Fatima Zahra Aich, Fatima atima Afilal, Ismail Benfilali
The abundance of scholarly papers creates information overload for researchers. This scoping review uses the Arksey and O’Malley methodology to analyze existing AI-based technologies for literature review. It defines the functions of Google Scholar Labs, Scopus AI, Web of Science Research Assistant, NotebookLM, Elicit, Research Rabbit, Connected Papers, and LeapSpace documented in 31 recent studies from 2022 to 2026. The literature review examines literature discovery, evidence screening, citation management, and mapping, as well as uncovering research gaps and synthesizing scholarly evidence. These tools can reduce the time it takes to manage a large volume of literature and help researchers uncover relevant literature, understand contradictory or disconnected literature, and even reveal new research paths. It can help answer research questions. However, it can create risks of inaccurate information, plagiarism, bias, privacy concerns, and overreliance on automation for research synthesis. The authors of this scoping literature review concluded that AI assistants for literature reviews should be an addition to, and not a replacement for, critical reflection. The authors recommend approaches such as human oversight and using AI to check sources for literature reviews.