Tools We Recommend

For academics and medical publication professionals — these are the tools we actually use ourselves. Some links below are affiliate links: if you sign up or buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only list tools that we believe are genuinely helpful, and our opinions are our own.

Jump to: AI Writing & Research · AI Detection & Disclosure · Transcription & Voice · Reference Management · Editing & Grammar · Statistics & Data · Figures & Visuals

AI Writing & Research Assistants

ChatGPT (OpenAI) — General purpose AI assistant for drafting, editing, summarizing, and restructuring text.
Best for: drafting and revising manuscript sections, abstracts, and responses when guided by strong, specific prompts.
Heads-up: never paste unpublished or proprietary data into it unless you're using a controlled enterprise version — and always fact-check citations, which AI can fabricate.
Try ChatGPT →

Claude (Anthropic) — AI assistant strong at long-document work, careful reasoning, and maintaining tone across lengthy manuscripts.
Best for: working through long drafts, reviewer responses, and detailed editing in a single conversation.
Heads-up: the same data-safety rule applies — keep confidential or unpublished data out unless you're on a controlled plan, and verify any references it produces.
Try Claude →

Paperpal — AI writing assistant built specifically for researchers and academics, covering grammar, paraphrasing, and submission-readiness checks.
Best for: polishing manuscripts, abstracts, and reviewer responses before submission.
Heads-up: keep confidential or unpublished data out of any AI tool unless you're on a controlled plan. Use code PAP20 for 20% off.
Try Paperpal →

Consensus — AI research assistant that surfaces and summarizes evidence from published literature.
Best for: literature scanning and finding supporting or contrasting evidence quickly.
Heads-up: a starting point for discovery, not a substitute for reading the primary sources and judging quality yourself.
Try Consensus →

AI Detection & Disclosure

Originality.ai — Checks text for AI generated content and helps you document AI use for journal disclosure statements.
Best for: authors who need to verify and disclose AI use before submission.
Heads-up: built for longer text; very short passages can read as less reliable.
Try Originality.ai →

Transcription & AI Voice

ElevenLabs — AI text-to-speech, transcription, and dubbing. Narrate papers, transcribe interviews and lectures, and translate content to reach wider audiences.
Best for: researchers transcribing interviews or creating audio/translated versions of their work.
Heads-up: always review transcripts for technical terms and drug names AI can mishear.
Try ElevenLabs →

Reference Management

Zotero — Free, open-source reference manager that formats citations and bibliographies in thousands of journal styles.
Best for: researchers who want a powerful, no-cost option with great browser capture and Word/Google Docs integration.
Heads-up: free cloud storage is limited, so heavy users of attached PDFs may need a paid storage add-on.
Try Zotero →

EndNote — Long-established reference manager with strong large-library handling and manuscript-matching features.
Best for: authors in institutions that standardize on EndNote or who manage very large reference libraries.
Heads-up: it's a paid product and has a steeper learning curve than lighter tools.
Try EndNote →

Editing & Grammar

Grammarly — AI-assisted grammar, clarity, and tone checker that works across browsers, Word, and email.
Best for: catching everyday grammar and clarity issues in drafts before a final review.
Heads-up: it's tuned for general writing, so always defer to journal style and discipline-specific conventions.
Try Grammarly →

PerfectIt — Consistency and style checker built for professional and academic editing.
Best for: medical writers and editors ensuring consistency across long documents.
Heads-up: it checks consistency rather than meaning — it complements, but doesn't replace, a careful read.
Try PerfectIt →

Statistics & Data

GraphPad Prism — Statistics and graphing software widely used in biomedical research, combining analysis with publication-quality figures.
Best for: researchers running common biostatistical analyses and producing journal-ready figures.
Heads-up: it's a paid licence and geared to biostatistics rather than advanced custom modelling.
Try GraphPad Prism →

Jamovi — Free, open-source statistical software with a friendly point-and-click interface built on R.
Best for: students and researchers who want capable stats without a paid licence or heavy coding.
Heads-up: as free software, support comes from the community rather than a vendor help desk.
Try Jamovi →

Figures & Visuals

BioRender — Drag-and-drop tool for creating professional scientific figures and graphical abstracts.
Best for: producing journal-ready graphical abstracts and mechanism figures without design skills.
Heads-up: the free tier limits exports and resolution, so publication use typically needs a paid plan.
Try BioRender →

Canva — General-purpose design tool useful for posters, slides, and presentation visuals.
Best for: conference posters, slide decks, and teaching visuals where a scientific icon library isn't essential.
Heads-up: it isn't built for scientific accuracy, so pair it with a dedicated figure tool for data visuals.
Try Canva →

And our own toolkits — built for this exact workflow

Third-party tools handle pieces of the job. Our toolkits handle the writing itself — built specifically for medical and academic publishing.

• Medical Writer's AI Toolkit — 30+ prompts for abstracts, manuscripts, and peer review. Shop →
• Reviewer Response Toolkit — 15 templates for tough reviewers. Shop →
• The AI Disclosure Playbook — how to disclose AI use compliantly. Shop →
• The Plain Language Summary Playbook — turn dense findings into clear lay summaries. Shop →