Metaso AI or CNKI Yanxue
Both combine Chinese academic search with AI; they differ in where papers come from. Metaso searches journals and databases across the web with fine-grained filters but cannot open Chinese full text; CNKI Yanxue and CNKI AI use CNKI's own database, open full text and assist writing by paper type. Acadwrite focuses on what comes next: turning papers into a review, adding citations, and reviewing and polishing to academic conventions.
Product details checked against both websites, membership pages and user agreements on 22 October 2026. Numbers in brackets link to the sources at the end of the page.
Choose by the job in front of you
| What you need to do | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Get oriented fast and filter by CAS quartile or core journal lists | Metaso | Academic mode covers Chinese and English libraries and PubMed, filters by PKU core, CAS quartile, JCR, SCIE and EI, and gives free daily credits.[1][2] |
| Search Chinese journals and theses and read the full text | CNKI Yanxue | The ¥218-a-month CNKI AI bundle includes journal, conference, master's and doctoral literature; Metaso links Chinese papers only to Wanfang or VIP search pages.[4][1] |
| Format references in GB/T 7714 or a target journal style | CNKI Yanxue | Supports GB/T 7714-2015, MLA, APA and 11,279 Chinese and international journal styles, with Word and WPS plug-ins.[6] |
| Generate a review from a set of CNKI papers you already collected | CNKI Yanxue | Resource-package reviews work from 2–200 papers; the CNKI AI professional review reads around a hundred papers and writes about 10,000 characters.[5][4] |
| Search Chinese and English literature and confirm each step of a review | Acadwrite | Searches from 4–8 angles in Chinese and English, builds a 40–60 paper list, waits for you to confirm the list and outline, cites at least 30 papers and links every citation. |
| Understand a difficult paper and how far its evidence goes | Acadwrite | Paper X-ray separates load-bearing design from decoration and works key equations with real numbers; critical appraisal grades evidence with GRADE. |
| Simulate peer review or write an NSFC proposal | Acadwrite | Three simulated reviewers anchor comments to the text; the NSFC skill covers the scientific question, rationale, innovation and mock review. |
Side by side
Grey text means the vendor's pages do not say. That does not mean the feature is missing.
| Metaso AI, CNKI Yanxue and Acadwrite compared | Metaso AI | CNKI Yanxue / CNKI AI | Acadwrite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where papers come from | Academic mode: Chinese and English libraries and PubMed, filterable by PKU core, CAS quartile, JCR, SCIE and EI[1] | CNKI's own database: journals, theses, conferences, books, patents, standards; web search optional[7] | Journal articles, arXiv and PubMed, in Chinese and English |
| Opens the original | English papers usually link a DOI or publisher PDF; Chinese papers link only to Wanfang or VIP search results[1] | Bundle memberships include literature access; the AI-only plan reads only your uploads[4] | Every citation links to the paper; PDFs can be uploaded to the workspace |
| What it writes | Search results can become outlines, mind maps, slides and deep research[1] | AI writing for journal papers, theses, course papers and proposals, with AI-generated or manual outlines[5] | Review, introduction, citation, polishing and review workflows, plus 23 academic skills |
| How reviews are generated | Not stated | Resource-package reviews from 2–200 papers; professional reviews read about 100 papers and write about 10,000 characters[5][4] | 4–8 search angles, a 40–60 paper list, the list and outline confirmed, at least 30 papers cited |
| Reference formatting | Not stated | GB/T 7714-2015, MLA, APA and 11,279 journal styles; Word and WPS plug-ins[6] | Reference list generated with the text, exportable to Word |
| Pricing | Credits: 1 per standard answer, with free daily credits; app membership ¥39 a month or ¥228 a year[2][3] | CNKI AI at ¥48, ¥128 or ¥218 a month, 3 days free for new users; Yanxue AI requires an approved trial application[4][8] | Pay per use at ¥2 per credit; a review in a workspace uses about 8–9 credits |
| Academic features | Not stated | AI polishing, paper pre-review and format checking[8][9][10] | 23 academic skills, including close reading, simulated review, reference checking and NSFC proposals |
Skills for after you find the papers
Search is only the first step. Understanding a paper, judging the strength of its evidence and writing literature into proposals and papers each have skills written for academic work. They come from open-source projects on GitHub; enable them in the skill market and use them in workspace chats.
- 23
academic skills from 9 open-source projects, covering writing, polishing, review, verification and topic design
- 50K
stars for nature-skills, source of 10 skills including close reading, simulated review and reference checking
- 54K
stars for K-Dense scientific-agent-skills, source of 5 skills including critical appraisal and hypothesis generation
- 14K
stars for AI-Research-SKILLs, source of the ideation and conference paper skills
Star counts as shown on GitHub on 22 October 2026.
Close reading and appraisal
Paper X-ray
Reconstructs the starting point and the authors' bet, separates load-bearing design from decoration, works key equations with real numbers and checks how far the evidence goes.
nature-skillsPaper reading card
Breaks a paper into 16 fixed sections: method modules, the evidence chain from experiments to claims, author-stated limits kept apart from critique, and testable ideas.
nature-skillsCritical appraisal of claims
Examines design, bias and confounding and statistical misuse, grading evidence with GRADE and Cochrane risk-of-bias frameworks.
K-Dense scientific-agent-skills
Topics and proposals
Social science topic design
Maps the literature by question structure, separates under-studied questions from genuinely open ones and judges doctoral feasibility.
nature-skillsNSFC proposals
For Young Scientists, General and Key programs: the scientific question, rationale, research plan, innovation, mock review and pre-submission checks.
nsfc-skillsResearch ideation
Ten ideation lenses with a diverge, converge and refine process for finding CS and AI research topics.
AI-Research-SKILLs
Writing and verification
Reference checkingused in reference checks
Verifies authors, title, year, volume, pages and DOI against authoritative bibliographic metadata, and never substitutes a similar paper.
nature-skillsNature simulated reviewused in paper review
Three independent reviewers assess originality, significance and technical soundness, with comments anchored to the text.
nature-skillsThesis polishing
For Chinese science and engineering theses: diagnoses or rewrites against more than 60 rules on wording, sentences, punctuation, structure and equations.
graduate-thesis-polish-and-write-skill
FAQ
Both adjust membership tiers often. Check the official membership pages.
Metaso AI or CNKI Yanxue: which is better?
It depends on what you lack. To get oriented quickly and filter by CAS quartile or core journal lists, Metaso is handier and gives free daily credits. To read Chinese journals and theses in full and format references in GB/T 7714, CNKI Yanxue and CNKI AI fit better; the bundle costs ¥218 a month.
Can Metaso academic search see CNKI papers?
Metaso does not say. In our test of academic mode, no CNKI links appeared among sources; Chinese papers linked only to Wanfang or VIP search results, while English papers usually linked a DOI or publisher PDF.
Are CNKI AI and CNKI Yanxue AI the same?
No. CNKI AI lives on the main site at ai.cnki.net with its own membership at ¥48, ¥128 or ¥218 a month; Yanxue AI sits in the Yanxue platform and requires an approved trial application. Their terms and pricing are separate.
Can CNKI Yanxue generate a literature review?
Yes. Resource-package reviews are generated from the 2–200 papers you choose, and the CNKI AI professional review claims to read around a hundred papers per run and write about 10,000 characters, drawing mainly on CNKI's database.
How is Acadwrite different from Metaso and CNKI Yanxue?
Metaso and CNKI Yanxue focus on search; Acadwrite focuses on what follows: writing Chinese and English literature into a review with the paper list and outline confirmed, adding linked citations to your paragraphs, and close reading, reviewing and polishing to academic conventions. It charges by use at ¥2 per credit.
Sources
All pages accessed on 22 October 2026. Metaso search results were tested without signing in.
- [1]Metaso AI Search：Academic search on the website (tested without signing in)
- [2]Metaso AI Search：User agreement 3.2–3.3 (credit rules)
- [3]Metaso AI Search：App Store listing (membership prices)
- [4]CNKI：Membership center (CNKI AI plans)
- [5]CNKI Yanxue：Release notes
- [6]CNKI Yanxue：Word plug-in and citation styles
- [7]CNKI：Main site search
- [8]CNKI Yanxue：Yanxue AI user agreement
- [9]CNKI Yanxue：Privacy policy (AI paper pre-review)
- [10]CNKI Yanxue：Paper format checking