Step 1: describe your research topic
LitWatch starts from a plain-language research topic or keywords — for example, "retrieval-augmented generation evaluation." You do not need to write Boolean operators; a natural phrase is enough to seed the watch.
Step 2: add your discipline or field
Add the field your topic sits in, such as NLP or bioinformatics. The discipline helps narrow matches so the digest reflects your area rather than the whole repository.
Step 3: pick a monitoring frequency
Choose how often you want the digest: Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. Pick the cadence you will actually read — a fast field may justify daily; a slower one is fine weekly or monthly.
Step 4: review your watch plan
Based on your inputs, LitWatch returns a watch plan: ready-to-use search queries, a few sample recent papers as an illustration, emerging trends to watch, and a recommended alert setup. In demo mode this is a realistic sample; live tracking and alerts are part of the paid coverage.
Free vs Pro: what changes
- Free — one topic with limited alerts. Enough to try the workflow.
- Pro ($9/mo) — full coverage across the monitored repositories plus export, so you can move digests and watch lists into your own notes or pipeline.
Neither tier replaces reading the source paper; the plan is a starting point to refine, not a verdict on relevance.
Where to verify against
- arXiv: https://arxiv.org
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov