Academia.edu vs EconLit
Academia.edu
academia.eduEconLit
aeaweb.orgSide by side
| Figure | Academia.edu | EconLit |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 3 | 6 |
| Spec score · Academic Research Databases | 8.6 (#5) | 8.4 (#9) |
| Support | Academia's app listing provides support by email at [email protected] and lists a phone number, +1 415-829-2341. | The AEA directs institutional subscribers to contact their information service provider for help with proprietary search interface questions or support. |
Plans
Academia.edu
- Academia FreeFree
- Academia Premium trial$1, paid once
- Academia PremiumPriced on request
EconLit
- EconLit for AEA MembersFree
- EconLit (institutional subscription)Priced on request
- EconLit via EBSCOPriced on request
- EconLit via OvidPriced on request
- EconLit via ProQuestPriced on request
- EconLit with Full TextPriced on request
In their own words
Academia.edu
Academia.edu is a platform for publishing and sharing research, tracking its impact, and discovering papers across disciplines. Users can read full-text papers uploaded to the site without Premium, and its mobile app supports discovering and reading research, saving papers to a library, searching topics, and connecting with scholars. Uploads support formats including PDF, TXT, RTF, EPUB, ODT, DOC, PPT, and XLS, along with listed modern variants. Pages can display Vimeo and YouTube videos, spreadsheets from Google Drive or OneDrive, and GitHub repositories. Courses on the platform are free to watch. The free plan includes reading and bookmarking papers, downloading free papers, search, following academics, uploads, and basic analytics. Premium adds features such as reader and profile analytics, a personal website, advanced search, search alerts, PDF Packs, and AI Podcasts. A 30-day trial is listed; a separate 1.00 USD one-time trial price is also listed, with trial and subscription auto-renewal terms applying. Premium pricing varies by country and region and is shown at checkout. Academia.edu is available on Android, iOS, and web.
EconLit
EconLit is the American Economic Association’s bibliographic database for economics literature. It covers peer-reviewed journal articles, working papers, PhD dissertations, books, book reviews, and articles in collective volumes. The database contains over 2 million records, covers literature published over the last 140 years, and is updated weekly. Searchable record fields can include title, author, affiliation, publication details, document type, keywords, subject classifications, named persons, and geographic descriptors. Its subject descriptors follow the Journal of Economic Literature classification system, using four-digit codes. Institutional subscriptions are available through EBSCO, ProQuest, and Ovid, which provide the same data through different interfaces. Full-text links depend on library holdings; EconLit with Full Text is available only through EBSCO. AEA members have courtesy access to bibliographic records, but that service has no full-text links and may be phased out. Institutional pricing is supplied by providers; EBSCO offers a trial request without stating its duration.