documentation make it easier to replicate and share research findings.

However, there are a few aspects to consider when using Stata. It can be quite expensive, particularly for individual users or small research teams with limited budgets. 

Additionally, while Stata covers a wide range of statistical capabilities, it may not be the most suitable choice for specialized analyses that require niche software packages. 

Some users have also raised concerns about compatibility with other software programs and occasional issues with data handling and memory management. 

Nonetheless, Stata remains popular among researchers due to its comprehensive features, user-friendly interface, and strong user community support.

• Stata/BE: $94
• Stata/BE: $179
• Stata/MP 2-core: $275
• Stata/MP 4-core: $375

#5. Tableau – Understand your data

Tableau is a powerful data analysis software that has transformed research with its intuitive interface and comprehensive features. It simplifies complex datasets, allowing researchers to uncover hidden patterns and gain insights. 

With its drag-and-drop functionality, Tableau enables users to create visually appealing visualizations without coding skills. It supports various data sources, offers extensive data manipulation options, and facilitates collaboration for team-based research projects.

While Tableau is highly regarded, users should be cautious when working with large datasets as it may impact performance and require significant computational resources. Customization beyond its built-in capabilities can also be challenging. 

However, Tableau’s ability to simplify data analysis and present insights in a visually compelling manner makes it a popular choice among researchers. 

Continuous updates and a strong community support system ensure that Tableau remains a valuable tool for unlocking the full potential of research data.

• Tableau Cloud (Hosted by Tableau) – $70 monthly for every user which is billed annually.
• Tableau Server (On-Premise) – $70 monthly for every user which is billed annually.

#6. PowerBI – Get the most out of your data

How to use Microsoft Power BI – Tutorial for Beginners

PowerBI is a widely acclaimed data analysis software that has gained popularity among researchers and data enthusiasts. Its user-friendly interface and powerful features make it a top choice for analyzing and visualizing complex datasets. 

PowerBI is highly regarded for its ability to handle large amounts of data and generate insightful reports and interactive dashboards. 

With seamless integration with various data sources, including databases and spreadsheets, researchers can effortlessly consolidate and transform data into meaningful visualizations and actionable insights. 

However, users should be aware of the learning curve associated with PowerBI, especially for individuals new to data analysis. Additionally, while the free version has limited capabilities, the full suite may require a subscription, which can be a consideration for those on a budget. 

Despite occasional performance and stability issues, PowerBI remains an invaluable tool for researchers, offering a comprehensive suite of data analysis and visualization features.

• Power BI Pro ($13.70 per user/per month)
• Power BI Premium ($27.50 per user/per month)
• Power BI Premium ($6,858.10 per capacity/per month)

#7. QDA Miner – Qualitative data analysis software

QDA Miner is a popular data analysis software tailored for qualitative research. Its user-friendly interface and powerful features make it a top choice for researchers seeking to analyze and interpret qualitative data. 

With the ability to handle diverse data types and a range of tools for coding and analysis, QDA Miner enables users to extract meaningful insights effortlessly. 

Customizable coding schemes, complex query capabilities, and visualization options like word clouds and concept maps further enhance the data interpretation process.

However, it’s worth noting that QDA Miner may have a steeper learning curve for inexperienced users. Some occasional glitches and performance issues have also been reported, although they are typically minor and infrequent. 

Despite these considerations, QDA Miner remains a reliable and flexible tool for qualitative data analysis, empowering researchers to effectively explore and interpret their data.

• The pricing details for QDA Miner may vary based on the specific version and licensing options. However, for academic research its cost is $245. 

#8. JMP – Visual statistical data analysis software

JMP is a popular data analysis software widely used in research due to its user-friendly interface and robust capabilities. It offers a comprehensive set of tools for exploring and visualizing data, allowing researchers to uncover patterns and make data-driven decisions. 

With a focus on exploratory data analysis, JMP enables users to manipulate and visualize data dynamically, making it suitable for a diverse range of research projects. 

However, new users may need time to master the advanced features, and occasional performance issues have been reported with large datasets or complex analyses. 

Despite these considerations, JMP remains a preferred choice for researchers, thanks to its extensive analysis capabilities, interactive visualizations, and statistical modeling features.

• Pricing plans for JMP aren’t publicly available, you need to contact their sales team to get a quote.

#9. NVivo – Qualitative research software

NVivo is a leading data analysis software designed specifically for research purposes, particularly qualitative research. With its intuitive interface and extensive range of features, NVivo empowers researchers to efficiently explore, organize, and derive meaningful insights from unstructured data. 

It offers powerful coding and categorization tools, enabling users to analyze large volumes of data, identify patterns, and create comprehensive frameworks. The software also provides advanced visualization options for data interpretation and presentation.

However, potential users should be aware of a few considerations. NVivo has a steep learning curve, requiring time and effort to fully grasp its functionalities, especially for beginners. 

Careful project planning and adherence to consistent coding conventions are important to avoid complications and inconsistencies in data analysis. 

Some users have reported occasional performance issues, particularly with large datasets, so it is recommended to use a well-equipped computer system for optimal performance. 

Regular software updates and technical support from NVivo’s team are essential for resolving known issues and maximizing the software’s potential. Despite these considerations, NVivo remains a highly regarded and valuable tool for research data analysis.

• The cost of the NVivo License is $1,019.

#10. MAXQDA –  All-In-One tool for qualitative data analysis

MAXQDA is a widely acclaimed data analysis software used by researchers across various fields. With its user-friendly interface and comprehensive features, it has become a go-to tool for qualitative and mixed-methods research. 

MAXQDA offers efficient management, coding, and analysis of diverse data types, including text, images, audio, and video. Its tools, such as word frequency analysis and advanced visualizations, enable researchers to extract valuable insights from their data. 

The software’s flexibility and adaptability make it suitable for both beginners and experienced researchers, and its team-based functionalities facilitate collaboration. 

However, users should be aware of the learning curve associated with MAXQDA and occasional glitches or slow performance when dealing with large datasets. Overall, MAXQDA empowers researchers to efficiently analyze their data and gain meaningful insights for their research projects.

• MAXQDA Single User License Academia Annual Subscription cost is $23,000. 

Key Features of Data Analysis Software for Research

Key features of data analysis software for research can vary depending on the specific needs and requirements of the research project. However, here are some key features commonly found in data analysis software that are useful for research:

• Data Import and Integration: The software should allow easy importing and integration of data from various sources, such as spreadsheets, databases, and other file formats. It should support different data types and handle large datasets efficiently.
• Data Cleaning and Preprocessing: The software should provide tools for data cleaning and preprocessing tasks, including handling missing values, removing duplicates, transforming data, and dealing with outliers. These features are crucial for ensuring data quality before analysis.
• Statistical Analysis: The software should offer a wide range of statistical analysis methods, such as descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, regression analysis, ANOVA, time series analysis, and more. It should provide a comprehensive set of statistical tools to explore and analyze data effectively.
• Data Visualization: The software should include powerful data visualization capabilities, enabling researchers to create charts, graphs, plots, and interactive visualizations to explore and communicate their findings effectively. It should support customization options and provide a variety of visualization types.
• Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics: For more advanced research, the software should incorporate machine learning algorithms and predictive analytics capabilities. This allows researchers to build models, perform classification, clustering, and prediction tasks, and gain insights from complex datasets.
• Reproducibility and Documentation: The software should support reproducibility by allowing researchers to document their analysis steps, code, and workflows. It should provide features for creating reports, annotations, and generating automated documentation, ensuring transparency and facilitating collaboration.
• Data Security and Privacy: Research data often contains sensitive and confidential information. The software should prioritize data security and privacy, providing encryption options, access controls, and compliance with relevant regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA.
• Collaboration and Sharing: The software should facilitate collaboration among researchers, allowing them to share datasets, analyses, and findings with team members. It should support version control, real-time collaboration, and the ability to share results in various formats for easy dissemination.
• Extensibility and Integration: The software should have an extensible architecture, allowing researchers to integrate custom algorithms, scripts, or programming languages. It should provide APIs or scripting interfaces for customization and seamless integration with other tools.
• Support and Documentation: Lastly, the software should have reliable customer support and documentation resources, including tutorials, user guides, forums, and online communities. Regular updates and bug fixes ensure the software remains reliable and up-to-date.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, when it comes to the best data analysis software for research, there are several excellent options available. 

These 10 software tools provide researchers with the necessary features and capabilities to efficiently analyze and interpret complex data sets, enabling them to derive meaningful insights and make informed decisions. 

Some of the top contenders in this field include software packages such as R, Python (with libraries like NumPy and pandas), SAS, and SPSS. Each of these tools offers a unique set of advantages, ranging from robust statistical analysis capabilities to extensive data visualization options. 

Ultimately, the choice of the best data analysis software depends on the specific research requirements, the user’s level of expertise, and the nature of the data being analyzed. 

Researchers should carefully evaluate their needs and consider factors such as ease of use, scalability, community support, and cost before selecting the most suitable software for their research endeavors.

Q1. What is the best data analysis software for research?

There is no single “best” data analysis software for research, as it depends on your specific needs and preferences. However, some popular options include R, Python (with libraries such as NumPy and pandas), SAS, SPSS, and MATLAB. These data analytics tools offer a wide range of functionalities and are commonly used by researchers for data analysis.

Q2. What factors should I consider when choosing data analysis software for research?

When selecting data analysis software, consider factors such as the complexity of your data, the statistical techniques you plan to use, your programming skills, the availability of specific features or modules, compatibility with other software or databases, user interface preferences, and the cost of the software.

Q3. Are there any free data analysis software options available for research?

Yes, there are several free and open-source data analysis tools option available. R and Python are popular choices in this category, offering extensive libraries and packages for data manipulation, visualization, and statistical analysis. 

Additionally, tools like KNIME, Weka, and Orange provide user-friendly interfaces for data analysis and are free to use.

Q4. Can I use Microsoft Excel for data analysis in research?

While Microsoft Excel is widely used for data analysis, especially in non-academic settings, it may not be the most suitable option for advanced or complex research analyses. Excel has limitations in terms of data size, scalability, reproducibility, and statistical capabilities. 

However, for simple analyses and basic calculations, Excel can be a useful data analytics tool.

Q5. Is it necessary to learn programming languages for data analysis software?

Learning programming languages like R or Python can significantly enhance your capabilities as a researcher in data analysis. These languages provide a wide range of libraries and packages specifically designed for statistical analysis, machine learning, and data visualization. 

While programming skills are not always mandatory, they can enable more advanced and customizable analyses, automate repetitive tasks, and facilitate reproducible research.

There is more.

Check out our other articles on the Best Academic Tools Series for Research below.

• Learn how to get more done with these Academic Writing Tools  
• Learn how to proofread your work with these Proofreading Tools
• Learn how to broaden your research landscape with these Academic Search Engines
• Learn how to manage multiple research projects with these Project Management Tools
• Learn how to run effective survey research with these Survey Tools for Research
• Learn how get more insights from important conversations and interviews with Transcription Tools
• Learn how to manage the ever-growing list of references with these Reference Management Software
• Learn how to double your productivity with literature reviews with these AI-Based Summary Generators
• Learn how to build and develop your audience with these Academic Social Network Sites
• Learn how to make sure your content is original and trustworthy with these Plagiarism Checkers
• Learn how to talk about your work effectively with these Science Communication Tools

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Software Tools for Better, Faster Research Collaboration

Software tools have removed a lot of the manual, paper-based tasks of research. And they keep getting better and more innovative. Modern-day researchers can now focus more on the research itself, coordinate across distances, and keep everything together online.

Submission is all online, too, as is publication.

Edanz Smart Tools also speed up and empower your research. You can get going with them right away.

Let’s look at the main stages of research and the types of tools that can make your research a more time-efficient and enjoyable process.

What you’ll learn in this post

• How online tools can replace paper-based, time-consuming research collaboration processes.

• Ways to map and manage your research using cloud-based software.

• Recommended software for polishing up your scientific English and presenting it in a journal-ready format.

• Edanz’s own Smart Tools are designed for research and can be used, well, RIGHT NOW!

Brainstorming and idea-generating tools

Structured research almost always starts with idea generation. Collecting your and your team’s thoughts can get messy when you’re using sticky notes and whiteboards. There’s ample software to help research teams keep their ideas straight. So even if some team members are more “analog” and need to write things down, as long as you have someone taking notes, you can digitize and share the whole process.

Brainstorming and idea-generating software can be quite creative, and often crosses over into other uses, like life management and business.

Try these packages.

Coggle is a brainstorming app for collaboration, with sharable mind maps and flow charts. With a public gallery, teams can see and edit others’ diagrams allowing for a more connective experience. Coggle’s free plan allows for downloads as PDFs and unlimited public diagrams. It’s a good solution for mind-mapping and even the paid plans are very affordable.

MindMeister

MindMeister is cloud-based for real-time collaboration and working together when you can’t physically be together. The tool has an easy-to-use interface with minimal buttons to confuse newcomers. MindMeister has community mind maps, where other researchers can share premade mind maps specific to your research niche. The free plan is quite limited, meaning the paid plans are needed to get the most out of the software. But they’re modestly priced. This feature-rich option is a great teammate when you’re formulating your ideas.

MindMup perhaps excels best at getting you started. Using an online mind-mapping tool will be less familiar for most researchers compared with, say, word processing or SPSS. MindMup lets you quickly start in your first mind map for free. You can do structured writing, and storyboards, and save to PDF and PowerPoint, as well as Google Drive.

All three of these options offer similar features with different user experiences (UX). They’re all cheap add-ons to your research tool stack, as well, with monthly memberships under $10. Trial them, A-B-C test them, and add one of these (or another option) to organize your brainstorming process.

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Social networking tools

There’s plenty written on social media in the sciences, but beyond forums for sharing ideas and for self-promotion, these forms of social media are also power idea generators. By networking and participating, these tools expand your academic (and social) connections while opening your mind to new ideas and perspectives.

ResearchGate

ResearchGate is an academic networking tool where researchers connect, collaborate, and idea-create by uploading articles, papers, data, and code to an online database. Researchers receive analytics on their posts including the number of times their work‘s been read and cited by other users on ResearchGate. It’s one of the most active social networking tools in the academic sphere.

LinkedIn has become indispensable for most adults in much of the world. Some regions (especially North Asia) haven’t gotten over the amount of personal exposure and self-promotion, but even they are getting there. LinkedIn has evolved from an online resume and job hunting tool to a Facebook for professionals. This includes researchers.

Using LinkedIn as a place to output your research/work is a way to show off your skills and find connections with similar researchers. Posts about new advancements in your field are a good way to start academic conversations that can in turn benefit your understanding of what you’re researching.

If you’re doing exploratory research, you can use LinkedIn as a research engine. By searching the questions and answers page and seeing the interactions different topics gain, researchers can get insight into different industries. This is a good article on using LinkedIn as a research tool .

Academia (often called academia.edu) is a networking site dedicated to academics. Like ResearchGate, academia.edu has post analytics, allowing you to track your posts in real time. Academia.edu makes making connections easier by simply “Importing contacts” from other social networking sites like Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

Project management tools

Organizing your research and the deadlines that come with it is just as important as the research itself. Without project management tools, research can be chaotic and unorganized. Good research relies on collaboration and requires many revisions. Project management tools streamline this complex process.

The project management aspect of academic research can look a lot like project management in the corporate workplace. So these tools all have crossover with the working world.

Asana is a project management software for people and companies that prefer to work with lists instead of boards. The lists you can create are clean and present work straightforwardly. Often in research, all you need is an efficient set of lists to set out your ideas and thoughts. Asana is extremely easy to use, and implementation into your research process is quick and simple. It’s well suited for individuals and smaller tight-knit teams.

Trello uses the kanban (bulletin board) approach of visual boards and images instead of lists. The board, made up of “cards,” however, can still function like lists, or cards can contain lists. Trello has a social media feeling to its software and its style lends itself to researchers who prefer visual communication.

Trello works in real-time, allowing for continual updates and progression. The notification system broadcasts updates on the team’s progress. With a lot of members and moving parts on your project, this can really be helpful. Just tweak your notification settings or you’ll be waking up every morning to a mailbox full of Trello updates.

Infinity is mainly created for business use but works just as well with research. It offers a flexible and color kanban -style project management setup. It lets you create unlimited boards, folders, and items and then share them with collaborators. The number of templates for different situations can be adjusted to your needs.

ProofHub provides seamless collaboration with a large array of features, from Gannt charts to time-tracking. A ProofHub feature is its ability to edit tasks as they’re active without having to end them and then re-assign them, excellent for collaborating researchers. ProofHub is accessible on any device or computer, so no need to worry about where you’re working. It’s a premium paid software with no free version so make sure to use their free trial before buying.

Literature search tools

We cover literature search in a variety of places on Edanz, so this section want be new to many. And indeed, if you’re at any sort of academic institution, you’ll likely have access to a big library of powerful databases, like ProQuest and EBSCO. Still, there are times when you need a quick online search or a different perspective on your search.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is the clear leader in the area of free, public literature searching. Yes, score one more for the Google behemoth (yawn), but it’s tough to argue with free.

Google Scholar is Google’s unique search engine applied to research papers and patents. It lets users find publications from all disciplines. The searching is free, and it will often turn up multiple locations of what you’re after. If it’s open-access or otherwise available, you’ll be able to save some of the heavier clicking and digging needed for the above mentioned powerhouse library databases.

Google Scholar has multiple export formats so you can almost always find the format needed for your citation style. Google Scholar’s main advantage is accessibility since you’re probably searching on Google anyway, so switching to the Scholar site becomes a natural progression. You can use the same Boolean operators and all sorts of filters. If nothing else, it’s a great “first step” for seeing what’s out there in there in the massive, seemingly infinite pool of literature.

Semantic Scholar

Semantic Scholar has substantially fewer articles in its database than its counterparts, but when used alongside Google Scholar it can offer different results. Its search engine is optimized to give more relevant and impactful results by finding hidden connections and links between papers/topics.

Connected Papers

We throw this one in as a wildcard, because it’s really quite brilliant and it does something the others don’t. It creates a visual map of linkages among the literature. Connected Papers is a bit of a different tool from the rest, as it is not a standalone database. It uses Google Scholar’s database and creates a unique visual map of all cited papers (and all papers since that have cited the original work).

By representing research citations as legs you get a feel of how interconnected research papers are. This tool is for getting a grasp of the research landscape of a particular topic. This sort of innovation is a wonderful contribution to academic society in general, so we give it a big thumbs up.

Reference management tools

Managing, organizing, and storing your references can be a massive job if done manually. Therefore, it is important to find a reference management tool that makes managing your references an easier process. For research projects large and small, a good reference manager can save many unnecessary hours and unneeded stress

Mendeley is a reference manager with a long track record. Mendeley can be accessed online and offline and works for both Windows and Mac devices, as well as portable devices (which is basically standard these days). It provides plugins for Firefox and Chrome that allow bookmarked websites to be put in your Mendeley library.

While this app used to be free, since its acquisition it’s become harder to access and coordinate across devices. But that doesn’t detract from its solid standing and reputation. If you pay to play, it should be more robust than ever.

PaperPile may be a less-familiar name, but it’s a very accessible solution. Its strengths are its simple cloud-based interface, low pricing, and easily cross-device ability. PaperPile’s design easily deals with large numbers of citations, with a robust search function. PaperPile automatically formats citations and bibliographies in the referencing style of your choice, but relies on metadata, like all in this category, so it may need some cleaning up.

EndNote is a more elaborate and complex software than the previous two. It lets you to search databases and import the citation information into Microsoft Word. It excels in its ability to edit the output citations to specific styles, often needed in Journal publications. This is a premium product and is rather expensive for a beginner. Use the free 30-day trial if you’re interested.

Word processing and document preparation tools

If you’re writing for journal submission, odds are you’ll be required to submit it as a Microsoft Word doc. This means Word remains the de facto word processor, but you’re not limited to it. word processors allow you to save in Word doc format, so you may find something better, cheaper, or more scientifically suitable for your team. Specialized STEM sciences such as math and physics may also welcome LaTeX format, for which there’s now a terrific cloud-based tool.

Microsoft Word

Although it may seem like a boring choice, Microsoft Word is a user-friendly and smooth word processing and document-creating software. Now part of the cloud-based 365 package, it’s no longer device-dependent. It provides many different templates, easy file sharing, and the ability to export as a PDF. Yes, it still comes with a bit of a hefty price tag, but there are different plans and most institutions and workplaces provide it for students and employees.

Google Docs

Google Docs made its mark by (1) being Google and (2) making all the functions of Microsoft Office completely cloud-based and tied to your Google account. It lets researchers collaborate on ideas in real time with commenting and suggestion features. And it lets documents be created in a quicker, more streamlined UX than Microsoft’s.

It’s good for brainstorming as well, though Google Workspace is always adding more tools suited to specific tasks (see Google’s own article on brainstorming here ). For a useful article on using Google Docs in research click here .

LaTeX (Overleaf)

LaTeX (pronounced LAY-tech ) is a long-standing typesetting and document preparation system mainly catering to academics. This owes to its ability to elegantly format long and complex equations. There is a coding element to LaTeX so there is a learning curve, but if you get past that the customization and speed to which you can create stunning documents makes it worthwhile.

You can download LaTeX to your computer via the LaTeX installer, allowing you to use LaTeX offline.

The process of downloading and using LaTeX can confusing and less than user-friendly. This is where Overleaf comes in. Overleaf is a cloud-based LaTeX editor that removes a lot of the coding aspects of LaTeX while keeping the style and equation formatting. It also easily accommodates teams and enables fast rendering to see what the final product will look like. For many scientists LaTeX (with or without a UI like Overleaf) is a must.

Pages is Apple’s take on Microsoft Word. Free on all Apple products but in typical Apple fashion, unavailable for everyone else. Pages offers virtually the same as what Microsoft Word does. The only difference is how it looks. Pages is a minimalist word processing software that helps declutter the space around your work and helps you focus on what you’re typing.

It also has a Word export option. As few (no?) journals accept submissions in Pages format, this is probably something you’ll need. For a Mac-based team, however, Pages may be an attractive option.

Table and figure creation tools

Well, there must be a load of them! So much so, we devoted an entire article to great software for creating scientific figures and tables – give it a read.

English language checking tools

Excellent research is often error-free, but proofreading can be time-consuming, and often missed errors sneak through. Therefore, a good language and grammar checker is essential in quality research writing. There are many to choose from, so a combination of multiple ones would give the best chance of an error-free piece of research.

Grammarly is probably the best-known online and plug-in-based language and grammar checker. This owes both to its aggressive marketing and its continually evolving tool. It’s come a long way and gives far fewer bad suggestions than it used to.

Grammarly’s free version checks for various language mistakes in real time, with popups and using its robust algorithm that scans your writing. It’s quite intuitive and easy to get used to. The paid version picks up on more intricate errors and writing tones. Grammarly also has its own plagiarism checker.

The mistake with Grammarly is accepting all its advice. If your English isn’t at a very high level, Grammarly can sometimes do more harm than good if it misreads your intent. If you have strong English, it can be a big help, even for native speakers.

Unlike the other language and grammar checkers presented, Hemingway doesn’t provide detailed grammar oversight. Hemingway instead comments on the overall readability and writing style of your work.

When writing research, you not only want it to be grammatically correct but also concise and flowing; i.e., readable. Hemingway’s alternative language checker can give your research the appropriate tone and help prevent verbosity. That, in turn, keeps readers’ attention. Hemingway does have a paid desktop app, but the free online app is feature-rich. Try that first.

ProWritingAid

Like Grammarly, ProWritingAid is an online grammar and spelling checker. It’s different in that it provides detailed reports to help improve specific writing skills. It integrates nicely with Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Gmail, and others, helping you work it into your overall routine. It has a mobile app, too. Writing up your research can often be unstructured and great research ideas can come to you at any time, so having a writing aid that’s so integrated is a bonus.

And that’s just for starters!

There are more steps in the process and more tools to help. Dig and dig. Try them out. If they don’t work, dig again. New options are continually emerging from creative minds. Don’t overlook Edanz Smart Tools , as well. These are specifically designed for the research cycle. And you can use them right now.

Top 12 Must Have Online Tools for Researchers at All Stages

Research is undoubtedly one of the most painstaking and thorough processes. Irrespective of your discipline, stage of work and career, research can be an arduous and time-consuming task. Right from browsing the library shelves and internet for literature, performing experiments, writing papers, to publishing papers, researchers are always running with the clock’s hands. No matter what your field of research, there’s an online tool out there to help you organize your notes, cite your sources, find important articles, connect with colleagues, and much more. However, with so many options available at a mouse click, it gets difficult to find a tool that delivers best results. As the search for reliable resources can be frustrating at times; we will discuss the features of 12 most recommended online tools for researchers at all stages in academia.

Table of Contents

What is the Need of Online Tools for Researchers?

Regardless of his/her research area, every researcher’s focus today is on managing various tasks, delivering productive results, utilizing time efficiently, and documenting research that is publication worthy. All these require a well-planned and organized system, which is achieved by monitoring the progress and collaboration of your projects, finding pertinent literature, writing your project proposals, reports, and articles, avoiding language errors, citing original sources, building networks, searching for journals for publication, etc. How do you plan on handling all this by yourself?—The first resort is surfing the internet to find a solution. Several online tools for researchers make this an easier task. However, with uncountable information available online, it can become a time-consuming nightmare to evaluate what works and what doesn’t.

Most Important Online Tools for Researchers

The 6 types of online tools for researchers that are essential at various stages of research are as follows:

A. Project Management Tools

Project management is a set of proven techniques for proposing, planning, implementing, managing, and evaluating projects, combined with the art of managing people. These tools are used to manage project progress, resource application, and collaboration processes. It involves creating a hierarchical task list, following up for task completion, setting deadlines, formulating plan of action, and assigning resources.

Two of the most used project management tools in academia are Trello and GanttPro.

Trello allows users to organize their ideas through the use of panels, cards, and lists. It’s an easy to access system with a simple drag and drop cards function. It allows users to list and schedule activities, establish completion times, and view progress percentages.  The user can create multiple boards for different subjects.  Additionally, Trello saves the boards in cloud as well as in user’s profile. It offers free and paid versions, depending on the user’s requirements.

2. GanttPRO

GanttPRO is an online Gantt chart program for project management that allows intuitive creation of schedules. It is a paid software which also offers free trial version.  GanttPRO allows sub-division of major tasks into minor tasks and offers cost calculation per task. While using a Gantt chart, you can immediately see all the information you need on your chart, including your team’s tasks, their sequences, deadlines, and priorities. GanttPRO is hosted in the cloud, which makes is easily accessible for every team member using any web browser.

B. Grammar Checker Tools

Grammar checker tools are used to detect grammatical, spelling, punctuation, sentence formation errors, etc.  Its purpose is to enhance the language of a paper in question. Given the need of the hour, the internet pool is overflowing with several grammar checker tools that suggest fixes and explain the nature of the suggested fixes. For knowledge to be disseminated unambiguously, it is essential that the literature is written correctly. Especially for non-native researchers, the use of grammar checker tools is a must.

Two most recommended grammar checker tools for researchers are Trinka AI and Grammarly.

1. Trinka AI

Trinka AI is the world’s first grammar and language improvement tool designed specifically for academic and technical writing. It is unique as it not only checks grammar, punctuation, and spelling, but also provides explanations for correcting errors. It offers free version that includes access to all its features. The paid version offers uninterrupted usage and higher monthly limits along with access to the add-in for MS Word. It allows you to choose between the US and the UK style to make it easily accessible for researchers all over the world.

Its custom-built features such as maintaining academic tone, providing unbiased language, concept clarity, sentence structure, and alternative word choice makes it better than most grammar checker tools. It also offers subject-specific corrections, select style guides preferences, and 20+ publication readiness checks . It provides detailed explanations as to why a correction is suggested. Furthermore, it helps researchers in reducing word count by suggesting alternatives without changing the context.

2. Grammarly

Grammarly is a popular browser application or extension developed to check grammar, punctuation , context, sentence structure, and readability. It is a real-time plagiarism detector on various platforms, including MS Word, WordPress, Facebook, etc. It is available in free and paid version. The free version offers basic spelling and grammar checks , as well as some suggestions. While the paid version offers the basic revisions and vocabulary improvement suggestions; additionally, it provides citation suggestions and can detect plagiarism.

C. Reference Management Tools

Reference management tools help in managing the literature used for research development, thus offering an alternative to a time-consuming task for researchers. These tools allow you to organize articles and their citations, share them with other researchers, detect duplicate entries, format the list of references, search and replace any reference, etc.  Furthermore, it allows researchers to correctly link and cite the works referenced in their articles.

Among many reference management tools available online, Mendeley and EndNote are two of the most widely used.

1. Mendeley

Mendeley is a freely available reference management tool to streamline your referral management workflow. It allows you to store, organize, and search all your references in just one library and generate citations. It includes citation options using various writing style guides needed as per your target journal. The program is compatible with Word (including Mac), LibreOffice, and OpenOffice. It can also be used with LaTex exporting BibTex. Furthermore, its version is also available for Android. Its feature of highlighting and annotating PDFs helps in better organization of multiple documents in one place.

EndNote is a paid reference management application, which allows researchers to insert citations into the text while simultaneously creating a bibliography with the “Cite While You Write” feature in MS Word. Additionally, it aligns and formats the article as per the requirements of the journal of interest using “Manuscript Matcher”. Furthermore, it organizes references automatically and enables sharing of work amongst remote computers.

D. Plagiarism Checkers

The academic world is riddled with plagiarism and perhaps due to the dizzying pace of publications, researchers can unknowingly fall prey to the derisive act of plagiarism.  To avoid getting your manuscript rejected and consequently affecting your image as a researcher, it is wise to run your manuscript through a plagiarism checker tool. These tools can not only help you in checking plagiarized content , but also help in identifying potential collaborations with researchers that belong to the same field.

To detect plagiarism, researchers can opt for plagiarism checker tools such as Enago’s Plagiarism Checker and Duplichecker.

1. Enago’s Plagiarism Checker

Enago’s plagiarism checker is a unique tool for quick, comprehensive, and dependable plagiarism checking, especially for research. It helps you assess the originality of a manuscript using advanced plagiarism software and provides a report highlighting areas in your text if the program recognizes existing material in it. It is easy to access with one click upload button. Furthermore, it includes an AI-based grammar check feature that checks your document for grammar errors typical to academic writing, and provides a tracked changes file that you can download and review.

In addition, its power editing mode enhances your document by correcting sentence structure, word choice, and subject-specific phrasing. Its extensive scholarly database of over 91+ billion web pages and 82+ million published articles ensures thorough plagiarism check as compared to other checkers. The tool is cost-effective with most reliable results. More importantly, a detailed interactive color-coded and plagiarism percentage report can be reviewed online and also be downloaded in PDF format if needed.

2. Duplichecker

Duplichecker offers a free version for texts of up to 1000 words and is available in paid versions for word count above 1000. It provides plagiarism percentage and highlights similar content to the list of sources. However, it does not provide detailed report. It has a limited database access as it compares your document only to Internet sources and online books. Lastly, the plagiarism report is easy to read and is downloadable in PDF and MS Word format.

E. Journal Finder

One of the common rejection factors of research journals is that the subject of the research is not within those contemplated by the journal. The journal search engines help researchers to choose the best suitable journal for publishing their research. These tools are very useful to avoid getting involved in a manuscript submission process that would be wrong from the beginning.

The two effective and reliable journal finder tools are Enago Open Access Journal Finder (Enago OAJF) and Elsevier Journal Finder (Elsevier JF).

1. Enago’s Open Access Journal Finder

Enago’s OAJF is a freely available tool that protects you from falling prey to predatory publishers. It solves issues such as journal legitimacy and reports article processing fees through a journal index validated and issued by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). It allows you to find pre-screened and quality journals in the public domain. Enago’s exclusive search algorithm allows you to compile a concise list of journals related to your research work.

2. Elsevier Journal Finder

Elsevier Journal Finder allows you to enter the title and abstract of your article to easily find journals that are most likely suitable for your publication. It uses intelligent search technology and vocabularies specific to the corresponding research field to match your article to scientific journals.

F. Social Networking for Academics

Research advances when shared; hence, the connection and exchange of ideas between researchers is essential. To socialize, work networks are a great help that encourages collaborative effort at a distance. This makes it possible to publicize the profile of a researcher to the scientific community, as well as promote their research and establish links with other work teams across the globe.

Two most commonly used academic networks include Academia.edu and ResearchGate.

1. Academia.edu

Academia.edu is a freely accessible platform for sharing research documents and connecting with academics across the globe. As of now, over 22 million articles and about 31 million academics, professionals, researchers are active on the platform. Academia.edu’s algorithms generate about 20 million article recommendations per day. It is also possible to exchange knowledge in effective formats of video, short content, dataset, etc. You can receive notifications when you are cited and referenced, acknowledged as a co-author, and expressed gratitude for your co-operation.

2. ResearchGate

ResearchGate is also a freely available networking platform to connect scientists and make research available to everyone. Currently, there are over 20 million researchers from more than 190 countries connecting through ResearchGate to collaborate and share their work. It also allows interactive conversations with researchers on the platform.

Do you use any of the above mentioned online tools? Do you think that these online tools for researchers can significantly ease your effort? Which are some other tools you know of that you find useful for academic work? Let us know in the comments section below! You can also visit our  Q&A forum  for frequently asked questions related to different aspects of research writing and publishing answered by our team that comprises subject-matter experts, eminent researchers, and publication experts.

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• TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
• 29 June 2020

Four tools that help researchers working in collaborations to see the big picture

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Anna Nowogrodzki is a journalist in Boston, Massachusetts.

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In January 2019, NASA announced that its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite had discovered a planet about three times the diameter of Earth. The planet, orbiting a dwarf star 16 parsecs (53 light years) away, was found using sophisticated equipment including the satellite itself and the Magellan II telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. But its discovery also relied on a more prosaic tool, says astronomer Johanna Teske: the project-management software Trello.

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12 Best Tools for Researchers in 2024

Every project needs to conduct research. It’s the best way to avoid making expensive mistakes and create a product that the target audience will love. There are many helpful research tools out there that you can use to make your research easier. That is why we have brought you the best tools for researchers to conduct research and surveys. Let’s explore them below.

What is the need for research tools for researchers?

Every researcher focuses on managing multiple tasks, getting good results, and using time well, no matter what research they do. All of these require a well-planned and organized system. To do this, every researcher needs research tools. The best tools for researchers make this job easier.

Market research tools help researchers write their project proposals, reports, academic papers, and articles by helping them avoid language mistakes, cite sources, build networks, and search for journals to publish.

12 Best tools for researchers in research and survey

So, let’s get right into it! We have made a list of the 12 best tools that every researcher should try. We will discuss their most important features and prices so you can compare them and choose what works best for you.

01. QuestionPro InsightHub

QuestionPro InsightHub is one of the best research tools and the most powerful tool for sharing, showcasing, and analyzing your insights data.

It is a built-for-insights platform that helps insights teams organize, be more agile, and conduct market research. InsightsHub is a place to store and search all of your insights data, research methods, and project lifecycles.

It lets you create a project and then links a survey to that project. When the research is done, put the most important findings and nuggets inside each project. It makes them easy to find later and links them to other projects.

Best features:

• Strong integrations with your present research ecosystem and technology.
• Multilingual support for 50+ languages and double-byte character sets.
• Real-time reporting dashboard
• Unified platform to organize, explore, research, and discover research data in one repository.
• Democratized insights

Premium pricing starts at $99 monthly.

02. QuestionPro Research Suite

QuestionPro Research Suite is a set of research and analysis tools for researching and changing experiences. It is the best set of enterprise-level research tools in the industry that can help you find insights for your brand.

You can solve your research problems with surveys that are easy to make and give you complex, real-time information. So, It can be the perfect research tool for researchers.

• Monitor consumer behavior across categories and remain ahead of the curve With Market segmentation.
• Allow you to experience the impact of change by A/B testing across questions, segments, and ideas.
• It allows you to do academic research, capturing qualitative and quantitative insights.
• Analyze your pricing research data to determine market factors, including competition intelligence, purchase behavior, and pricing sensitivity.

QuestionPro premium pricing plan begins at $99 per month.

03. SurveySparrow

The SurveySparrow Survey Tool is an automated survey tool that is easy to use and was made by a group of researchers and app developers. Because it is easy to use, powerful, and flexible, the SurveySparrow survey tool benefits academic users and scientific researchers.

• SurveySparrow template library to create polls or an online survey.
• Survey customization
• Survey data can be exported to Excel, PDF, and JSON.

Premium plans begin at $19 monthly.

04. Qualtrics

Qualtrics is another great survey software option and one of the best tools for researchers. It can handle everything from simple questionnaires to complex research surveys.

Qualtrics is a great choice for survey solutions that are tailored to customers, employees, and brands. Its drag-and-drop survey builder lets you make survey forms that are very flexible and easy to use.

• Drag and drop functionality for easy-to-use
• Net Promoter Score (NPS)
• Real-time dashboard

Premium plans start at $1500 yearly.

Simple text editors from the past need to be better. For our dynamic, interactive, and media-rich research, we need a tool that combines all aspects of modern research under one roof. And this is where Bit.ai comes in.

Bit lets researchers and teams work together, share, track, and manage all their knowledge and research in one place. It is the perfect market research tool for sharing multi-dimensional research with your peers, not just plain, boring text and slides.

• Easy-to-use interface
• Use the content library to save media files for convenient access.
• Organized workspaces

Paid plans start from Pro at $8.00 monthly.

06. Elink.io

Researchers can easily save content from around the web with Elink.io. They can save links to articles, videos, cloud files, social media posts, and much more. If you are looking for the best online tools for researchers, Elink.io is for you.

Researchers can change the title and description to add their own voices or notes. They can even group links together and send them to others as a newsletter or put them on your blog or website.

• Chrome extension to save links quickly.
• Make and distribute a newsletter within minutes.

Premium plans start at $ 15.00 monthly.

07. GanttPRO

The GanttPRO project and task management tool makes it easy for single researchers and groups of any size to plan their tasks on a visually appealing Gantt chart timeline, track their progress, and meet all their deadlines.

GanttPRO lets researchers add as many tasks, task groups, and subtasks as they want to one timeline.

• Several dozen templates.
• Easy collaboration with colleagues.

Premium plans start from $4.5.00 per user monthly.

08. Grammarly

Grammarly is one of the best tools for researchers. Fixing grammar, sentence structure, and silly spelling mistakes can take hours. With Grammarly’s brilliant editor, all these mistakes are automatically fixed.

Aside from fixing basic spelling and grammar mistakes, Grammarly has a punctuation checker, a tool to improve your vocabulary and find plagiarism. So, after the entire research process, all of your work can be done under one roof.

Best features: 

• Accessible via Word, Slack, etc.
• Grammarly’s Chrome extension provides real-time grammar checks online.
• Allow you to detect document tone and dependability.
• Allows custom goals to be set.

Premium plans start from $11.66.00 monthly.

09. Typeset.io

Typeset.io claims to be a more innovative alternative to Word and Latex that all researchers should use. You can start your research with a simple interface or by importing your Word files.

• Over 100,000 journal formats
• Editing services to improve your publication chances
• Built-in collaboration tools allow other researchers to have a platform to work with.

Premium plans start from $8.00 monthly for researchers.

10. Endnote

Endnote can be considered one of the best tools for researchers in their research process. Endnote helps you to do smarter research by making it easier to format bibliographies, find full texts, and find references.

An endnote is a collaborative tool because it lets you share selected groups of references, manage team access, and keep track of activity and changes from a single dashboard.

• Variety of templates and plug-ins.
• Automatic reference management software

Paid plans start from $249.00

11. Mendeley

Mendeley is software for managing references. Researchers can create references and citations in various journal styles with just a few clicks. Researchers can connect and network with more than 6 million users through its research network.

• Annotate and organize documents

Premium plans start from $55.00 yearly.

12. ResearchGate

ResearchGate gives you access to more than 135 million pages of publications. It lets you know what’s going on in your field. Researchers can share their work, work together with other researchers, and find new research papers and bibliographies through a built-in community. It can be one of the best tools for researchers.

• Citation tracking
• Analytics to see who reads your work
• Discover new ideas

It is free to use.

There are a lot of best tools for researchers. If you are a researcher and want the best tools that fit your needs, you should take the time to figure out what features you need.

We hope this post has helped you determine which research tools are best for you. Every survey tool on the list has both common and unique features. In this situation, it’s important to know what your options are and what features and pricing they provide.

QuestionPro InsightHub and QuestionPro Research Suite are the best tools for researchers to do surveys. It lets professors, students, employees, and customers make and take as many surveys as they want for academic or administrative purposes related to the institution.

This tool allows you to build web forms, do offline research projects, collect and evaluate data, and do much more. Try QuestionPro right now!

FREE TRIAL         LEARN MORE

Frequently Asking Questions

A good research tool has three main qualities. Validity, dependability, and usability are examples of these. A researcher should examine data collection tools in terms of these criteria while choosing them.

Case studies, checklists, interviews, observations, and surveys or questionnaires are all data collection tools. It is critical to select data-gathering tools since research is conducted in various ways and for various goals.

Many factors can undermine a study’s internal validity, including errors in measurement or participant selection, and researchers should consider and avoid these flaws.

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10 of the Best Research Management Software in 2024

Engineering Team

February 13, 2024

Juggling research projects and struggling to keep track of things? Don’t worry. With a spiffy new research management tool at the ready, you could be much more productive.

But what if you don’t have time to sift through dozens of tools and apps for research management to find the perfect fit? That’s where we come in!

We’ve narrowed it down to the top 10 research management software tools to use in 2024, so you can pick from the best of the best. 

It’s time to level up! 🙌 

What Should You Look for in Research Management Software?

3. ganttpro, 4. klipfolio, 5. whatagraph, 8. scispace (formerly typeset.io), 10. databox.

Whether you’re an individual researcher or leading a research team, research management software tools make everything better. Here are some of the features we prioritized when picking the 10 tools on our list:

• Intuitive UI: Most tools will have a learning curve, but a configurable user interface makes it easier to get comfortable
• Compatibility: The best tools offer downloadable software, mobile apps, and web-based apps so your team members can work in Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Linux, and their favorite web browsers
• Integrations: If you and your team use things like project management software, look for research management tools that’ll integrate with all of them
• Automations: Business process automation takes care of everyday tasks and lets you focus on the good stuff
• Templates: Look for something that’ll streamline your workflow with pre-made templates for things like resource management , project management, process mapping , and research planning

The 10 Best Research Management Software to Use in 2024

OK, let’s stop wasting time and get to the good stuff. Here are our picks for the 10 best research management software tools in 2024.

ClickUp is a cloud-based powerhouse with tons of research and project management software features for your research projects. It’s our top pick for a few reasons.

For one, we’ve spent countless hours refining it to be one of the most helpful tools around. It’s highly rated and at the top of several other lists, including G2’s Best Project Management Software Products & Tools in 2024 .

ClickUp has real-time collaboration features, free Gantt charts , AI writing tools, project documentation tools , and so much more. It does almost anything you ask with customizable ClickUp Dashboards and dozens of handy templates, too.

For example, the ClickUp Research Project Plan Template breaks down complex tasks, organizes your resources, and communicates your progress using data visualization tools . And ClickUp Docs serve as a simple wiki software that lets you create beautiful Docs and wikis that are easy to connect to your workflows.

Did we mention that a lot of this stuff is available on the Free Forever plan? 🤩

ClickUp best features:

• Integration with 1,000+ other tools, including Google Docs, Google Scholar, Google Drive, Google Workspace, Microsoft Excel, Trello, Slack, Evernote, Dropbox, Chrome, GitHub, and Asana
• Customizable dashboards, notifications, spreadsheets, templates, time tracking, automations, and more
• ClickUp AI writing assistant summarizes metrics, compose emails, generate action items, draft metadata, and create social media posts in seconds
• Mobile app, web-based app, and desktop software works on all operating systems
• Task management features organize and automate your research process, whether you’re doing academic research for your thesis or managing your company’s research data
• Multiple views and tools allow you to organize large datasets with complex visualizations to manage references, research, and more

ClickUp limitations:

• Some new users report a learning curve (solved with simple, free tutorials)
• ClickUp AI isn’t available on the Free Forever plan (give it a spin with a free trial first)

ClickUp pricing:

• Free Forever
• Unlimited: $7/month per user paid annually
• Business: $12/month per user paid annually
• Enterprise: Contact for pricing

ClickUp ratings and reviews:

• G2: 4.7/5 (8,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (3,000+ reviews)

Tableau is a data visualization tool powered by Salesforce. It’s designed to connect data from different sources on a single analytics platform. The reference management software makes it easier to organize complex research data using a drag-and-drop interface and interactive dashboards.

Tableau makes your life easier with access to a range of data analysis and sharing options. And it’s designed for everyone from students and teachers to data scientists and business owners. 

Tableau best features:

• Tableau Cloud provides a cloud-based analytics platform that drives better business outcomes and provides integrated data management
• Tableau Prep is a modern tool that makes it faster and easier to merge, edit, and organize your research data for efficient analysis
• Integration with a wide variety of products to make collaboration, data storytelling, and decision-making easier
• Training modules for onboarding your team minimize the learning curve with Tableau’s many research management tools

Tableau limitations:

• Users report that large files sometimes require long loading times and may result in crashing
• Some reviews mention bugs in new versions of Tableau software

Tableau pricing:

• Tableau Viewer: $15/month per user paid annually
• Tableau Explorer: $42/month per user paid annually
• Tableau Creator: $70/month per user paid annually

Tableau ratings and reviews:

• G2: 4.3/5 (1,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (2,000+ reviews)

GanttPRO is a resource management system that uses Gantt charts for efficient project management. It’s also a research and reference management software that’s perfect for managing teams and organizing your workflow.

Import Excel spreadsheets and graphs or use pre-made templates to get your projects going pronto. Of all the research management tools in this list, GanttPRO helps you organize everything you need for thesis research, business data analysis, wiki pages, bibliographies, and more. 🛠️ 

GanttPRO best features:

• Multiple views allow you to create Kanban and scrum boards in addition to Gantt charts for better research and workspace visualization
• Integrations with Slack, OneDrive, Google Drive, and MS Teams collect all your work in one place
• Time logs let you track how much time you spend on each research task
• Collaboration tools make it easy for research teams to work together and communicate in real-time

GanttPRO limitations:

• Some views have limited customization options
• Reviews mention difficulty moving and converting tasks

GanttPRO pricing:

• Basic: $9.99/month per user
• Pro: $15.99/month per user
• Business: $24.99/month per user

GanttPRO ratings and reviews:

• G2: 4.8/5 (400+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.8/5 (400+ reviews)

Klipfolio is a business dashboard tool that monitors your research data in real-time. It’s a metrics-focused platform that helps everyone make better decisions with access to the data they need when they need it. ✨

Individual users and data teams can use this powerful analytics tool to catalog data in a user-friendly platform that provides self-serve access to research information. Draft effective reports for team projects, organize citations for research papers and create useful dashboards for end-users. 

Klipfolio best features:

• Integrations with 100+ other tools and apps, from Ahrefs to Zapier, with dozens of options in between
• Compatibility with Android and iOS mobile devices and most popular web browsers
• Klip Annotations allows you to create, update, and delete annotations quickly and easily
• User-friendly interface helps reduce the learning curve for new users

Klipfolio limitations:

• Some reviews mention a lack of alerts and notifications
• Some users report issues with needing to restart the application after adding elements to their dashboard

Klipfolio pricing:

• Go: $125/month
• Pro: $300/month
• Business: $800/month

Klipfolio ratings and reviews:

• G2: 4.5/5 (200+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (100+ reviews)

Whatagraph is a reporting tool that helps manage and visualize research data with customizable templates for efficient marketing projects. Move data, share reports with stakeholders, and build stunning reports. 🦋

Whatagraph replaces multiple tools and collects your team’s work in an easy-to-use data platform with a user-friendly dashboard. This tool is designed with in-house data research and marketing teams in mind. 

Whatagraph best features:

• Integrations with 40+ tools and apps, including YouTube, Google BigQuery, LinkedIn, and BigCommerce
• Automates research data transfer to save your team members hours of work and streamline your workflow
• Generates quality reports in less time using data analytics software
• Analyze and manage web page performance data to give your marketing team the information they need to get results

Whatagraph limitations:

• Some reviews mention slow responses from customer service
• Some users report bugs that slow down their research process
• No real project management software features

Whatagraph pricing:

• Professional: $223/month paid annually
• Premium: $335/month paid annually
• Custom: Contact for pricing

Whatagraph ratings and reviews:

• Capterra: 4.4/5 (80+ reviews)

Looker (aka Google Looker Studio) is a browser-based data analytics platform that uses a unique modeling language to leverage, analyze, and visualize research data. Use it for governed and self-service business intelligence (BI), and to build the best apps for your organization’s metrics. 

Collaborate in real time and capitalize on the fastest analytic databases available. Looker’s lightweight architecture allows developers to create flexible data and researcher apps quickly. 👀

Looker best features:

• Intuitive user interface minimizes the learning curve for new users
• Integrations with multiple tools, including BigQuery Standard SQL and BigQuery Legacy SQL databases
• Customizable charts, tables, and reports allow you to share data insights with your team, classroom, or the world
• Report settings give database users and viewers the option to bookmark existing settings for future use

Looker limitations:

• Users report issues with the varied Google Cloud Pricing structure and the lack of a set monthly fee
• Some reviews report problems with the dynamic tables not displaying full text for headers
• Data focus means few project management software capabilities

Looker pricing:

• Google Cloud Pricing : Contact to request a quote

Looker ratings and reviews:

• G2: 4.4/5 (1,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (200+ reviews)

Bit.ai is a document collaboration platform designed for quick and easy note-taking, document creation, and research management. It builds dynamic knowledge bases, projects, and technical docs with various sharing and formatting options too. 

Users have access to advanced design options, robust search features, powerful document tracking, and real-time collaboration tools. And teams can work together using this tool from around the globe across multiple platforms and devices. 

Bit.ai best features:

• Collaboration tools allow you and your team to work together to create documents, wikis, notes, and web pages
• Integrations with dozens of other tools and platforms, including YouTube, Google Sheets, GitHub, Loom, and Typeform
• Intuitive collaboration and workflow design makes document creation simple for new users
• Automations allow you to complete research projects faster by taking care of small tasks

Bit.ai limitations:

• Some users mention issues with document creation
• Some reviews report trouble with the user interface and a need for a more user-friendly experience

Bit.ai pricing: 

• Pro: $12/month per user
• Business: $20/month per user

Bit.ai ratings and reviews: 

• G2: 4/5 (10+ reviews)
• Capterra: 5/5 (5+ reviews)

SciSpace, also known as Typeset.io, is a powerful researcher app designed to save you time using the power of AI. Discover and review a network of relevant papers and get simple answers from each one without spending hours deep-diving the content. 

Minimize time spent on menial tasks and let SciSpace do the research for you while you find your answers. And you’ll have access to millions of papers and PDFs to get the info you need. It’s also easy to use in tandem with applications like Zotero and Mendeley. 

SciSpace best features:

• Access to metadata of 200 million+ papers and 50 million+ Open Access full-text PDFs
• Workspace enables publishers, institutions, and researchers to collaborate and work efficiently on research projects
• Automations minimize time wasted with repetitive tasks so you discover information quickly
• Built-in plagiarism checker allows you to check your documents and identify issues that may be preventing you from getting published

SciSpace limitations:

• Some reviews mention issues with LaTeX templates
• Free plan does not include any major features
• Lack of reviews on major platforms

SciSpace pricing:

• Basic: Free
• Premium: $9.99/month
• Teams and Labs: $5.49/month per user

SciSpace ratings and reviews:

• Capterra: N/A

Businesses use EndNote to build bibliographies and access research articles. This specialized reference and research management software lets you manage and format citations. It also protects your workflow with efficient data restoration functions. 📁

Find, share, and use research within your EndNote libraries and work on your research from anywhere, on any device. The integrated document creation tools will make your writing more efficient. 

Endnote best features:

• License requires a one-time fee instead of monthly payments
• Integrations with popular tools like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Open Office Writer
• Compatibility with desktop, iPad, and most popular web browsers
• Useful organization and research management tools let researchers drafting and citing their theses or writing in-depth research papers get their work done faster

Endnote limitations:

• Some reviews mention limited integration with word processing software outside of Microsoft and Google products
• You may need to correct occasional citation formatting errors manually
• Document system lacks task and project management software capabilities

Endnote pricing:

• Full License: $274.95 one-time fee
• Student License: $149.95 one-time fee

Endnote ratings and reviews:

• G2: 4.1/5 (100+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.3/5 (30+ reviews)

Databox is a business analytics tool that connects your data and tracks it from any device. Monitor your research data in real-time using a single dashboard to build and share reports, discover insights, and monitor trends. 📈

Get daily, weekly, and monthly performance updates viewable through email and Slack and automated alerts for changes in important metrics. Everything is done without the need for coding or spreadsheets.

Databox best features:

• Integrations with 100+ popular tools, including HubSpot Marketing, Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, and Google Ads
• Setup is easy to manage for non-technical users and data research teams
• Data reporting makes it easy to progress toward your goals and share research data with clients
• Custom metrics and conversion rates are calculated quickly and easily

Databox limitations:

• Reviews indicate that individual users may find the business-oriented prices too high
• Users mention a lack of customization and visual tools
• Free version does not include access to most features and metrics

Databox pricing:

• Starter: $59/month
• Professional: $169/month
• Growth: $399/month
• Premium: $999/month

Databox ratings and reviews:

Unleash the power of your research.

With such a wide variety of research management software options listed above, you’re sure to find an option that does what you need at a price that fits your budget. So get ready to streamline your workflow, collaborate more effectively, and fall back in love with research. 😍

If you want a tool that does it all at a price everyone can afford, try ClickUp . It’s free! You’ll have access to everything you need for research management, plus many other project management tools that’ll make your work and life more efficient.

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• Utility Menu

• Research Software Programs

Research software is the collection of tools, codes, libraries that allows a researcher to generate new data or analyze and make meaning of existing data. 

Some software is used across many disciplines, like MATLAB, R, python, whereas most are very domain specific.  The majority of software is provided by the researchers, however Harvard University's Research Computing groups have site or volume licenses for several packages for cluster and/or desktop use, which are provided at no cost to faculty and students.  Licenses are usually available upon request.  Desktops installation of software is self-service or can be done by your local HUIT Desktop support group. 

RC will also help you acquire any other software you may require for your research, or help you determine which packages are most appropriate for the types of analyses you want to do. These packages are purchased individually for each user and are charged to research accounts. 

Software Types: 

Open Source  - software in which source code is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. Typically, open-source software is developed in a collaborative public manner. 

Commercial  - any software or program that is designed and developed for licensing or sale to end users or that serves a commercial purpose. Commercial software was once considered to be proprietary software, but now a number of free and open-source software applications are licensed or sold to end users. Off-the-shelf software programs, to be used with little or no modification, are examples of commercial software. 

Custom  - software solutions that are specially developed for a specific user or organization and may include solutions that have been designed to run on specific hardware (embedded software). Such software is used to address user needs that cannot be met by more traditional and widespread off-the-shelf software.  Custom software can also be modifications or extensions, for specific purposes, of Open Source and/or Commercial software. 

Licensing Types: 

Perpetual license - typically authorizes an individual to use an application indefinitely. Generally, outside of termination, a perpetual software license allows the holder to use a specific version of a given software program continually with payment of a single fee.  Along with a perpetual software license, the vendor typically provides a technical support period of one to three years. During this initial period, the vendor also provides software updates often. However, updates may or may not be provided for free in perpetuity. 

Subscription License  - typically authorizes an individual to use an application for a defined a defined period. This might be 30 days (a monthly subscription) or 365 days (an annual subscription.) Subscriptions typically have no defined end or termination date and they automatically renew after the initial term. 

Individually Licensed  – Individual Licenses can be based on per machine or per user and typically reflect the use of an application by an individual. 

Floating License  - approach in which a limited number of licenses for a software application are shared among a larger number of users over time. When an authorized user wishes to run the application, they request a license from a central license server. 

Buying and Installing specific software.   Software can be purchased by an individual or through research computing.  Installation will typically occur by the research computing group either generally (to be available to all users) or within a specific user's space and be available to a limited number of individuals.  Responsibility of troubleshooting and the stability of an application will vary depending on the software title.  Software titles specifically supported by the research computing group are the ones we provide annual training for.  Ad-hoc installation requests will be supported as defined at the time of request. 

Eligibility information is outlined below based on providers with offerings that are available to the entire Harvard community or a specific unit/appointment. 

University-wide, faculty of arts and sciences, research computing.

Software Installation:    Existing software on the cluster can be found on our portal  here . 

Software Downloads:  Distribution of desktop software for research can be found  here . Requires FASRC VPN access. 

Licensed Software:   FASRC runs FlexLM software manager. 

Software purchasing:    FASRC has experience working with vendors and Harvard Procurement to navigate Terms & Conditions of software contracts for HPC Clusters.  FASRC does not need to be involved in SaaS contracts as those are hosted in vendor’s cloud platform.  Generally individual groups will purchase software for their Lab.  Whole departments might pool resources to purchase software for their domain.  Example: Chemistry and Chemical Biology purchase of Gaussian. General purpose software might be purchased by FAS with an institutional license (e.g. MATLAB, Mathematica, Stata, etc.)

Software Training:  See  Training  for current offerings.  Typical offerings include: 

Available to PIs with an active FASRC account from any Harvard School.  For more information see  Account Requests . 

Service Provider

FAS Research Computing

Service Fee

Service website.

https://www.rc.fas.harvard.edu/services/software/

Contact Information

Contact Raminder Singh at  [email protected]  

Institute for Quantitative Social Science

Available to social science researchers at Harvard. For research, needs to be sponsored by Faculty. For administration, needs to be sponsored by the responsible administrator.

$75/hour (Tier 2)

https://www.iq.harvard.edu/data-science-services

Steve Worthington [email protected]

Unit/Appointment-specific

Harvard medical school.

Software Installation:   

As of April 2021, the O2 cluster has 150+ applications and tools for computational analysis, including (partial examples of each category in parentheses).

• Major computational tools (MATLAB)  
• Computer languages (R, Python, Perl)  
• Next-generation sequencing analysis tools (STAR, kallisto, cellranger and libraries (vcflib) 
• Structural biology (Gromacs, relion) 
• Deep learning (Tensorflow) 
• Performance libraries (openmpi, Boost, openblas) 
• Image analysis and management (OMERO, ImageMagick, CellProfiler, Fiji) 
• And tools for other life science research disciplines 

Software Downloads:   HMS IT RC provides access the following software packages at charge.  

ChemOffice  – a scientifically intelligent, integrated suite of personal productivity tools that helps scientists to efficiently keep track of their work, gain a deeper understanding of their data and produce scientific reports professionally and efficiently. 

DNAStar LaserGene  – a bioinformatics software solution for complete analysis, from cloning to next-gen sequencing.  The software includes all of the applications in Lasergene Molecular Biology, Lasergene Protein, and Lasergene Genomics to provide powerful and accurate results. 

JMP Pro – a statistical discovery software with advanced features for more sophisticated analysis including predictive modeling and cross-validation techniques. Understand data in an easy-to-use interface using a desktop software. 

JMP Genomics – a unique integrated analysis software used for biological experiments. It can detect differential expression patterns, find signals in next-generation sequencing data, discover reliable biomarker profiles, perform single-cell sequencing analysis or increase genetic diversity for plant traits in silico. 

LabView – a system engineering software for applications that require test, measurement, and control with rapid access to hardware and data insights. The software is a graphical programming platform that helps engineers visualize, create, and code engineering systems with scale from design to test and from small to large systems. 

MATLAB – a software for developing high-level programming language consisting of an interactive environment mainly used for numeric computation, programming, and visualization.  The software is used for mathematical computation, algorithm development, modeling, simulations, and data analyzing. 

Licensed Software:   HMS IT RC provides access the follow software solutions via charge back. 

BioRender  – a web solution for creating and sharing illustrative scientific figures for publication and communication using a scientifically accurate image library.  Images and illustrations can be imported, and the service includes the creation of new custom icons on demand. In addition to saving on expensive illustration software, the goal of this solution is to reduce the amount of time required by researchers to create illustrative figures. 

FlowJo  – a software package for analyzing flow cytometry data. Files produced by modern flow cytometers are written in the Flow Cytometry Standard format with an .fcs file extension. FlowJo will import and analyze cytometry data regardless of which flow cytometer is used to collect the data. 

GraphPad Prism – a commercial scientific 2D graphing and statistics software available for both Windows and Macintosh computers.  Features include analysis of quantitative and categorical data. This makes it easier to enter data correctly, choose suitable analyses, and create graphs.   

SnapGene  – a software application that enables an easy and secure way to plan, visualize, and document everyday molecular biology procedures. The software has an intuitive interface, enables DNA sequence visualization, sequence annotation, sequence editing, cloning, protein visualization, and simulating common cloning methods. The software also enables documentation and sharing of data. 

Almost all software on the cluster is available to all users with an O2 account. A few groups have specially licensed software.  

Software-specific

https://it.hms.harvard.edu/our-services/research-computing/services/research-applications-software/research-software

Contact Amir Karger at  [email protected] 

Harvard Business School

Licensed Software  

• Abbyy FineReader
• FileMaker Pro
• Cortex (MatchIt)
• Scientific Workplace
• Scientific Word

Software Training

HBS Faculty, Doctoral Students and staff conducting research at HBS

https://www.hbs.edu/research-computing-services/resources/compute-cluster/selectingsoftware.aspx

Contact Bob Freeman at  [email protected]

• Research Administration & Compliance
• Cluster Computing
• Data Center Hosted Systems
• Data Science and Research Software Engineering Collaboration
• Data Science and Research Computing Facilitation
• Research Data Storage
• Virtual Instances
• Research Data and Scholarship
• Active Research
• Dissemination & Preservation

Top 13 Tools for Researchers in 2024!

Gone are the days of going to the library, studying numerous books, taking notes on paper, and doing research. Thanks to technology, we no longer have to do this tedious routine to do research. However, research is still a meticulous, painstaking process.

This is why we decided to uncover some of the best software tools for researchers that are going to help you conduct and maintain your research with ease. Read on…

List of Top 13 Best Tools for Researchers for better results:

Research today is dynamic. We often use the internet to browse websites, watch videos, study analytics, and conduct our research by exploring different types of digital content, making technology a major stakeholder in making our research success .

While the internet has made it easy for us to access worldly information with the click of a button (or mouse!), it has created a whole new set of problems.

Sorting through a seemingly infinite number of websites, verifying content, and curating only the best stuff can take a lot of time and effort. This is why we have brought you 13 essential research tools every researcher should use while working on the internet.

1. Bit.ai  

Online research means going through numerous websites, articles, blogs, images, videos, infographics, and more to find what you are looking for.

For our dynamic, interactive, and media-rich research, we need a tool that incorporates all facets of modern-day research under one roof. Simple text editors of the past just won’t cut it anymore! This is where Bit comes in.

Bit allows researchers and teams to collaborate, share, track, and manage all knowledge and research in one place.

It’s the perfect research tool to share multi-dimensional research with your peers and not just plain, boring text and slides.

Add articles, PDFs, videos, white papers, ebooks, audio samples- basically anything you can think of – and share it with your peers easily!

Other notable features of Bit include:

• An easy-to-use, minimal editor that supports Markdown.
• Collaborative, real-time editing, and communication with peers.
• Add any type of digital content (images, videos, etc) to your Bit document.
• A content library to save all your media files for quick access.
• Smart search, allows anyone to search and find any files, images, documents, links, etc quickly.

All-in-all, Bit is a must-have writing tool for researchers and authors!

Key Features of Bit: 

• Workspaces to store different research content easily
• Content library to store media assets
• Real-time collaboration with fellow researchers
• Free with limited functionality
• Paid plans start from Pro ($8/month), Business ($15/month), Enterprise (contact sales)

Read more:  How Bit.ai Can Help You Manage Your Academic Research?

2. elink.io

Research often involves going through hundreds of links and articles and compiling them in one safe space for future reference or publishing them for your audience.

This is why many researchers use bookmarking and curation tools like elink to quickly save their links under one roof and share them with their peers.

elink makes it easy for researchers to save content from around the web. They can save article links, videos, cloud files, social media posts, and much more!

Researchers have the option of saving content to their link library or adding them directly to content collections and sharing their research with their peers . To make the bookmarking process a breeze, elink also has a chrome extension .

Simply click on the extension or right-click on any webpage to save the content directly to your elink dashboard.

Researchers can edit the title and description to add their own voices or notes. They can even bundle links together and share their link collection with others as a newsletter or embed the collection on your blog/website!

Key Features of elink:

• Save links quickly using the chrome extension
• Create and share research links as a newsletter or embed it on your website
• Easy user-interface
• Paid plans start at Pro Monthly ($15/month), Pro 1 Year ($12/month), and Pro 2 years ($10/month).

3. GanttPRO

No matter what kind of research you do, you need to organize, plan, and stay focused on all of your activities.

Without a robust planning tool, researchers may fall behind the schedule and lose their progress.

GanttPRO project and task management tool makes it easy for single researchers and groups of any size to plan their tasks on a visually appealing Gantt chart timeline, follow their progress, and all the deadlines.

GanttPRO allows researchers to create a limitless number of tasks, groups of tasks, and subtasks on one timeline.

Besides, it’s a perfect planning tool for assigning tasks to your fellow researchers or creating virtual resources, whoever or whatever they may be. The software is a good choice for collaboration, time tracking, as well as sharing and exporting your schedules.

Key Features of GanttPRO:

• Dozens of ready-made templates.
• Real-time collaboration with fellow researchers.
• Elegant user interface with a short learning curve.
•   Free 14-day trial with all features available.
• Paid plans start from Team ($4.5/user/month), Individual ($15/month), Enterprise (contact sales).

4. Grammarly

Research work often involves hours of proofreading and spellchecking to make your research professional .

Grammarly, a writing enhancement tool will save you a ton of time and effort doing this dreaded task! Apart from basic spellchecking and corrections, Grammarly includes a grammar checker, a punctuation checker, a vocabulary enhancer, and even a plagiarism checker tool!

This awesome tool scans your research for more than 250 types of grammar mistakes in six distinct writing genres and leaves you with error-free writing. With thorough explanations for all your errors and weekly progress reports .

Grammarly is a must-have tool for researchers. It’s available as a browser extension, a desktop app, a web-based app, and a Microsoft add-in. Many of the Grammarly alternatives are also available in the market that is equally good.

Key Features of Grammarly: 

• Works with the majority of online tools like Word, Slack, etc.
• Plagiarism checker tool
• Tone detector
• Paid plans start from: Premium ($11.66/month), Business ($12.50/month)

Read more:   10 Best Writing Apps To Make You A Better Writer!

5. Typeset.io

With over 100,000+ verified journal formats to choose from, Typeform makes the process of research a bit too easy! Quickly copy-paste or upload your paper on Typeset and follow any citation style you need.

Typeset also has a plagiarism and grammar checker built in to ensure your writing is error-free. Once done uploading and citing, click on autoformat to generate your report in seconds.

You can also download your research in PDF , Docx, LaTeX file, or even as a Zip file. With collaboration features built-in, you can invite your fellow researchers to the platform and work together.

Key Features of Typeset: 

• Over 100,000+ journal formats to choose from
• Plagiarism and grammar checker tool
• Editing services to improve your publication chances
• Paid plans start from: Researcher ($8/month), Team($6/month), Journals / Publishers (contact sales)

6. Scrivener

Scrivener is another great tool for research writing and keeping your notes organized.

Used by researchers, screenwriters, novelists, non-fiction writers, students, journalists, academics, lawyers, translators, and more, Scrivener is a tool made for long writing projects.

On signing up, you are quickly presented with its editor, with a sidebar to keep everything in place. You can also break your content into manageable sections of any size and leave Scrivener to join them together.

For novelists and storytellers, there’s also a corkboard to visualize your storyline and move cards around as you like.

The outliner keeps a synopsis of what you have already written, along with word count data and metadata. Users can arrange their research articles and other files in folders and subfolders.

Key Features of Scrivener: 

• Desktop and mobile apps
• Outline creator
• Easy organization
• Paid plans start from $40.84/one-time fee

7. ProofHub

You must organize, prepare, and stay focused on all of your efforts, regardless of the type of research you conduct.

Researchers may go behind schedule and lose progress if they don’t have a good task management tool. ProofHub is an all-in-one project and team management application that allows research teams and organizations of any size to efficiently plan their research projects in one spot.

ProofHub allows you to create, assign and track tasks using effective task management features like Kanban boards and table view. Researchers can also get a visual idea of how their project is progressing using robust Gantt charts.

ProofHub also allows you to store and jot down all the data or information collected through your research in Notes. You can even create different notebooks and store your information according to the topic. Not just that, you can even share your research work with your team members.

Teams can also share and store files, documents, and images in ProofHub’s files section. Managers can track their team’s time spent on a specific research task using automatic and manual timers.

Team members can also brainstorm ideas or have real-time discussions in ProofHub’s discussions section and make way for better research work. 

Key features of ProofHub:

• Ready to use project templates
• Task management
• Time tracking and project reporting
• Team collaboration (chat, notes, and discussions)
• File management
• Online proofing
• 14-day free trial with all the features.

8. Google Scholar

Next up is an amazing research tool by Google called Google Scholar. Google Scholar provides a quick way to broadly search for scholarly literature from one location.

Look for articles, theses, books, abstracts, and court opinions, from professional societies, online repositories, universities, academic publishers, and other websites.

Researchers can also explore related works, citations, authors, and publications easily. Create a public author profile and see who’s citing your recent publication. Google Scholar also allows its users to keep up with recent developments in any area of research.

Key Features of Google Scholar: 

• Create a public author page
• Look for information across Google’s database
• Easy to use
• Free to use

Endnote wants you to research smarter by simplifying the tiresome work of formatting bibliographies, finding full text, and searching for references.

Endnote is collaborative in nature as it allows you to share selected groups of references, manage team access, and track activity and changes from one single dashboard.

With smarter insights, Endnote automatically finds the impact of your references and finds the best-fit journal for your papers.

The platform also enables users to automatically create, format, and update bibliographies. Quickly export your references and full-text PDFs into EndNote and start working instantly.

With a bunch of EndNote templates and plug-ins, researchers can enhance their Endnote experience and get the most out of the platform.

Key Features of Endnote: 

• Import filters for prior research
• Track your teammates’ activity on your shared library
• Automatic reference and link updating
• Paid plans start from $249

10. Evernote

Evernote is a note-taking app that can be very useful while conducting research . The app helps you store all your personal ideas, to-do listsm4, notes, and research links in one place.

Create separate tags and folders for the different types of information you are saving and keep it all organized.

Evernote auto-syncs across all your devices, including desktop, smartphone, and tablet, so you can switch between devices without losing your data.

Its Chrome browser extension called the Evernote web clipper is a great add-on for saving articles or other content on the internet while doing your research.

Just click the browser extension to save the entire page or highlights to your Evernote notebook along with any notes you have about that page.

Key Features of Evernote: 

• Keep notes, articles, and other content in one place
• Chrome extension for clipping content
• Set reminders
• Paid plans start from Plus ($34.99 per year or $3.99 per month), Premium ($69.99 per year or $7.99 per month), and Evernote Business (contact sales)

11. Mendeley

Mendeley is a reference management software that allows researchers to create references, citations, and bibliographies in multiple journal styles with just a few clicks.

Quickly access your library from anywhere – from anywhere. Windows, Mac, Linux, etc and add papers directly from your browser with a few clicks or import any documents from your desktop to your library.

With its research network, researchers connect and network with over 6 million users. Users can create groups to carry out discussions, discover research, and follow curated bibliographies.

There are also over 250,000 + science, technology, and health jobs to advance your career and grant info from over 5000 organizations to fund your next research !

Key Features of Mendeley: 

• Annotate and organize documents
• Find and create groups with fellow researchers
• Grant information from over 5000 organizations
• Paid plans start from $55/year for 5 GB to $165/year to unlimited storage

12. ContentMine

ContentMine offers a variety of text mining services to help researchers find, download, analyze, and extract knowledge from academic papers.

ContentMine builds its own open-source code to help out researchers find papers and not waste time on the internet doing so. They can also convert academic papers , PDFs to HTML, or to almost any format.

ContentMine can also extract data from tables and graphs, reducing the time taken to conduct a meta-analysis. The platform also offers consultancy as well as training workshops to educate people on the work they do and how.

Key Features of ContentMine: 

• Extract data from tables and graphs
• Quickly mine text from hundreds of papers
• Workshops and training
• Contact sales

13. ResearchGate

The last tool on our list of awesome tools for researchers is a platform called ResearchGate. ResearchGate gives you access to over 135 million publication pages, allowing you to stay up to date with what’s happening in your field.

With a built-in community, researchers can share their research, collaborate with peers, and discover new papers and bibliographies.

ResearchGate also provides deep analytics on who’s been reading your work and keeps track of your citations. With over 17 million users, ResearchGate is a research community to join!

Key Features of ResearchGate: 

• Share and find researchers
• Analytics to see who’s reading your work
• Citation tracking

Before you go!

Our team at  bit.ai  has created a few awesome templates to make your research process more efficient. Make sure to check them out before you go, y our team might need them!

• Case Study Template
• Research Paper Template
• Competitor Research Template
• Brainstorming Template
• SWOT Analysis Template
• White Paper Template

Final Words

There you have it folks, our list of amazing websites, apps, and software to use while conducting your research. Research is hard work- from finding and managing content to organizing and publishing- research takes a lot of time and effort.

However, with our awesome list of tools, researchers are surely going to get out the most of their time and effort and get work done more efficiently. Did we miss any awesome tool for researchers out there? Let us know by tweeting us at @bit_docs.

Further reads:

• Top 11 Code Editors for Software Developers
• Collaborative Research: Definition, Benefits & Tips!
• Best Resource Management Tools and Software
• How to Write a Research Proposal?

11 Best Link in Bio Tools in 2024!

Writing Vision Statement: Definition, Examples and Best Practices!

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About Bit.ai

Bit.ai is the essential next-gen workplace and document collaboration platform. that helps teams share knowledge by connecting any type of digital content. With this intuitive, cloud-based solution, anyone can work visually and collaborate in real-time while creating internal notes, team projects, knowledge bases, client-facing content, and more.

The smartest online Google Docs and Word alternative, Bit.ai is used in over 100 countries by professionals everywhere, from IT teams creating internal documentation and knowledge bases, to sales and marketing teams sharing client materials and client portals.

👉👉Click Here to Check out Bit.ai.

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Top 10 AI Tools For Academics: Level Up Your Research

If you aren’t using AI to augment your academic research in 2023, you are wasting a lot of time – time that you could free up from grunt work and invest in the more interesting stuff. 

AI tools have proliferated since the launch of GPT 3 and beyond. The sudden and simultaneous rise of so many consumable AI-powered tools has quickly muddied the waters and made it tiresome if not impossible to get your hands on the right set of AI tools for researchers. 

Fear not! I have hand-picked (I’ve had help, a lot of it, to be honest) 10 of the best AI tools for researchers. Go through the list, combine multiple tools, and create a customized stack of AI tools to help with your research process.

Top 10 AI tools for researchers

We’ll discuss tools powered by artificial intelligence that can augment your research work, save you a lot of time through the automation of certain tasks, and help you brainstorm new ideas avoid plagiarism, and streamline the research process. 

1. PDFgear Copilot

This PDF editor with a humble-looking website doesn’t even market itself properly as a top-class AI tool for researchers. It just is. PDFgear offers you some very simple functionalities that are going to save you a lot of time in different stages of your research activities.

It will let you upload PDF files and give you a summary of what’s inside the PDF . If you think it has missed something, ask. And it will find you the specific piece of information you were worried about. You can even ask PDFgear to compress a file, delete some pages, and perform other small-time edits via chat. 

Now, let’s say you have created a paper and you want to check it for errors before submitting it. Run it through PDFgear. The AI copilot will catch your typos and spelling errors and save you from embarrassment. 

PDFgear is free. It doesn’t matter if you want to summarize one file or 500 files. It’s free and instantaneous. 

The only downside is that this tool is available for download only on Windows 10/11. Nonetheless, the website says the MacOS version will arrive soon.        

2. Consensus

Consensus is useful for everyone and invaluable for researchers. It is an AI-powered search engine that takes questions in natural language and finds evidence-based answers from peer-reviewed research papers . Let that sink in.

While Google invests a lot in understanding the intent behind a search and providing the best answer, as a researcher you know how frustrating Google searches can be. You have to wade through an ocean of unverified content to reach evidence-based answers unless you are a master of keyword matching.

• Consensus helps you access information spread across 200 million peer-reviewed papers.
• They’ll cite the sources while answering your questions.
• Every answer is evidence-based
• The tool offers instant summaries and analyses with the help of GPT 4 and other powerful LLM

When it comes to using AI to augment research work, this is the real deal. You can use Consensus for research without paying a dime. The free edition will even let you create 3 summaries a month. For a price of $7.99 per month, you can generate unlimited summaries powered by GPT4. 

Scite, just like Consensus and PDFgear, has a very simple but elegant offering for researchers, students, and scholars. It tells you where an article has been cited and whether the citing article affirms or disputes the citation. So, as a researcher and a smart individual, you already know why this is incredible. I’ll talk about it a little anyway.

Scite helps you find how older research publications have been cited by newer research work through a feature called Smart Citation. This feature allows you to visualize a network of citations stemming from a single piece of work. It identifies the context of the citation and also classifies the citations as affirmative or negative. 

You can take a glance at the visualization and instantly prioritize the publications that you want to go through . Scite is a real stress buster that can also open your eyes to new research angles. 

These really are exciting times for researchers.

4. SciSpace  

SciSpace is an AI-based tool that simplifies difficult concepts for you. So, if you are in a hurry and need to extract the gist of a sizable scientific paper , drop it at SciSpace and let the Copilot create a summary for you. 

What if you have read an entire paper and cannot make sense of a specific section? Upload the file at SciSpace and highlight the section you need help with. The tool will break it down into digestible chunks and even take follow-up questions from you.

SciSpace also helps you with your literature reviews by finding related articles. 

5. Wordvice AI

Wordvice AI is a well-rounded AI-powered writing assistant. It proofreads your work and checks your articles for spelling, punctuation, and style error. It helps you maintain a flow of writing by analyzing sentence structures and offering sentence-level suggestions.

It will help you choose better words and create better sentences, all while ensuring the correctness of spelling, grammar, and style.  

Wordvice has solid use cases in academic research as well as in the corporate sector. It will help marketers write better copy and sales executives compose better emails. 

If you look closely, most of the AI tools for research can actually be repurposed for other functionalities. Similarly, AI apps meant for business can be repurposed for research. 

6. ChatGPT   

ChatGPT is the OG generative AI chatbot. It took the world by storm and reached 1 million users in 5 days. It represents everything that’s cool about chatbots. But can you use it reliably for research? 

The answer is no. ChatGPT is not considered a credible source for conducting research in any field. It comes up with false citations, offers misinformation, and isn’t up-to-date. 

Then why is ChatGPT included in this list?

For two reasons: 

• It is excellent at taking scattered information and forming comprehensive summaries.
• Its capability to adapt to a certain style of writing is almost magical.

So, as a smart individual what you can do is, get the information from credible sources, tie them up neatly with multiple prompts, and use ChatGPT to transform information into literature.

Also read: ChatGPT Wrappers: Compared [Use ChatGPT for Almost Free]

7. Research Rabbit

They call it “Spotify for Papers” and there is good reason behind it. ResearchRabbit allows you to create a collection of papers much like a Spotify playlist. Then, based on what you add to your collection and how you interact with papers, the platform creates recommendations. How neat is that? It’s like the AI-powered tool is reading your mind to help you read better. 

Paper recommendations aside, ResearchRabbit also creates visualizations featuring your favorite articles showing how they’re cited. It gives you jumping-off points to delve deeper into an idea or to explore a different research angle.   

You cannot call Research Rabbit a research assistant in its traditional sense. It is more like a friend that nudges you to try something new – relevant papers in this case. 

Here is another tool that’s never been marketed as an AI tool for researchers. In fact, Bit.ai is a fully-fledged document-sharing tool designed to cater to corporate needs. Nevertheless, it has certain features that researchers who like to collaborate can leverage.

This tool allows you to integrate a vast range of media items with your document . You can add infographics, create polls, and insert charts, and surveys. When you embed a link, Bit creates interactive visual cards visible to everyone sharing a document.

You can save all kinds of digital assets on the platform so that you do not have to search for content from different sources.

Now, imagine a scenario where you are part of a team of researchers who are collaborating on a few papers. You can organize and orchestrate the entire collaborative process with the help of Bit.ai. 

Zotero is a well-rounded AI research assistant. It helps researchers search better, organize better, and write better. Zotero analyzes your browsing patterns and senses when you are doing research. It then helps you find, sort, and save specific articles.

As you write the AI model recognizes the sources you are referencing and cites them for you following any of the 10000 citing procedures that it supports.

It creates a bibliography of all the resources used in your research paper. It synchronizes your data across devices to ensure access from anywhere at any time.

10. Semantic Scholar

A search engine that helps you search from a database of 213 million scientific papers for free. It is somewhat similar to Consensus except for the fact that it is completely free. The platform is developed by Allen Institute for AI and it aims to make scientific literature accessible to all scholars .

As a researcher,

You can use Semantic Scholar to stay up-to-date with the latest scientific breakthroughs  

Extract meaning and identify connections within papers 

Find the highly influential citations at a glance 

Create an online library to organize all your material

Get paper recommendations

AI tools for researchers that didn’t make the list

 An AI research assistant that helps you find papers, extract meaning, and summarize articles.

A sentence structure checker and proofreader designed with scholastic compositions in mind.

Users can use this tool to converse with PDFs. They can get summaries, ask questions, and find insights into PDF files by uploading them.

iThenticate

A plagiarism-checker designed specifically for research works and scholastic literature.

Scholarcy is a platform driven by AI that helps you analyze scientific articles, extract key information, create lay summaries, and more.  

Maintaining academic integrity while using AI tools for research

While using AI-powered research tools is hardly a matter of choice anymore, it is important to maintain the ethics and standards we associate with academic research. Despite the use of cutting-edge AI, your research procedures should be transparent. 

Best practices for AI-powered academic research

• Mention the use of AI in your research and give credit to the developers.
• Discuss your use of AI tools and how their usage may have impacted the research outcome. 
• Make sure that AI tools are used adhering to data privacy and informed consent requirements.
• Do not use AI-generated content in your research work without due attribution.
• Subject AI-assisted work to rigorous peer review.

FAQs about best AI tools for researchers

Does using ai tools for research raise any ethical concerns.

Yes, there can be concerns regarding data privacy, biased outcome, attribution of credit, and plagiarism. Researchers must be mindful of these issues while involving AI in their research strategy.

Can AI research assistants be used with AI expertise? 

Most AI research assistants come with a conversational AI model that doesn’t require any expertise to use.

Is there an AI-based tool for historical research?

You can use general-purpose AI text analyzers to summarize large volumes of historical texts and create summaries. While there are AI-powered applications trained on historical data, they are mostly gamified, and cannot be directly used in historical research. 

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Saumick Basu

Technical Writer & AI Researcher @ Foundr.AI

Saumick has been writing on technology for half a decade now. He loves talking about cybersecurity, AI, and enjoys diving deep into all disruptive tech. When not writing about tech, he writes songs and plays the drums.

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The best AI tools for research papers and academic research (Literature review, grants, PDFs and more)

As our collective understanding and application of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, so too does the realm of academic research. Some people are scared by it while others are openly embracing the change. 

Make no mistake, AI is here to stay!

Instead of tirelessly scrolling through hundreds of PDFs, a powerful AI tool comes to your rescue, summarizing key information in your research papers. Instead of manually combing through citations and conducting literature reviews, an AI research assistant proficiently handles these tasks.

These aren’t futuristic dreams, but today’s reality. Welcome to the transformative world of AI-powered research tools!

The influence of AI in scientific and academic research is an exciting development, opening the doors to more efficient, comprehensive, and rigorous exploration.

This blog post will dive deeper into these tools, providing a detailed review of how AI is revolutionizing academic research. We’ll look at the tools that can make your literature review process less tedious, your search for relevant papers more precise, and your overall research process more efficient and fruitful.

I know that I wish these were around during my time in academia. It can be quite confronting when trying to work out what ones you should and shouldn’t use. A new one seems to be coming out every day!

Here is everything you need to know about AI for academic research and the ones I have personally trialed on my Youtube channel.

Best ChatGPT interface – Chat with PDFs/websites and more

I get more out of ChatGPT with HeyGPT . It can do things that ChatGPT cannot which makes it really valuable for researchers.

Use your own OpenAI API key ( h e re ). No login required. Access ChatGPT anytime, including peak periods. Faster response time. Unlock advanced functionalities with HeyGPT Ultra for a one-time lifetime subscription

AI literature search and mapping – best AI tools for a literature review – elicit and more

Harnessing AI tools for literature reviews and mapping brings a new level of efficiency and precision to academic research. No longer do you have to spend hours looking in obscure research databases to find what you need!

AI-powered tools like Semantic Scholar and elicit.org use sophisticated search engines to quickly identify relevant papers.

They can mine key information from countless PDFs, drastically reducing research time. You can even search with semantic questions, rather than having to deal with key words etc.

With AI as your research assistant, you can navigate the vast sea of scientific research with ease, uncovering citations and focusing on academic writing. It’s a revolutionary way to take on literature reviews.

• Elicit –  https://elicit.org
• Supersymmetry.ai: https://www.supersymmetry.ai
• Semantic Scholar: https://www.semanticscholar.org
• Connected Papers –  https://www.connectedpapers.com/
• Research rabbit – https://www.researchrabbit.ai/
• Laser AI –  https://laser.ai/
• Litmaps –  https://www.litmaps.com
• Inciteful –  https://inciteful.xyz/
• Scite –  https://scite.ai/
• System –  https://www.system.com

If you like AI tools you may want to check out this article:

• How to get ChatGPT to write an essay [The prompts you need]

AI-powered research tools and AI for academic research

AI research tools, like Concensus, offer immense benefits in scientific research. Here are the general AI-powered tools for academic research. 

These AI-powered tools can efficiently summarize PDFs, extract key information, and perform AI-powered searches, and much more. Some are even working towards adding your own data base of files to ask questions from. 

Tools like scite even analyze citations in depth, while AI models like ChatGPT elicit new perspectives.

The result? The research process, previously a grueling endeavor, becomes significantly streamlined, offering you time for deeper exploration and understanding. Say goodbye to traditional struggles, and hello to your new AI research assistant!

• Bit AI –  https://bit.ai/
• Consensus –  https://consensus.app/
• Exper AI –  https://www.experai.com/
• Hey Science (in development) –  https://www.heyscience.ai/
• Iris AI –  https://iris.ai/
• PapersGPT (currently in development) –  https://jessezhang.org/llmdemo
• Research Buddy –  https://researchbuddy.app/
• Mirror Think – https://mirrorthink.ai

AI for reading peer-reviewed papers easily

Using AI tools like Explain paper and Humata can significantly enhance your engagement with peer-reviewed papers. I always used to skip over the details of the papers because I had reached saturation point with the information coming in. 

These AI-powered research tools provide succinct summaries, saving you from sifting through extensive PDFs – no more boring nights trying to figure out which papers are the most important ones for you to read!

They not only facilitate efficient literature reviews by presenting key information, but also find overlooked insights.

With AI, deciphering complex citations and accelerating research has never been easier.

• Open Read –  https://www.openread.academy
• Chat PDF – https://www.chatpdf.com
• Explain Paper – https://www.explainpaper.com
• Humata – https://www.humata.ai/
• Lateral AI –  https://www.lateral.io/
• Paper Brain –  https://www.paperbrain.study/
• Scholarcy – https://www.scholarcy.com/
• SciSpace Copilot –  https://typeset.io/
• Unriddle – https://www.unriddle.ai/
• Sharly.ai – https://www.sharly.ai/

AI for scientific writing and research papers

In the ever-evolving realm of academic research, AI tools are increasingly taking center stage.

Enter Paper Wizard, Jenny.AI, and Wisio – these groundbreaking platforms are set to revolutionize the way we approach scientific writing.

Together, these AI tools are pioneering a new era of efficient, streamlined scientific writing.

• Paper Wizard –  https://paperwizard.ai/
• Jenny.AI https://jenni.ai/ (20% off with code ANDY20)
• Wisio – https://www.wisio.app

AI academic editing tools

In the realm of scientific writing and editing, artificial intelligence (AI) tools are making a world of difference, offering precision and efficiency like never before. Consider tools such as Paper Pal, Writefull, and Trinka.

Together, these tools usher in a new era of scientific writing, where AI is your dedicated partner in the quest for impeccable composition.

• Paper Pal –  https://paperpal.com/
• Writefull –  https://www.writefull.com/
• Trinka –  https://www.trinka.ai/

AI tools for grant writing

In the challenging realm of science grant writing, two innovative AI tools are making waves: Granted AI and Grantable.

These platforms are game-changers, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to streamline and enhance the grant application process.

Granted AI, an intelligent tool, uses AI algorithms to simplify the process of finding, applying, and managing grants. Meanwhile, Grantable offers a platform that automates and organizes grant application processes, making it easier than ever to secure funding.

Together, these tools are transforming the way we approach grant writing, using the power of AI to turn a complex, often arduous task into a more manageable, efficient, and successful endeavor.

• Granted AI – https://grantedai.com/
• Grantable – https://grantable.co/

Free AI research tools

There are many different tools online that are emerging for researchers to be able to streamline their research processes. There’s no need for convience to come at a massive cost and break the bank.

The best free ones at time of writing are:

• Elicit – https://elicit.org
• Connected Papers – https://www.connectedpapers.com/
• Litmaps – https://www.litmaps.com ( 10% off Pro subscription using the code “STAPLETON” )
• Consensus – https://consensus.app/

Wrapping up

The integration of artificial intelligence in the world of academic research is nothing short of revolutionary.

With the array of AI tools we’ve explored today – from research and mapping, literature review, peer-reviewed papers reading, scientific writing, to academic editing and grant writing – the landscape of research is significantly transformed.

The advantages that AI-powered research tools bring to the table – efficiency, precision, time saving, and a more streamlined process – cannot be overstated.

These AI research tools aren’t just about convenience; they are transforming the way we conduct and comprehend research.

They liberate researchers from the clutches of tedium and overwhelm, allowing for more space for deep exploration, innovative thinking, and in-depth comprehension.

Whether you’re an experienced academic researcher or a student just starting out, these tools provide indispensable aid in your research journey.

And with a suite of free AI tools also available, there is no reason to not explore and embrace this AI revolution in academic research.

We are on the precipice of a new era of academic research, one where AI and human ingenuity work in tandem for richer, more profound scientific exploration. The future of research is here, and it is smart, efficient, and AI-powered.

Before we get too excited however, let us remember that AI tools are meant to be our assistants, not our masters. As we engage with these advanced technologies, let’s not lose sight of the human intellect, intuition, and imagination that form the heart of all meaningful research. Happy researching!

Thank you to Ivan Aguilar – Ph.D. Student at SFU (Simon Fraser University), for starting this list for me!

Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.

Thank you for visiting Academia Insider.

We are here to help you navigate Academia as painlessly as possible. We are supported by our readers and by visiting you are helping us earn a small amount through ads and affiliate revenue - Thank you!

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The 6 Best AI Tools for Researchers and Teachers

Artificial intelligence can, when used correctly, offer several benefits for researchers and teachers. Here are some tools to help with your efforts.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the education industry. Using AI tools will significantly improve your workflow if you're a teacher or researcher. From generating lesson plans to looking for journals to cite, AI can help you work faster and give you time for other priorities.

With the sudden popularity of AI, there's an explosion of new and shiny AI research tools on the market. We've done the research for you, so you can focus on the best ones you can use for free right now.

1. Research Rabbit

Research Rabbit is a powerful AI research assistant that finds and organizes research papers for you and your collaborators. Enter a keyword or phrase, and Research Rabbit will return a list of relevant papers through Semantic Scholar or PubMed search.

After signing up, Research Rabbit will prompt you to search for a topic and add papers to a Collection . Once you're done adding articles, you can rename your collection and send it to your co-researchers through email.

Research Rabbit streamlines the research process, so you can do away with manually listing your sources. If you're looking for a paper in your collection, use Filter to search for it using keywords or phrases. You can also arrange the papers in a Collection by date, author, and number of citations.

A must-have online tool for researchers , Research Rabbit has useful functions to organize your research life and collaborate with others. Click on a specific publication or Select All papers in your collection to perform the following actions:

• View a paper's abstract
• Check the order of publication by date
• Remove a paper from a Collection
• Add a paper to another Collection
• Explore an author's work
• Look for other suggested authors
• Export your collection in another format
• Make your collection public
• Share the link to collaborators
• Get email updates.

2. Gradescope

Thanks to Gradescope, you can now quickly administer, organize, access, grade, and regrade students' work. The AI tool lets you add courses, create and edit different assessments, and check digital, paper-based, and code assignments.

Gradescope simplifies the grading process for you and your students. Click Create Assignment and add your questions, answer key, and rubrics. Students can then scan written assignments and upload them using a mobile app.

You can check the answers for one question first and select which question to grade next. You can also build the rubrics along as you grade. Watch the Gradescope Workflow for Instructors demo video to see these time-saving features.

Gradescope is one of the best apps for teachers to use in the classroom . Both students and teachers are freed from the burden of in-person meetings to collect, distribute, and check papers. Ask your institution about using similar tools for grading if you're still manually grading assessments.

3. M agicSchool.ai

Teachers' responsibilities extend beyond the classroom, encompassing communication with administrators and parents, student support, and event organization. These additional tasks consume valuable time and energy that could be devoted to teaching.

MagicSchool.ai is a comprehensive tool that addresses this problem, saving you hours spent creating original content, teaching classes, and accomplishing administrative tasks. It's loaded with helpful features under the following categories:

• Student Support
• Communication
• Productivity
• Community Tools

The AI can suggest behavior interventions; take a text and adapt it for any grade level; give ideas on making a topic relevant to your students; create practice SATs; rewrite, proofread, and summarize texts; and more. With MagicSchool.ai's help, you can finally have a life outside the classroom.

We tested the Lesson Plan Generator to create a lesson plan on Writing Instructions for a Technical Writing course. The AI quickly generated a lesson comprising the following:

• Introduction to New Material
• Guided Practice
• Independent Practice
• Common Core Standards Addressed

If you'd like a more personal approach, you can use the built-in education chatbot, Raina . According to the site, Raina is trained on best practices for educators, answering education-related questions and suggesting school-based ideas.

We asked Raina for suggestions on how to handle a 9th-grade student caught plagiarizing their essay. The chatbot suggested positive interventions to help teachers respond positively to the situation and provide guidance to students.

However, we recommend reviewing the content any AI tool generates and ensuring it complies with school policy and standards. Remember, AI tools give helpful material to build on. However, these materials shouldn't substitute for your creativity and expertise as a teacher.

The tool is free, but the Work With Us page says a Premium version is coming out soon. While waiting, you can connect with other MagicSchool.ai users and learn more about its features on Facebook and Twitter .

4. ReadCube Papers

ReadCube Papers is an AI-powered reference manager and citation software that helps you access scholarly articles from anywhere. The tool makes it easy to read, annotate, and share articles on any device, so you can work on your research wherever you are.

To get the most out of this app, download the ReadCube Papers browser extension. With the browser installed, you can quickly locate and save full articles to your library while browsing search engines.

ReadCube Papers also lets you download articles easily from your browser. Click the article and download it from the ReadCube Papers sidebar that should appear if you installed the browser extension. Note that your institution should have access to the journal's site if you want to download or read the full text.

Annotation is a must-use feature for researchers, which lets you highlight excerpts from the article. Annotatio n saves your highlights on the main dashboard of the article. On the main dashboard, click the Notes icon to access, filter, sort, and copy your annotations.

Automatic citations is another feature you'll love. Select the citation style, then copy it for your list of references or download it in a different format.

5. Consensus

Misinformation and fake news are only some of the immediate risks of artificial intelligence . AI is prone to hallucinations or giving wrong information. You can easily fall for its glib answers if you're not careful.

Consensus mitigates these pitfalls by providing evidence-based answers to research questions. In the photo above, we asked Consensus, "Is AI effective in education?" Consensus gave us excerpts from scholarly journals to answer our query.

You can then share the answers by copying the text, sharing the link, or reposting on Twitter. You can also copy the citations in multiple formats. If you click a specific answer, Consensus takes you to the journal article itself so that you can access the full text.

Slide the Synthesize button to see a Summary and the Consensus Meter . The Summary answers your query by synthesizing the answers from multiple journal articles. The Consensus Meter analyzes the journal articles and lets you know if the answer is toward a Yes , No , or Possibly .

Consensus recommends three ways to use it for search:

• Ask yes and no questions
• Find out the relationships between concepts
• Ask about the effects of a concept

It qualifies its findings and tells you if a source is highly cited or comes from a rigorous journal. It's a convenient tool when you want to verify information, provide authoritative sources for an argument, or satisfy your curiosity.

Similar to Consensus, Elicit acts like a search engine to give you credible sources for research queries. You can download it as a desktop app or use it directly from your browser.

Elicit's interface looks a bit more complex than Consensus'. The left-hand side gives you a Summary , while the middle portion gives you the Paper title with the author and name of the resource material. The right-hand column provides the Abstract Summary of each resource.

What we like about Elicit is that each section helps you easily support to the research answer. The Summary provides a synthesis of the top papers with in-text citations. The abstract summaries are only one sentence, making them very easy to scan. You can quickly decide if the article or book will be helpful in your research.

For more information about your research question, click the additional options in the left-hand column. You can check the Intervention , Outcomes Measured , and Number of Participants for each paper. There's also a search bar if you want to look for more specific information.

Experience the Benefits of AI Tools for Research and Teaching

The use of AI in the academe is controversial. AI is often seen as a threat to human creativity and a convenient tool that enables cheaters. But instead of fearing it, use it responsibly and ethically to experience its numerous benefits.

Your work as a teacher and researcher takes much time and effort. Artificial intelligence is here to help you regain that time. You can quickly access resources and do your work faster using AI tools. Take advantage of these apps for teaching and research, so you can focus on other priorities and unburden yourself from unnecessary stress.

Top Research Tools and Software for Academics and Research Students

Overview   | Writing Software   |  Reference Management Software  |   Research Tools  |  Grammar Checking Tools

If you are conducting research, it is very important that you have appropriate methods and tools to carry out your research. If you are a non-native English speaker, then you need a research tool to help you with your written language. If your research involves data analysis, then you need a good statistical research tool for your work.  It is also important that you keep tabs on what other people in your research arena are doing, so you need research tools such as Google Scholar and ResearchGate to collaborate with your peers. You also need a good plagiarism checking software to avoid academic misconduct. Finally, you need a research project management software to stay on top of the deadlines. In this blog, we review some of the useful tools for research that researchers can use to be more productive.

1. Ref-n-Write Academic Writing Tool

Ref-N-Write is a fantastic research tool for beginner writers and non-native English speakers. This is a Microsoft Word add-in. This tool allows users to import research papers into MS Word.  Then the tool allows you to search the research documents while you are writing your research paper or academic essay. In essence, this tool is similar to Google search engine; the difference is that instead of searching the internet you are searching research papers and academic documents stored on your computer. REF-N-WRITE functions within MS Word and the search results are displayed in a panel that pops up from the bottom. You can expand the search results and jump to the exact location in the source document in a few clicks. This research tool is fantastic to lookup for writing ideas from related research papers or documents from your colleagues. The REF-N-WRITE tool also comes with a database of academic and scientific phrases. You can use this to polish your writing by substituting colloquial terms and informal statements in your text with academically acceptable words and phrases. REF-N-WRITE also features text-to-voice option that helps you pick up grammatical errors and sentence structural issues.

Useful Links:

• Imitative writing technique using REF-N-WRITE
• REF-N-WRITE plagiarism features
• REF-N-WRITE Phrasebank

2. Free Online Statistical Testing Tools

One of the most important requirement while writing up your research is the use of appropriate statistical methods and analysis to back up your claims. Whether you are doing quantitative or qualitative research, statistical analysis will be an indispensable part of your workflow.  There are plenty of research tools available that allows you to do a wide variety of statistical analyses for your research. However, most of the time, you will find yourself performing basic calculations stuff such as mean, standard deviation, confidence intervals, standard error, etc. to make your work sound scientific.  Also, you need to use some form of statistical test to test the significance of the difference between two groups or cohorts and compute the p-value. Some of the widely used statistical tests for this purpose include T-test, F-test, Chi-square test, Pearson correlation coefficient and ANOVA. Following are the list of free popular statistical research tools available online. These tools will allow you to cut and copy your data directly from your spreadsheet and perform the required statistical analysis.

• Easy Calculation
• Daniel Soper
• VassarStats
• SocSciStatistics

3. Microsoft Excel

One of the widely used tools for research is Microsoft Excel.  MS Excel has plenty of features that will come in handy when you are doing a research project.  Excel is a must have research tool if your study involves a lot of quantitative analysis. Excel offers a wide range of statistical functions such as AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, SUM, etc that you can apply to the cells in a few clicks. You can visualize your data using a wide variety of chart types, for example, bar plot, scatter plot, etc. You can use pivot tables to organize and generate summaries of your data easily. For complex statistical analysis, you can use Data Analysis ToolPak Excel add-in. This add-in comes with a wide variety of statistical analysis tools such as Descriptive statistics, Histogram, F-test, Random number generation, Fourier analysis, etc. 

• Excel research Guide
• Essential Excel skills for researchers

4. Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a free online research tool offered by Google.  This tool allows users to search for academic literature, scientific articles, journals, white papers and patents across the web. This is an excellent tool for research.  It not only searches well-known databases, it also looks for articles in university repositories, so your chances of finding the full-text PDF of the research article you are after is very high. You can set up keyword alerts so that Google Scholar notifies you when there is a new article in your field or from your co-authors. You can manage multiple libraries of papers. You can label paper or article, and Google Scholar will organize them for you. Google Scholar displays vital information about the article such as citation number, versions and other articles citing the current article. Google Scholar also alerts you if somebody else has cited your paper. You can download citations in a wide variety of formats – MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, – and you can easily export the citation to EndNote and other bibliography managers. On the whole, Google Scholar is an indispensable tool for researchers.

• Official Google Scholar blog
• Nature article on Google Scholar
• Inserting fake references in Google Scholar

5. ResearchGate

ResearchGate is a social networking site for people doing research. The site contains more than 11 million members that include scientists, academics, Ph.D. students, and researchers. Users can create an account using a valid institutional email address. Once successful, they can create a profile, upload pictures, list publications and upload full-text papers. ResearchGate is a perfect research tool for researchers and academics looking for collaborations. You can follow updates from your colleagues or peers with similar interests. You will be notified if somebody reads or cites your paper, and also you will know if the people you are following have published new research. You can email other members and request for full-text of their listed publications. ResearchGate also computes a RG score based on your profile and publications. This is different from H-score computed by Google Scholar or citation score given by journals.  On the whole, ResearchGate is an excellent tool for research if you want to keep tabs on your colleagues’ research and collaborate with different institutions. 

• Online collaboration: Scientists and the social network
• Is ResearchGate Facebook for science?

6. Plagiarism detection software tools

Plagiarism is seen as academic misconduct.  Plagiarism is not taken lightly by academic and research institutions and is punished and penalized severely. Plagiarism occurs when you copy and paste a large chunk of text from a document written by someone else without giving credit to the author. This is seen as copying and taking credits for somebody’s work. Even if you paraphrase the text and use it in your text, it will still be seen as plagiarism.  One of the common forms of plagiarism is self-plagiarism. Self-plagiarism is the use of one’s own previous work in another context without citing that it was used previously. This is because once you publish your work, the publisher holds the copyright for your text, so you need to either get permission from the publisher to reuse the text or you should cite the source. There are plenty of plagiarism detection software and online checking tools available that you can use to check how much of your text overlap with previously published materials. You can fix these mistakes before submitting your academic essay or research paper. Some of the tools for checking plagiarism are listed below.

• A review of Plagiarism checking tools
• Scholarly paraphrasing tool

7. Project management tools

It is so easy for your research project to go out of hands when you are multi-tasking and dealing with multiple deadlines. It is good practice to choose a project management tool to keep on top of your research project. These tools can help you minimise the amount of time you spend on managing the project and instead concentrate on research work. Find a tool that allows you to lay out what is to be done, by whom and by then.  Sometimes it would be helpful if you can visualize your tasks and the timeline for execution using simple diagrams such as a Gantt chart. There are plenty of research project management tools available; you can simply pick the one that suits your research project. Here are some popular research management tools used in the academic community.

• Microsoft Project
• Microsoft OneNote

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Key Insights From The Feature Management And Experimentation Solutions Landscape, Q1 2024

Christopher Condo , Principal Analyst

Lauren Alexander, Research Associate

Most developers are familiar with binary feature toggles. In fact, many may be using a home-grown solution right now. But like most home-grown technologies, the capabilities are often basic, and maintaining them creates a tax on developer time that could potentially be better spent delivering features to customers.

Feature management and experimentation (FM&E) solutions are commercial offerings that elevate the basic feature toggle from a binary on/off switch to a complete system for managing features, feature properties, target populations, and progressive delivery. For teams that are product-oriented, they provide the ability to test hypothesis with real customers using A/B, multivariate, and multiarmed bandit testing.

The FM&E market is rapidly evolving as these tools advance and become crucial for teams adopting a product-centric approach. With a diverse array of solutions ranging from small open-source to more established vendors (even some experience optimization vendors are throwing their hats in the ring), choosing one can be difficult.

Over the course of late 2023 and early 2024, we conducted a Forrester Landscape report on the available feature management and experimentation solutions in the marketplace. We compared vendors across geography, industry, use case, and size to help you understand the benefits you can expect from FM&E and decide which solution is right for your company.

Takeaways From The Feature Management And Experimentation Solutions Landscape, Q1 2024

• Use case matters. We found that use cases across FM&E solutions encompass a range of scenarios, including feature launch, testing in production, A/B testing, canary release, and multivariate testing. Vendor offerings can vary widely across use cases. Organizations should carefully evaluate the available use cases and select vendors that align with their business requirements.
• Teams are demanding integrated solutions — and vendors are listening. As product centricity takes over, the divide between product-centric teams and dev-centric teams is shrinking. Because of this, many vendors now have integrated offerings.
• AI is disrupting the FM&E market. AI-powered assistants (TuringBots) are set to take over the marketplace and transform FM&E feedback offerings on a massive scale, but investment in AI capabilities varies across vendors. Consider investment in AI and other emerging technologies when choosing vendors.

Included in the landscape are a breakdown of core and extended use cases, a matrix of key functionalities, and a comprehensive analysis of the FM&E market, as well as forward-looking analysis in this market to help decision-makers move forward with their adoption strategy.

Want to talk more about which FM&E solution is right for you? Schedule an inquiry to explore further.

Related Forrester Content

• The Feature Management And Experimentation Solutions Landscape, Q1 2024
• Age of the Customer
• Application Development & Delivery
• development & operations (DevOps)

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10 Best Reporting Tools and Software of 2024

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• Best for comprehensive data integration: Zoho Analytics
• Best for task-based reporting: Asana
• Best for high-level project reporting: Hive
• Best for data-driven decision-making: Google Looker
• Best for customizable project reporting: Wrike
• Best for visual project tracking: monday.com
• Best for all-in-one project management: ClickUp
• Best for agile project management: Jira Software
• Best for data visualization: Tableau
• Best for Microsoft ecosystem integration: Power BI

Reporting tools and software are crucial to teams, especially in terms of project management as they provide a structured way to track progress, identify risks and make informed decisions. They offer a sweeping view of project health that helps managers to not only pinpoint areas of concern but also identify successes. With effective reporting, an organization gets transparency and ensures its stakeholders are aligned, which plays a part in making projects successful since everyone involved has access to the same information and insights. We’ve analyzed 10 top reporting tools and software worth your consideration.

Top reporting software: Comparison table

Zoho analytics: best for comprehensive data integration.

Zoho Analytics is a reporting tool that excels at aggregating data from a wide array of sources as it connects with over 250 data sources, including files, feeds, databases and cloud services. Its comprehensive suite of reporting options includes charts, pivot tables, summary views, tabular views and more. Zoho Analytics also offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to further simplify the report creation process and make it accessible for users of varying skill levels.

Zoho Analytics offers plans starting at $22 per month for the Basic plan, while the Standard, Premium and Enterprise plans cost $45, $112 and $445 per month, respectively, when billed annually. There’s also a Custom plan for prospective users to share their requirements.

• Extensive data integration from over 250 sources.
• Data preparation and management tools for accurate analysis.
• A wide array of visualization options for insightful reporting ( Figure A ).
• AI and ML-powered augmented analytics for guided insights.

Integrations

Zoho Analytics’s integrations include Zoho CRM, Salesforce CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, HubSpot CRM and Zoho Bigin.

• Comprehensive data integration capabilities.
• Wide range of visualization tools.
• Advanced augmented analytics features.
• May be complex for beginners.
• Customization can require a learning curve.

Why we chose Zoho Analytics

We selected Zoho Analytics for its broad range of reporting capabilities and user-friendly design. Its ability to present data in various visual formats makes analysis flexible and insightful and caters to diverse reporting needs as well as a wide variety of users.

Learn more about other Zoho products, like Zoho Projects and Zoho Vault .

Asana: Best for task-based reporting

Asana simplifies project management with its Universal Reporting feature, which provides teams with a clear overview of task progress and project health. Its visual reporting format is designed for easy interpretation, meaning that users at all levels within an organization can easily access and use Asana.

Asana’s paid plans include the Premium plan at $10.99 per user per month, billed annually, and the Business plan at $24.99 per user per month. Its Enterprise plan’s pricing hasn’t been listed publicly.

• Visual and intuitive reporting tools for task and project tracking ( Figure B ).
• Goal tracking to align daily tasks with strategic objectives.
• Real-time updates to keep teams informed on project progress.
• A variety of highly customizable charts.

Asana’s top integrations include Microsoft Teams, Slack, the Asana for Gmail add-on, Asana for Adobe Creative Cloud and Google Calendar.

• User-friendly reporting and task management.
• Effective goal alignment features.
• Wide range of integrations.
• Limited depth in analytical features.
• Real-time analytics are somewhat restricted.

Why we chose Asana

We simply selected Asana for its user-friendly approach to task-based reporting. Asana is also highly effective when it comes to aligning tasks with organizational goals.

For more information, check out our full Asana review .

Hive: Best for high-level project reporting

Hive is recognized for its high-level reporting capabilities, offering a suite of options for a variety of project management use cases. With features like goals, analytics dashboards and timesheet reporting, Hive provides a comprehensive tool for gaining visibility and gathering insights into projects.

Hive has two premium plans atop a free plan. Teams at $12 per user per month when billed annually and $18 when billed monthly, and Enterprise, whose prices aren’t publicly listed.

• Goals for setting, tracking and monitoring goals across teams.
• Analytics dashboards to showcase project status, project breakdowns and more.
• Timesheets reporting to analyze data across timesheets.
• Multiple views like Portfolio, Summary, Table, Kanban and more ( Figure C ).

Hive’s top integrations include Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Sheets, Google Drive and Slack.

• Customizable high-level reporting options.
• Variety of views for different reporting needs.
• Efficient project and action management features.
• May require initial setup time to customize views.
• Some advanced features might be available only on higher-tier plans.

Why we chose Hive

We selected Hive for its versatile high-level reporting options and customizable views. They bring a flexible and comprehensive overview to projects.

For more information, check out our full Hive review .

Google Looker: Best for data-driven decision-making

A rather different entry from most tools on this list, Google Looker stands as a unified business intelligence platform that excels at turning data into actionable insights. It offers self-service BI that allows users to access, analyze and act on up-to-date, trusted data. As a reporting tool, Looker offers reliable data experiences at scale and empowers users with real-time insights.

Looker has a 30-day free trial, and its Standard plan costs $5,000 per month. For an annual quote, as well as quotes for the Enterprise and Embed plans, contact Google sales.

• Embedded analytics and applications for enhanced data experiences.
• Data modeling to unify business metrics across teams and applications.
• Real-time insights to empower users with up-to-date information.
• An extensive template gallery for templates on many of Google’s applications ( Figure D ).

Looker offers extensive integration capabilities, including BigQuery, Spanner, Cloud SQL and Cloud Storage.

• Unified platform for all BI needs.
• Real-time insights for up-to-date decision-making.
• Extensive integration capabilities with data sources.
• Pricing transparency could be improved.
• May require a learning curve to fully utilize advanced features.

Why we chose Google Looker

Google Looker’s reporting capabilities can be seen particularly through its embedded analytics and real-time insights. It easily unifies business metrics across teams and applications. It’s also a great tool for users predominantly using applications in the Google ecosystem.

Wrike: Best for customizable project reporting

Wrike stands out for its highly customizable reporting features. This flexibility, combined with Wrike’s thorough resource management and advanced analytics, makes Wrike competent enough to provide detailed insights into project performance and resource allocation and flexible enough to adapt to various workflows.

Wrike has five plans: the ones with prices listed are the Free plan, Team plan at $9.80 per user per month and Business plan at $24.80 per user per month. The Enterprise and Pinnacle plans’ pricing plans aren’t publicly listed.

• Customizable reports for tailored project insights ( Figure E ).
• Resource management to monitor progress and identify risks.
• Advanced analytics for deep visibility into project performance.

Wrike’s top integrations include Jira, GitHub, Google Sheets, Azure DevOps and HubSpot.

• Highly customizable reporting options.
• Comprehensive project and resource monitoring.
• Advanced analytics capabilities.
• Customization options may require time to master.
• Extensive features can be overwhelming for newcomers.

Why we chose Wrike

Wrike has robust reporting capabilities and customizable features, which give users the flexibility and depth needed to gain extensive insights into their projects and resources.

For more information, check out our full Wrike review .

monday.com: Best for visual project tracking

monday.com is a favorite among teams that love visual task management and prioritize ease of use as it offers a visually intuitive platform for project tracking. Its advanced reporting features, such as stacked charts and workload views, provide a thorough overview of project progress and team capacity. monday.com’s dashboard customization is very flexible; this enables teams to mold their reporting to meet their project needs.

monday has a free plan and a handful of premium plans, namely, Basic at $9 per seat per month, billed annually, or $12 per seat billed monthly; Standard at $12 per seat per month, billed annually, or $14 per seat billed monthly; Pro at $19 per seat per month, billed annually, or $24 per seat billed monthly; and Enterprise, which offers customized pricing.

• Stacked charts for multi-dimensional data analysis.
• Workload views for balanced resource allocation.
• Pivot tables for detailed data breakdowns.
• Customizable dashboards for tailored project insights ( Figure F ).

Some of the best monday.com integrations include GitLab, OneDrive, Todoist, Slack and Microsoft Teams.

• Highly visual and intuitive interface.
• Advanced reporting for comprehensive project insights.
• Flexible dashboard customization.
• Can be overwhelming for new users due to numerous features.
• Some advanced features require higher-tier plans.

Why we chose monday.com

monday.com is a visually intuitive platform and has advanced reporting capabilities. It delivers a balance between visual project tracking and in-depth reporting.

For more information, check out our full monday.com review .

ClickUp: Best for all-in-one project management

ClickUp is recognized for its all-in-one approach to project management, offering a wide range of features from task management to time tracking and goal setting. Its reporting features are designed to provide teams with insights into productivity and project progress, supporting data-driven decision-making. ClickUp’s customizable dashboards and reporting tools allow teams to monitor key metrics and track performance effectively.

ClickUp offers a generous free forever plan alongside three premium tiers: Unlimited at $7 per user per month when billed annually, or $10 per user per month when billed monthly; Business at $12 per user per month when billed annually, or $19 per user per month when billed monthly; and Enterprise that needs prospective users to contact ClickUp for a custom quote.

• Comprehensive dashboards for project overview ( Figure G ).
• Customizable reporting for tailored insights.
• Goal tracking to align efforts with objectives.
• Time tracking to monitor task durations and productivity.

Some of ClickUp’s top integrations include Gmail, Zoom, HubSpot, Make and Google Calendar.

• Versatile all-in-one project management solution.
• Extensive customization options for dashboards and reporting.
• Generous free plan with substantial features.
• Steep learning curve due to feature richness.
• Customization can be time-consuming.

Why we chose ClickUp

We included ClickUp because of its comprehensive feature set and flexibility, offering teams an all-in-one solution for project management and reporting. It proves suitable for a wide range of project types and sizes.

For more information, check out our full ClickUp review .

Jira Software: Best for agile project management

Jira Software is tailored for agile project management with specialized reporting features like sprint reports, burndown charts and velocity charts. These agile-centric reports give teams critical insights into their agile processes to help them optimize workflows and improve sprint planning. It’s worth considering for software development teams and those that follow scrum or kanban frameworks.

Jira offers a free plan for 10 users max. Its premium plans are the Standard plan at about $8.15 per user per month and the Premium plan at about $16 per user per month. It also offers an Enterprise plan that’s billed annually. However, you need to contact Jira for a quote.

• Sprint reports for tracking sprint progress ( Figure H ).
• Burndown charts for visualizing task completion.
• Velocity charts for assessing team performance over sprints.
• Cumulative flow diagrams for Kanban teams.

Jira has extensive integrations with development tools like Bitbucket, Confluence, GitHub, Opsgenie, Jenkins and Dynatrace.

• Tailored for agile project management.
• Comprehensive reporting for scrum and kanban teams.
• Wide range of integrations with development tools.
• Primarily focused on software development teams.
• Can be complex for non-technical users.

Why we chose Jira Software

Jira Software has robust agile reporting features and is capable of providing deep insights into agile project management processes, especially for teams practicing scrum or kanban methodologies.

For more information, check out our full Jira Software review .

Tableau: Best for data visualization

Tableau sets the standard for data visualization, offering a wide range of chart types and interactive dashboards that make complex data understandable at a glance. As reporting software, it offers a user-friendly interface and powerful data handling capabilities for users to create detailed and insightful visual reports.

Tableau’s pricing starts at $15 per user per month, with its highest tier costing $75 per user per month, both billed annually.

• Wide range of visualization options.
• User-friendly interface for non-technical users ( Figure I ).
• Powerful data handling and processing capabilities.

Tableau’s top integrations include Salesforce, Google Analytics, Microsoft Excel, Amazon Redshift and Snowflake.

• Leading data visualization capabilities.
• Intuitive interface for easy use.
• Strong data connectivity options.
• Higher price point compared to some competitors.
• Can require significant resources for large datasets.

Why we chose Tableau

We considered Tableau because of its unparalleled data visualization capabilities and user-friendly interface. It should make it to your shortlist if your teams value both data accessibility and detailed reporting.

For more information, check out our full Tableau review .

Power BI: Best for Microsoft ecosystem integration

Power BI is a key player in the reporting and analytics space, especially for those deeply embedded in the Microsoft ecosystem. Its seamless integration with other Microsoft products, like Excel and Azure, makes it a no-brainer for teams that want compatibility and ease of use with their reporting tools. What makes it a great reporting and analytics tool is its ability to handle large datasets and provide advanced analytics, including AI capabilities and custom visualizations.

Power BI offers a free version, with premium plans starting at $10 per user per month for the Pro plan and $20 per user per month for the Premium plan.

• Seamless integration with Microsoft products.
• Advanced analytics with AI capabilities.
• Custom visualizations for personalized reporting ( Figure J ).

Aside from a variety of tools in the Microsoft ecosystem like Microsoft Office 365, Power BI’s top integrations include Asana, HubSpot, Google Sheets and Salesforce Pardot.

• Strong Microsoft integration.
• Comprehensive analytics and AI features.
• Flexible pricing with a robust free version.
• Can be complex for new users.
• Limited integration outside the Microsoft ecosystem.

Why we chose Power BI

We chose Power BI due to its strong analytics capabilities combined with its seamless integration with tools in the Microsoft ecosystem. It’s a particularly fitting choice for teams that already use Microsoft products.

For more information, check out our full Power BI review .

Key features of reporting software

Real-time analytics.

Real-time analytics allows users to view, assess and analyze data as it flows into the business, which can be displayed on dashboards or reports. With this, users get to make decisions faster since they get instant, descriptive insights from the most current data.

Custom reports

Custom reports save time as they automate the data gathering and report generation processes. After the initial setup, reporting processes can be entirely streamlined, with live data feeds ensuring that any additional requests can be quickly addressed by making changes to existing reports.

Dashboard customization

Dashboard customization is crucial in reporting software as it allows users to set up their reporting environment based on their needs. Custom dashboards can provide in-depth data on various aspects of business operations, illustrating potential revenue and areas where improvements are needed. Businesses can mix and match data sources for a comprehensive view of their digital environment.

Automated reporting

This kind of reporting streamlines the process of generating regular reports and reduces the manual effort required while making sure that stakeholders receive timely updates. Users can schedule report generation and ensure that reports are always current and reflect the latest data.

Data visualization

Data visualization transforms complex datasets into graphical representations, making it easier to understand trends, patterns and outliers. This feature helps to make data more accessible and actionable, which enables users to quickly grasp the insights presented in the data.

How do I choose the best reporting software for my business?

First things first, when it comes to choosing the best reporting software for you, you must match a tool’s capabilities to your needs. For small to medium-sized businesses, tools like Zoho Analytics and ClickUp offer a vast feature set at a more accessible price point, which makes them great options when seeking value without compromising on functionality. Larger enterprises or those with more complex reporting and data analysis needs might lean towards Power BI or Tableau, known for their advanced analytics and integration within larger ecosystems.

Consider the types of reports you need, the data you’re working with and who will be using the tool. For teams that prioritize real-time data and collaboration, monday.com and Asana provide user-friendly interfaces and seamless integration with other productivity tools. On the other hand, if your focus is on in-depth data analysis and visualization, Tableau’s extensive customization options and Power BI’s deep Microsoft integration stand out.

In essence, the best reporting tool is one that not only fits your budget and technical requirements but also grows with your business, adapting to changing needs and helping you make informed decisions based on accurate, up-to-date data.

Methodology

Our approach to identifying the top reporting tools for 2024 involved a detailed examination of each tool’s core features, ease of use, use cases and pricing. This allowed us to provide popular tools that cut across industries, use cases and team sizes. Additionally, we tested the tools where possible to understand how they approached reporting and compared our findings to verified reviews by real users. From this, we got to understand the pros and cons of each tool.

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University of Washington's Workday woes leave research grants in limbo

$340m finance upgrade still working out the kinks.

Hundreds of research grants are stuck in processing limbo as the University of Washington continues to grapple with its $340 million implementation of Workday software.

The US West Coast institution, a top recipient of federal funding, has spent more than five years shifting 850 legacy tech to a centralized cloud-based SaaS finance and HR system.

The finance side of the project – officially UW Finance Transformation – ran into problems last summer when a backlog of unpaid supplier invoices hit $90 million. By the end of last month, the team had cut the figure to $43 million, but grant payment troubles continue.

According to the Seattle Times , processing delays have affected hundreds of grants due to problems with the Workday system. Problems with ongoing funding persist too.

In a statement to The Register , a university spokesperson said: "While the necessary migration to Workday from our old legacy systems has been challenging, the update is currently on budget and on track, and we expect our grant and vendor backlogs to be back to normal levels by July after a significant amount of time and hard work put in by people across the university.

"We have made significant progress with our workstreams, but there is still work to do. It is not uncommon for a technology shift of this size to introduce complex issues. Nevertheless, these are operational implementation issues and not related to the overall Workday contract performance metrics and Workday's standing as a key university partner and stakeholder."

• Workday wants racially biased recruitment algorithm claims thrown out
• Workday sued over its AI job screening tool, candidate claims discrimination
• No more rockstars, say Billy Idol, Joan Jett in Workday Super Bowl ad
• Workday appoints VMware veteran as co-CEO

A Workday spokesperson said the company was committed to supporting the University of Washington's project. "A significant transition like this requires numerous change management and process considerations to help support success."

A management consultancy report seen by the Seattle Times found the project – which began in 2018 – had struggled with a lack of IT skills and pandemic lockdowns.

But the report from Bluecrane also said the switchover plan contained ill-defined priorities, and critical decisions were delayed while management placed too much emphasis on "experts" and "salespeople."

It's not the first time a Workday implementation has experienced problems at a university. In 2021, The Register reported that teaching assistants (TAs) at Canada's McGill University spent Christmas waiting to be paid as the institution struggled with a new Workday HR and payroll system.

At the time, the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill said that more than 460 TAs were not paid within the first 30 days of starting work, while more than 180 TAs were not paid within the first 60 days.

By January, the university said it had resolved all known instances that affected new hires at the start of the Fall semester and is rapidly solving any new cases as they arise.

Workday said it was an industry leader in higher education with more than 400 institutions using its software. ®

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Work and Play: Embroidery and creating without pressure

In the Venn diagram of work and play what happens when work and play overlap? Q&A with Belinda Brown, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Gazelle Global.

Q&A with Belinda Brown

Editor’s note: Nancy Cox is the founder of Research Story Consulting and former CPG corporate researcher. Her work and play include words, sketchpads, cooking (not baking) and the occasional sock puppet  .

Passions, hobbies, healthy  distractions  and even guilty pleasures – discover how the research community plays and how that plays out in their work life. In the Venn diagram of work and play, what happens when work and play overlap? Research colleagues share their work and play stories in this interview series by Nancy Cox.    

Hello to Belinda Brown, director of marketing and business development, Gazelle Global     

What is the “play” in your life    .

I’ve  started doing embroidery and  I’m   sort of obsessed  with it. This past summer, I was in an airport between flights. My  previous  flight  didn’t  have TV ─ I realized how reliant I had become on the tiny TV on the plane. I  went  into the airport bookstore where I found a little beginner’s cross - stitch kit. A something - to - do - if - you’re - bored kit. I loved it!  C ross - stitch is only one stitch so once I learned that stitch, I could do the whole pattern. There was instant gratification.   

I’ve  always been crafty –  I’m  not particularly athletic or sporty. But I  wasn’t  really a textiles person. My grandmother did crochet and knitting ,  all sorts of stuff with her hands. But I  don’t  sew .  I  can  sew on a butt on ,  that’s  about it.  My only other experience with a needle was   as a chil d when  I saw beading  on a  family trip to Santa Fe.  I fancied myself a  beader . That  didn’t  last  l ong.  It’s   very hard . Tiny little needle. Tiny little beads.  Very little  progress.    

With embroidery,  there’s  this enjoyment of doing something successfully  while  learning it. Not true with other forms of play. For example,  I’m  a singer and  I’ve  tried several times to learn how to accompany myself with different instruments such as the guitar.  There’s   a  very, very  long  time when  you’re  terrible. Not great in an apartment !  Yes, you can learn some chords and pluck around, but you  can’t  produce anything in its entirety while  you’re  learning it.  

I like that  embroidery  stitches are really simple.  My favorite stitch is the lazy daisy. Because  it’s  called the  lazy  daisy. I relate to being lazy in  a good way .  There’s  that quote  –  no one knows who really said it, maybe Steve Jobs or Bill Gates  ─  “ I choose a  lazy person  to  do  a hard  job .  Because  a  lazy person  will  find   an easy way  to  do  i t .” With the lazy daisy, you make a flower  almost effortlessly . Your needle and thread come up from under your work, you leave a loop of thread as you come back down,  then with your needle come back up at the tip of the loop, come back down once more and as you tighten that stitch – instant petal!    

As I stitch, I love watching how the color  and  then the image  emerges . Embroidery is helping me to embrace color. My favorite color is  still  black – as a New Yorker  I’m  not sure where I would buy clothes that  aren’t  black.  But n ow  I’m  finding myself also attracted to all the different yellows.  Y ellows are  the  happy color. Yellows attracted me to my current embroidery of sunflowers on a  sky- blue cloth. Back to nature. I find that calming. You can also find  really funky  colors in nature, and I like knowing these colors  are not artificial. They  are natural ,  like the startling colors of fish in the sea. And since  I’m  embroidering such a small thing, not like color on a wall or a couch, I can be explosive in color. A bit rebellious.    

How has your play influenced your research work?    

Play and being creative ha ve  been shown to have positive effects on innovation. My embroidery helps my brain. I function better when  I’m  being creative  even   it’s  just 15 or 20 minutes a day. This was  validated  for me – I love it when research backs you up – with a book called “Your Brain on Art” by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross. I like knowing that what I  am  doing  is  good for my brain.   

Embroidery makes me approach problem - solving as an opportunity. With every project,  there’s  this new color, new thread, new technique. If I  don’t  know how to do this stitch, I just figure it out. There’s intrigue and curiosity. Then that boost of confidence when creating something beautiful while  you’re  still learning. In business, there are things to get done when  you’ve  never been in that situation before – hello, global pandemic! Or AI taking over. But I can see them as opportunities. And yes, in business there are stakes,  but  you can decide  to  brainstorm  for 10 minutes  with no stakes.     

In embroidery, if the back of piece looks neat then  you’re   really good  at the stitches. Well, my  backs look   ridiculous  although   they’re  getting better! I thought I was being efficient by not cutting my thread,  just  taking a giant  stich  across the back to start in a new area.  Instead,  I was just making a mess and creat ing  a whole bunch of problems. Which is  totally reflective  of what can happen  in  business.  A shortcut can be great if  you’re  driving a car somewhere and it takes less time. Or a shortcut can  lead to  mistakes because you  d idn ’t  go through the proper process.  I’m  gaining new respect for  process .    

I naturally give myself deadlines  and  create expectations of what I want to  accomplish . With this craft,  I’m  trying to just embrace the play of it.  In the past,   I’ve  given myself expectations ,  which  is  why  I   haven’t  been so successful with the guitar. If I  don’t   feel like doing  my embroidery, I  don’t  do it.  It’s  sitting  on  the coffee table when I want it.    

I find myself looking forward to embroidering during lunch or after work. I want to have play  be  part of my life every day.  I’m  making something out of almost nothing. That simple enjoyment is truly improving my day.    

What would you tell readers who want to know more about your area of play?    

Start with cross - stitch.  It’s  the easiest stitch. Buy a little kit .  My first kit did not cost more than  $ 10. Beginner kits come with everything you need,  and are  very self-explanatory, labeled with what color s  to use where.  Almost paint-by-number . The instructions   show you exactly where to bring the needle up  and where to bring the needle down to make the cross-stitch. You make  the  whole design with that one stitch.  It’s reall y  easy.  

This is a craft you can pick up and put down. Do 10 minutes with morning coffee. In the evening, you can watch TV at the same time. You can stop in the middle of a stitch. It  won’t  come apart. Shove it all in a zip pered  plastic bag. The whole hobby can fit  in  a  very  small   space. Mine sits on my coffee table until I want to stitch.  It’ll  be there when  I’m  ready .  

The learning is very cumulative. You  don’t  have to change things all at once to learn – skills carry over if you switch from a kit to embroidering a jean jacket.  You’ve  used  the embroidery  thread before.  You’ve  done this stitch before. You know how to use a hoop. Now you start thinking about creating your own patterns. And embroidery thread costs almost nothing.   

Don’t  make it a job. Something you feel accountable to have in your life forever. No need for that pressure. Embroidery is something you can stop then pick up any time in your life.    

Work and play: Mini trampoline and moving to the front Related Categories: Research Industry, Marketing Research-General, Research Employment

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Work and play: Mixed media and ways of seeing Related Categories: Marketing Research-General, Research Employment

Software Engineer/Developer

• Madison, Wisconsin
• COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING/CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGR-GEN
• Information Technology
• Partially Remote
• Staff-Full Time
• Opening at: Apr 2 2024 at 10:30 CDT
• Closing at: Apr 16 2024 at 23:55 CDT

Job Summary:

The TOPS Lab, based in the College of Engineering and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is a unique research organization created with a mission to improve transportation safety and mobility through a diverse balance of research partnerships, service, and training. The TOPS Lab IT Research and Development Group has partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) on several data management systems supporting work zone safety and mobility. This entry-level position will start out supporting maintenance of and enhancements to those systems. The Software Engineer/Developer I will assist with design, development, and troubleshooting of large-scale computer applications supporting mission critical research and operational requirements for WisDOT and other project partners. Duties of the Software Engineer/Developer I include working with TOPS Lab staff, students, and faculty to assist in planning and requirements for systems development projects. The developer will be assisting with implementing new systems and/or enhancements to existing systems on test and production environments. Maintaining and supporting existing mission-critical transportation data systems along with developing documentation for new systems or enhancements including architecture and design documents, and user manuals are critical to the position. At times, the Software Engineer will attend meetings with WisDOT and other stakeholders to develop requirements and collect feedback and regularly provide written progress reports throughout project durations. Lastly, it is expected the Engineer will contribute to the academic mission of the TOPS Lab through scholarship and conference participation.

Responsibilities:

• 30% Reviews application design specifications, codes new applications, and makes enhancements to existing applications
• 15% Tests and debugs programs, and prepares systems test data
• 5% Prepares program documentation and training requirements
• 15% Develops or modifies technical specifications for low-complexity projects using disciplined software development practices
• 25% Maintains and troubleshoots applications, systems, or websites
• 10% Implements data structure and systems performance strategies

Institutional Statement on Diversity:

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals. The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world. For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: Diversity and Inclusion

Required Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field

Qualifications:

Required: - 2 years post-B.S. degree experience. - Proficiency using the Java programming language (Java 8 or higher). - Proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. - Proficiency in object-oriented design and programming. - Experience working across the software development lifecycle including requirements, architecture, design, development, testing, documentation, and maintenance. Preferred: - Experience using front-end mapping libraries such as Leaflet, OpenLayers, or Google Maps API. - Experience with backend frameworks such as Spring or Hibernate. - Experience with Oracle database. - Experience with Git, SVN or similar version control. - Experience writing JUnit test cases. - Excellent oral and written communication skills. - Demonstrated success working in a team environment. - Demonstrated ability to work independently with minimal supervision. - Experience working in higher education.

Full Time: 100% This position may require some work to be performed in-person, onsite, at a designated campus work location. Some work may be performed remotely, at an offsite, non-campus work location. The successful applicant will be required to work onsite at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for three (3) days each week.

Appointment Type, Duration:

Ongoing/Renewable

Minimum $58,000 ANNUAL (12 months) Depending on Qualifications Salary will be commensurate with applicant's experience. Anticipated ranges are $58-$65K for qualified applicants with 2-3 years of relevant experience and $65-$70K for well qualified applicants with over 3 years of relevant experience.

Additional Information:

The department will not provide a relocation stipend if the successful applicant needs to relocate to Wisconsin. The Software Engineer/Developer I will work under the guidance of the senior TOPS Lab software engineers. This position is located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering. It will require occasional travel to WisDOT offices in the Madison area to coordinate with project stakeholders. Travel expenses will be paid for by the project. Travel to campus will not be eligible for reimbursement.

How to Apply:

To apply, please select "Apply Now" and upload your resume and cover letter. Applicants will be asked to upload a resume and cover letter outlining relevant qualifications and experience as it pertains to the required and preferred qualifications outlined in this job posting.

Barry Crook [email protected] 608-262-7812 Relay Access (WTRS): 7-1-1. See RELAY_SERVICE for further information.

Official Title:

Software Engineer/Developer I(IT002)

Department(s):

A19-COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING/CIVIL & ENVIRON ENGR

Employment Class:

Academic Staff-Renewable

Job Number:

The university of wisconsin-madison is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer..

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