How many papers does the app search?

the platform searches across roughly 125 million academic papers from Semantic Scholar, including preprints and peer-reviewed publications from all fields.

Can this tool replace a human researcher?

No. Elicit accelerates literature work but human judgment is required to validate extractions and interpret findings within disciplinary context.

Does the app cite real papers?

Yes. Every the platform citation links to a real indexed paper. Unlike general chatbots, this tool does not hallucinate fictional references.

Elicit

AI Research Assistant for Academic Literature Review

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What is Elicit?

Elicit is an AI research assistant that automates literature review by analyzing millions of academic papers. The Elicit platform uses language models to extract key findings, methodologies, and conclusions from research papers in seconds. Researchers use Elicit to find relevant studies, summarize abstracts, and synthesize evidence across dozens of papers simultaneously. Elicit goes beyond keyword search by understanding research questions semantically and surfacing papers that genuinely answer them. With its structured data extraction and side-by-side comparison tables, Elicit dramatically reduces the time scholars spend on systematic reviews. Whether conducting meta-analyses or exploring a new field, Elicit serves as a tireless research collaborator for academics worldwide.

Key Features of Elicit

Semantic Paper Search

Elicit searches 125 million academic papers using natural language questions rather than keywords. Ask Elicit a research question and it returns the most relevant studies ranked by how directly they address your specific inquiry.

Automated Data Extraction

Elicit extracts study populations, interventions, outcomes, and limitations from PDFs automatically. This Elicit feature populates structured tables so you can compare methodologies across dozens of papers without manually reading each one.

Summary Synthesis

Generate plain-language summaries of top findings across multiple papers. Elicit synthesizes consensus and disagreement among studies, giving you an evidence-backed overview in minutes rather than weeks of reading.

Systematic Review Workflows

Elicit supports PRISMA-style systematic reviews with screening, inclusion criteria, and export tools. Reviewers using Elicit cut screening time by 50% while maintaining methodological rigor required for publication.

Citation Following

Trace citation networks forward and backward from any paper. Elicit reveals which influential works built on a study and which foundations it relied upon, helping researchers map intellectual lineages quickly.

Custom Data Columns

Define your own extraction columns and Elicit fills them from paper PDFs. Need sample sizes, effect estimates, or country of study? Elicit pulls these data points across hundreds of papers consistently.

Elicit Pricing Plans

Basic

Free

Free Elicit access with limited monthly paper analyses and basic extraction columns. Suitable for students exploring Elicit for occasional literature searches.

Plus

$12/month

Unlimited paper searches, advanced extraction, and PDF uploads. The standard Elicit plan for graduate students and active researchers.

Pro

$49/month

Systematic review tools, priority processing, and high-volume exports. Designed for professional Elicit users running formal reviews.

Best Use Cases for Elicit

Graduate Thesis Literature Review

Target user:: PhD candidate in public health
Pain point:: Reading 200+ papers for a literature chapter takes months of nights and weekends
Solution:: Use Elicit to surface the 40 most relevant studies, auto-extract methods and outcomes, then read only what truly matters. Cuts review time by 70%.

Grant Proposal Background

Target user:: Principal investigator at a university
Pain point:: Writing strong background sections requires surveying recent literature you have not read
Solution:: Query the platform to summarize the last five years of research in a niche. Pull citations directly into your grant draft with verified relevance and accuracy.

Clinical Evidence Synthesis

Target user:: Hospital pharmacist evaluating a new drug
Pain point:: You need to know what trials show about efficacy and adverse events fast
Solution:: Have this tool extract sample size, dosing, and outcomes from all relevant RCTs into one table. Make evidence-based recommendations in hours not weeks.

Industry R&D Scouting

Target user:: Corporate research scientist
Pain point:: Tracking academic advances across multiple subfields drains research time
Solution:: Set up the app queries on key topics and review weekly digests. Elicit identifies emerging methods worth piloting in your lab without manual scanning.

How to Use Elicit — Step by Step

1
Sign Up at Elicit.com
Create a free the platform account using a Google or institutional email. The platform signup takes under a minute and grants immediate access to paper search.
2
Ask a Research Question
Type a full natural-language question into the app, such as 'Does mindfulness reduce anxiety?' the platform returns ranked papers with relevance scores and snippets.
3
Review the Summary Table
this tool generates a comparison table showing key data from each paper. Add custom columns for any variable you need extracted across the entire set.
4
Star and Export Papers
Mark useful papers in the app and export them as BibTeX, RIS, or CSV. The platform export integrates with Zotero and other reference managers seamlessly.
5
Upload Your Own PDFs
Drop additional PDFs into this tool to extract data from papers it has not indexed. Elicit applies the same extraction logic to your private library.

Elicit vs Alternatives

Need to systematically extract data from many papers?

Pick: Elicitthe app's structured extraction columns automate what would otherwise require dozens of hours of manual reading and coding.

Need access to full paywalled paper text?

Pick: Your institutional librarythe platform indexes abstracts and open-access PDFs but cannot bypass publisher paywalls for full text retrieval.

Need conversational answers from your own documents?

Pick: NotebookLMNotebookLM excels at chatting with uploaded sources, while this tool focuses on searching the academic literature corpus.

Elicit FAQ

the platform offers a free tier with limited monthly searches. Paid this tool plans start at $12/month for unlimited searches and advanced extraction.