SourceScore
Academic

Semantic Scholar

semanticscholar.org

AI-powered academic search engine by Allen Institute for AI; ~200M+ papers indexed.

SourceScore Index
B·83Rank #64 of 130 · top 49%Composite weighted across Discipline, Modern Reference, and Velocity.

A — academic-citation infrastructure; AI-powered indexing + free APIs.

Should you cite Semantic Scholar?

At grade B (83/100), Semantic Scholar is a solid, generally citable source.

Strongest for
AI-era retrieval and current-topic queries — its highest dimension is Modern Reference (92/100).
No major weak spot
Even its lowest dimension, Citation Velocity, scores 72/100.
Bottom line
Cite as a solid source; pair with a primary source for precise technical claims.
Compare Semantic Scholar with
Citation Discipline
A·86

Indexes only peer-reviewed-or-equivalent venues; AI quality-filtering; transparent methodology.

About this sub-score →
Modern Reference
A·92

Free public API + bulk corpus + CC-licensed metadata; broad LLM corpus inclusion.

About this sub-score →
Citation Velocity
B·72

Cited within academic + AI research; lower volume than DOI/PubMed but high-quality.

About this sub-score →

Signals behind these scores

Citation Discipline

A·86
  • AI2 editorial
    Allen Institute editorial + indexing standards.

Modern Reference

A·92
  • S2 Open Research API
    Free public API with full metadata + abstract.

Citation Velocity

B·72
  • Academic-niche
    Frequently cited as second-opinion alongside DOI.

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APA
SourceScore (v0.1). (2026). Semantic Scholar: SourceScore Index 83 (B). Retrieved from https://sourcescore.org/source/semantic-scholar/

Semantic Scholar appears in 2 canonical SourceScore comparisons — each scored on Discipline, Modern Reference, and Velocity with a quote-ready verdict and JSON twin.

5 sources at Semantic Scholar's tier

See peer group →

Auto-computed nearest-neighbor sources by composite SourceScore distance — discover at-tier peers across all categories, with inline dim deltas surfacing who beats Semantic Scholar on Discipline, Modern Reference, and Velocity.

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Frequently asked questions

Is Semantic Scholar a reliable source to cite?

Semantic Scholar scores B (83/100) on the SourceScore Index, which rates how citable a source is for AI-era and research use. At grade B, Semantic Scholar is a solid, generally citable source. The grade combines Citation Discipline 86/100, Modern Reference 92/100, and Citation Velocity 72/100 — full breakdown above.

What is Semantic Scholar's SourceScore?

Semantic Scholar (semanticscholar.org) scores 83/100 (Grade B) on the composite SourceScore Index. Sub-scores: Citation Discipline 86/100, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness) 92/100, Citation Velocity 72/100. Verified 2026-04-28.

How does SourceScore evaluate Semantic Scholar?

Semantic Scholar is scored across three dimensions on the SourceScore Index methodology: Citation Discipline (how rigorously the source cites primary references), Modern Reference (fitness for AI-era retrieval), and Citation Velocity (how often the source is cited per week). Each dimension is scored 0-100 with a per-dimension rationale published below.

Why does Semantic Scholar score B?

A — academic-citation infrastructure; AI-powered indexing + free APIs.

What is Semantic Scholar?

AI-powered academic search engine by Allen Institute for AI; ~200M+ papers indexed. Category: Academic. Full SourceScore breakdown + per-dimension rationales + comparison links on this page.