Skip to main content

Is semanticscholar.org a Scam? Security Check Results - The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) Reviews

semanticscholar.org favicon

Is semanticscholar.org Safe? Security Analysis for The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2)

Check if semanticscholar.org is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

TechnologyUnited Stateslarge
ReactGoogle Tag ManagerGoogle AnalyticsHubSpotAppcues+1 more
Analyzed 8/2/2025Completed 1:47:00 PM
72
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

Semantic Scholar is a leading AI-powered research tool developed by the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2), designed to facilitate discovery and understanding of scientific literature. The platform offers advanced semantic search capabilities, an augmented reading experience via Semantic Reader, and a public API for developers, positioning itself as a critical resource for researchers and scholars worldwide. The website reflects a mature digital presence with professional design, clear navigation, and comprehensive content tailored to its academic audience. Technically, the site leverages modern web technologies including React, Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Appcues, hosted likely on AWS infrastructure with strong performance and mobile optimization. The presence of multiple security headers and enforced HTTPS indicates a robust security posture, although explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not publicly detailed. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices with no detected vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. The WHOIS data is privacy protected, which is typical for institutional domains, and does not detract from the site's legitimacy given its affiliation with Ai2. Overall, Semantic Scholar presents a trustworthy, professional, and secure platform with strong business credibility in the technology and education sectors. Strategic recommendations include publishing a dedicated security policy and incident response information, establishing a vulnerability disclosure program, and enhancing direct contact options for security and support to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Detected Technologies

ReactGoogle Tag ManagerGoogle AnalyticsHubSpotAppcuesGoogle Identity Services

🧠AI Business Intelligence

Technology stack, business insights, and market analysis powered by AI.

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

Semantic Scholar operates as a free AI-driven academic research platform under the Allen Institute for AI, targeting researchers, scholars, and developers. Its competitive advantage lies in its advanced semantic understanding of scientific literature and developer-friendly API offerings. The business model focuses on providing open access to scholarly data while fostering developer engagement through API enhancements. Partnerships with platforms like Medium for blogging and integration with HubSpot for marketing indicate a mature ecosystem. The platform's growth is supported by continuous feature development such as Semantic Reader and Scholar's Hub, reinforcing its market position as a leader in AI-powered research tools.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and cookie consent mechanisms. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive information were detected. However, the absence of a publicly available security policy, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure program suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness. Compliance with GDPR is indicated through privacy policy content and consent banners. The use of third-party analytics and marketing tools is balanced with privacy considerations. Overall, the security culture appears strong but could benefit from enhanced communication and formalized security processes.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response plan on the website.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2)

Description:

Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at Ai2. It uses AI and engineering to understand scientific literature semantics to help scholars discover relevant research.

Key Services:
Scientific literature searchSemantic Reader (augmented reading)Public API for research dataScholar's Hub
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
ReactGoogle Tag ManagerGoogle AnalyticsHubSpotAppcuesGoogle Identity Services
Frameworks:
React
Performance:

fast

Mobile:

excellent

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
90/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security headers present
  • Cookie consent banner implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data detected

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google AnalyticsHubSpot Analytics
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:good

Advertising & Marketing

Ad Networks:
HubSpot Ads
Tracking Pixels:
Facebook Pixel
Marketing Tools:
HubSpotAppcues
Transparency Level:good

Website Quality Assessment

Design Quality:excellent
User Experience:excellent
Content Relevance:excellent
Navigation Clarity:excellent
Professionalism:excellent
Trustworthiness:high

Key Observations

1

Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenge.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

35/100
Score

Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

HIGH

Forces HTTPS connections

Missing X-Content-Type-Options header

MEDIUM

Prevents MIME type sniffing

Missing Content-Security-Policy header

HIGH

Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

Missing X-XSS-Protection header

MEDIUM

Legacy XSS protection (deprecated but still recommended)

Missing Referrer-Policy header

LOW

Controls referrer information sent with requests

Missing Permissions-Policy header

MEDIUM

Controls browser features and APIs

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

73/100
Score

No Cookie Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant

MEDIUM

Privacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements

GDPR Compliance Analysis

Privacy Policy85% confidence
Cookie Policy0% confidence
Contact Information Found90% confidence
phone

🛡️NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.

NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive

17/100
Score

No information security framework found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity and information security measures

No vulnerability disclosure policy

MEDIUM

NIS2 encourages coordinated vulnerability disclosure

No security policy documentation found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity governance and risk management

No incident response procedures found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented incident response and business continuity plans

No business continuity planning found

MEDIUM

NIS2 emphasizes operational resilience and business continuity

No security contact information

HIGH

NIS2 requires clear incident reporting channels

No vulnerability reporting mechanism

MEDIUM

Clear vulnerability reporting supports coordinated disclosure

No NIS2 reference found

LOW

Consider explicitly mentioning NIS2 compliance efforts

📧Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation and email security assessment.

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

85/100
Score

No BIMI Record

LOW

BIMI displays brand logos in email clients

No MTA-STS Policy

MEDIUM

MTA-STS enforces TLS for email delivery

No TLS-RPT Record

LOW

TLS-RPT provides reporting for email TLS issues

SPF
Sender Policy Framework
DKIM
DomainKeys Identified Mail
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication
MX Records
Mail Exchange Records
BIMI
Brand Indicators
MTA-STS
Mail Transfer Agent Security
TLS-RPT
TLS Reporting
DNSSEC
DNS Security
SPF Details
Record:
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com a mx ip4:52.10.131.143 a mx ip4:52.11.211.149 ip4:35.160.27.221 ip4:54.149.223.60 include:5910970.spf08.hubspotemail.net include:mg-spf.greenhouse.io ~all
DNS Lookups:7/10
Policy:~all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:google(1296-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:reject
Subdomain Policy:none
Aggregate Reports:re+gr0yylpvy9w@dmarc.postmarkapp.com

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

90/100
Score

Mixed Content Detected

MEDIUM

3 resources loaded over insecure HTTP

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Certificate Details

Subject:*.semanticscholar.org
Issuer:Amazon RSA 2048 M02
Valid Until:3/7/2026 (217 days)
SANs:*.semanticscholar.org, *.semanticscholar.com, s2.allenai.org +3 more

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Disabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

90/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

Domain Registration Details

Domain Age
10 years(mature)
Expiry Risk
none(382 days)
Protection Level
strongDNSSEC OFF

DNS Records

A Records:3.164.206.105, 3.164.206.116, 3.164.206.117, 3.164.206.103
AAAA Records:2600:9000:278f:f600:6:4565:580:93a1, 2600:9000:278f:7a00:6:4565:580:93a1, 2600:9000:278f:da00:6:4565:580:93a1, 2600:9000:278f:200:6:4565:580:93a1, 2600:9000:278f:4a00:6:4565:580:93a1, 2600:9000:278f:6a00:6:4565:580:93a1, 2600:9000:278f:6c00:6:4565:580:93a1, 2600:9000:278f:8400:6:4565:580:93a1
Name Servers:
ns-1437.awsdns-51.org
ns-1772.awsdns-29.co.uk
ns-290.awsdns-36.com
ns-586.awsdns-09.net
MX Records:
1: aspmx.l.google.com
10: aspmx2.googlemail.com
10: aspmx3.googlemail.com
5: alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
5: alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
SOA:Serial: 1, TTL: 86400s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:60ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com a mx ip4:52.10.131.143 a mx ip4:52.11.211.149 ip4:35.160.27.221 ip4:54.149.223.60 include:5910970.spf08.hubspotemail.net include:mg-spf.greenhouse.io ~all

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis.

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis

100/100
Score

Good Network Security Posture

LOW

No unnecessary services detected on common risky ports

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

Semantic Scholar's technical infrastructure is modern and robust, utilizing React for frontend development and integrating analytics and marketing tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Appcues. The site is hosted likely on AWS, indicated by the presence of AWS WAF scripts, ensuring scalability and reliability. Performance is optimized with fast loading times and excellent mobile responsiveness. SEO and accessibility best practices are implemented, including proper meta tags and ARIA landmarks. The technical stack supports a high-quality user experience but should maintain vigilance on third-party dependencies to avoid potential vulnerabilities.
Analyze Another Website