Research Article

How to Run a Literature Review with Zotero + AI in 2026

Zotero is still one of the best foundations for a literature review, but AI changes what you can do with your saved papers. Here's how to use Zotero plus AI without turning your review process into a messy stack of disconnected tools.

Zotero + AI works best when Zotero stays the reference backbone and AI handles retrieval, summarization, comparison, and drafting support. The biggest mistake is trying to force one plugin to do the whole literature review.

TL;DR: Zotero plus AI is not one tool. It is a stack. Zotero remains the foundation for storage, organization, and citation management. AI adds retrieval, comparison, summarization, and drafting support. The trick is choosing the smallest stack that still matches the scope of your review.

Zotero is still a great literature review tool in 2026, and the phrase Zotero literature review now increasingly includes an AI layer.

Because it does the base layer extremely well: save papers organize them tag them annotate them cite them

Find the papers in your saved library that actually address the question you are writing about. Paper understanding

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can Zotero help with a literature review?
Yes. Zotero is excellent for collecting, organizing, tagging, and citing papers during a literature review. The missing layer is AI-powered retrieval, comparison, and synthesis.
Can AI do my literature review for me?
No. AI can speed up discovery, summarization, and synthesis, but you still need human judgment for inclusion criteria, interpretation, and final argument.
What is the best AI setup for a Zotero literature review?
Use Zotero as the reference manager, then add either a strong retrieval plugin for search inside the library or a synced research workspace if you need broader synthesis and writing.
Should I use Beaver, PapersGPT, or PapersFlow for a literature review?
Use Beaver if your main problem is finding papers inside your saved library. Use PapersGPT if your main problem is understanding individual papers. Use PapersFlow if you need the broader literature review workflow from discovery through synthesis and writing.

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