Blog / Other

Major Updates to scite Assistant: A Fresh New Look and More

Wed Apr 24 2024

It's been over a year since we first launched scite Assistant, and we've been hard at work making improvements based on the valuable feedback from our users. We recently unveiled a brand new look for scite Assistant along with several enhancements to improve your experience.

The Redesigned Assistant Interface

One of the most noticeable changes is the sleek, revamped user interface for scite Assistant. This redesign aims to provide a more intuitive and user-friendly experience. Here are some of the key improvements:

  1. References Grouped per Response: In the previous version, all references were displayed together, making it difficult to contextualize them with specific responses. Now, the references are logically grouped with each corresponding response, allowing for easier navigation and understanding.

  2. Prominent Search Strategy Display: The searches used by Assistant were previously buried within the responses. With the new design, the search strategy is prominently displayed next to the References tab, providing greater transparency and visibility into the process.

  3. Improved Legibility: We've centered the response display to enhance readability, especially on wide screen monitors, where the previous layout could make the text challenging to follow.

  4. Breadcrumbs for Navigation: A new breadcrumb trail on the left side of the interface offers a visual representation of your position within an Assistant conversation, allowing for easy navigation between different points in longer sessions.

Upcoming Enhancements

While the redesign is a significant step forward, we're not stopping there. We have several exciting enhancements in the pipeline, including:

  1. Integrations with Article Galaxy: Following our recent acquisition by Research Solutions, we're working on integrating scite with Article Galaxy. This will allow you to see article availability and pricing details directly within scite, streamlining your research process.

  2. Improved Search UX: We recognize that the different search modes (all, citations, papers) can be confusing at times. We're working on enhancing the search experience, including improvements to boolean mode and search behavior.

  3. Enhanced Assistant Retrieval and Performance: Based on user feedback and internal testing, we're making changes to improve how Assistant finds and cites sources, enabling longer and more accurate responses.

  4. Saved Searches in Assistant: In addition to editing searches, we'll introduce the ability to devise your own advanced, classic searches and instruct Assistant to use them when answering questions.

  5. Table Workflows: While Assistant excels in conversational interactions, we're also developing table workflows to bring its power to literature review and analysis tasks in a more structured format.

We're committed to delivering these updates and many more on a regular two-week cadence, ensuring that scite Assistant continues to evolve and meet your needs.

Try out the new Assistant interface today and share your thoughts with us. We're excited to hear your feedback and continue improving scite to better support your research endeavors.