LitReview | Search and Sort Google Scholar Results Fast

LitReview was built for and by researchers. It is a powerful, private, and secure tool for conducting academic searches. It uses Google Scholar and empowers you to sort results by relevance, total citations, annual citations, author, and more. Think of it as a free, modern alternative to Publish or Perish, built for literature reviews.


See LitReview in Action

Watch a quick demo of searching and sorting Google Scholar results

Find the Right Research Faster

  • Save Time: Quickly find the most relevant papers with powerful sorting options
  • Find Influential Work: Identify highly-cited and impactful research in your field
  • Track Authors: Follow the work of leading researchers with author-based sorting
  • Works with Your Tools: Integrates seamlessly with Zotero and other citation managers
  • Native Experience: Optimized for both Mac and Windows with intuitive design and performance
LitReview app showing Google Scholar search results sorted by citations

Perfect For All Research Needs

PhD Students

Comprehensive dissertation literature reviews

Researchers

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Academic Teams

Collaborative research projects

Authors

Research-based academic writing

Key Features

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Search

LitReview Google Scholar search screen
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Powerful search capabilities across Google Scholar

Sort

LitReview sorting results by citations, relevance, and author
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Sort by citations, relevance, author, and more

Organize Searches

LitReview saved searches organized into folders
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Save and organize your searches into folders

× Feature preview

Powerful Search and Sorting Features

Find the most relevant research with advanced sorting options

Google Scholar Search

Search the vast database of Google Scholar directly from your Mac or Windows PC, accessing millions of scholarly articles and papers.

Sort by Relevance

Find the most relevant papers for your research topic with intelligent relevance-based sorting.

Sort by Citations

Identify the most influential papers by sorting by total citations or annual citations to find impactful research.

Sort by Author

Organize search results by author to track work from specific researchers in your field.

Save, File, and Search Recent Searches

Create folders to manage and organize past searches. Save recent searches into folders for later. Search folders for past searches.

Works Together with Other Tools

Use LitReview with other tools like Zotero, Mendeley, and other citation management systems for your complete research workflow.

A Publish or Perish Alternative Built for Literature Reviews

Publish or Perish is a great tool for citation analysis. LitReview is built for the other half of research: finding the right papers to read.

LitReview Publish or Perish
Built forLiterature reviews and finding papersCitation analysis and research metrics
PriceFreeFree
Sort Google Scholar results by citations Total and per year Total and per year
Save searches into folders Searchable foldersQuery manager
h-index and author metricsNot the focus Extensive
PlatformsMac and WindowsWindows, Mac, and Linux

Read the full LitReview vs Publish or Perish comparison

Publish or Perish is developed by Anne-Wil Harzing. LitReview is not affiliated with or endorsed by Publish or Perish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Like Publish or Perish, LitReview is a free desktop app that pulls results from Google Scholar and lets you sort them by citations. Publish or Perish is built for citation analysis and research metrics such as the h-index. LitReview is built for literature reviews: finding the most relevant and influential papers on a topic, sorting them, and saving your searches into folders.

Yes. LitReview is free for Mac and Windows with no payment and no trial period. Enter your email and we send you the download links and your license key.

Google Scholar itself does not let you sort search results by citation count. LitReview does: you can sort Google Scholar results by total citations, citations per year, author, and relevance.

Yes. LitReview is designed to find and sort papers, and works alongside citation managers like Zotero and Mendeley, which you can use to store and cite the papers you find.

LitReview runs on Windows and on Mac, including both Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

Turn Your Research Into a Degree

Earn a master's or PhD through research and publication at Elton University, the team behind LitReview

Research Master's

A personalized, 100% remote master's degree you can complete in about a year while you keep working.

  • 1-on-1 expert professor from day one
  • Choose a concentration or design your own
  • Culminates in a capstone research project
Explore the Master's

PhD by Publication

Earn your doctorate by publishing three papers in reputable journals, fully remote, in as few as 2 years.

  • Graduate with 3+ peer-reviewed publications on your CV
  • Choose your own topic with a dedicated advisor
  • Research alongside full- or part-time work
Explore the PhD

Get LitReview Free

No payment and no trial period. Just your email.