This article introduces Consensus, an AI tool specializing in literature search.
“It takes time to find papers.”
“I wonder what keywords I should use to find this answer…”
“I want to quickly resolve my questions.”
Consensus is perfect for these concerns.
You can choose from three types of literature searches depending on the situation, making it suitable for a wide range of needs, from “easily grasping the overview” to “comprehensively searching and creating a detailed report!”
Surprisingly, “high-precision Deep Search,” a rank limited to the Paid Plan in other plans, is available up to three times a month even with the Free Plan.
The pricing structure allows users who “want to avoid paying as much as possible” to continue using the service.
Official website: Consensus (https://consensus.app/search/)
Consensus Summary
Consensus is this kind of tool
- It is specialized in finding and synthesizing academic evidence
- High-precision, comprehensive literature search
- Deep Search that summarizes prior studies in a data-centric way
- Consensus Meter that aggregates results across the literature
- Deep Search is available up to three times per month on the free plan
- A paid plan is useful when you want to remove usage limits
- Pro plan: from $10/month
- Deep plan: from $45/month
- Students receive a 40% discount
Three Types of Literature Searches in Consensus
Consensus offers three types of literature searches:
- Grasp the overview with “Quick Search”
- Find key papers with “Pro Search”
- More accurate literature search and report generation with “Deep Search”
Choose depending on how detailed you want your search to be.
Basically, you can use all search functions even with the Free Plan, but there are Usage Limits.
| Free Plan | Pro Plan | Deep Plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic quick search | |||
| Pro search | Up to 25 times/month | Unlimited | |
| Deep search | Up to 3 times/month | Up to 15 times/month | Unlimited |
You can easily find the paper you are looking for with high-precision search results and labeling/filtering functions.
First, enter the Research Question you want to search for on the top screen.
Please specify the search mode from the drop-down selection on the lower left.
Consensus explicitly suggests recommended search methods as follows:
- Ask about the relationship between events
(e.g., “Does creatine improve cognitive function?”) - Questions that can be answered with “yes/no”
(e.g., “Can zinc supplements improve depression?”) - Ask about the effect of an event
(e.g., “What is the impact of immigration on the economy?”)
You can use Consensus effectively by asking questions like this, rather than listing keywords.
Consensus Literature Search ①: Grasp the Overview with “Quick Search”
Use “Quick Search” when you want to easily grasp the overview of a Research Question.
Unlimited use with the Free Plan.
However, it provides a considerable amount of information.
Actual diagram of Qiuck search results
It also firmly presents the “Consensus Meter,” which is a feature of Consensus.
＼Quick Search Structure／
- Consensus Meter
- Summaries with Citations
- Details of top papers (table view)
- List of other papers
Consensus Meter
Speaking of the features of Consensus, it is the function to aggregate results (Consensus Meter).
I will try entering a question that can be answered with Yes/No.
It shows the views in Previous Research divided into “Yes,” “Possibly,” “Mixed,” and “No” in percentages.
When entering a new field or constructing a new experimental system, etc.
“What are the mainstream opinions on this Question?”
This question is resolved in one shot!
Summaries with Citations
Below the Consensus Meter, Summaries for the Research Question are briefly summarized.
If you click on the number, information on the corresponding paper will be displayed on the right side.
Details of top papers (table view)
Information on the top papers is extracted in table format below the Summary.
Details of top papers (table view)
Up to the top 3 papers in the Free Plan.
If you want to switch to a table view for other papers as well, you need to subscribe to the Pro Plan or higher.
List of other papers
There is a list of papers below the table view.
Consensus is also characterized by its very easy-to-understand labeling.
The labels include the following types:
- Evaluation of research: “Rigorous Journal,” “Very Rigorous Journal”
- Number of citations: “Highly Cited”
- Research design: “RCT,” “Non-RCT Trial,” “Case Report,” etc.
- Whether it is clinical or basic research: “Animal Trial,” etc.
Hovering the cursor over a label will display what it represents.
Information that cannot be determined from the title or journal name alone is visualized in an easy-to-understand manner.
*Labels are also attached to the table view.
Consensus Literature Search ②: Find Key Papers with “Pro Search”
The basic structure of the Generated content is not much different from “Quick Search,” but the number of cited papers increases and the summaries are more substantial.
For example, when I asked the same question, the number of reference papers in the Consensus Meter.
Quick Search: N=
👇
Pro Search: Increased to N=20
Headings and tables have been added to the Summary in Pro Search.
Actual Summaries with Citations
Consensus Literature Search ③: More Accurate Literature Search and Report Generation with “Deep Search”
With Deep Search, the Generated content is significantly enhanced.
The Generated content consists of 5 chapters: “Introduction → Method → Results → Discussion → Conclusion”.
Let’s take a closer look!
Consensus Meter and brief Summary
Keywords used in this search, number of papers screened, number of papers finally included in the review creation, etc.
List of key results
Results Timeline
Issues and Evidence levels in an easy-to-understand table
Research Gaps Matrix
A diagram showing how much research has been conducted (number of studies and degree of Evidence accumulation) on the vertical axis (research subject) and the horizontal axis (exercise modality).
Open Research Questions
Picks up still unresolved questions and the reasons for them
The accuracy is clearly different from Pro Search.
The review is data-centric rather than text-centric.
This can be used up to 3 times a month even with the Free Plan!
| Free Plan | Pro Plan | Deep Plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic quick search | |||
| Pro search | Up to 25 times/month | Unlimited | |
| Deep search | Up to 3 times/month | Up to 15 times/month | Unlimited |
Please try this at least once!
Consensus’s Useful Features
Consensus’s Useful Feature ①: Easy-to-Use Filter Function
The following filters are possible:
- Paper
- Age
- Exclude preprints (peer-reviewed papers only)
- Whether open access is available
- Whether paper requests are possible
- Number of citations
- Research method
- Research design
- Research details (sample size, duration, etc.)
- Journal rank
- Field
- Country
With this function, you can find the best paper that says, “This is it!”
Consensus’s Useful Feature ②: Study Snapshot
An Abstract is displayed on each paper page.
The Abstract alone is not enough. If you want to know the details for each item such as population and sample size, and experimental methods, you can use the “Study Snapshot” function.
You can check the following figure by pressing “Generate Snapshot.”
It is convenient because you can grasp the overview of the research.
Available up to 10 times a month for free
| Free Plan | Paid Plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Study Snapshot | 10 times a month | Unlimited |
Consensus’s Useful Feature ③: Ask Paper
Press “Ask Paper” at the bottom of the paper page to open the paper.
Here, you can check the contents in detail via chat.
Like Snapshot, it can be used up to 10 times a month for free
| Free Plan | Paid Plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Ask Paper | 10 interactions per month | Unlimited |
Consensus’s Useful Feature ④: You Can Save Papers and Search Results
You can bookmark papers you are interested in and save search results.
Let’s divide them into related items in a list.
The point is that you can save your search history
Consensus’s Useful Feature ⑤: You Can Share Search Results
You can easily share the results by pressing the share button in the upper right corner of the search results screen.
This is very convenient when you want to share the results with others.
Consensus’s Pricing Plans
There are 4 types of Consensus pricing plans.
- Free Plan
- Pro Plan
- ¥1,500/month~
- Deep Plan
- ¥6,800/month~
| Free | Pro | Deep | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | – | $120 | $540 |
| Monthly conversion | – | $10 (approximately ¥1,500) | $45 (approximately ¥6,800) |
| Basic quick search | |||
| Pro search | Up to 25 times/month | Unlimited | |
| Deep search | Up to 3 times/month | Up to 15 times/month | Unlimited |
| SnapShot | 10 times a month | Unlimited | |
| Use of Pro analysis equipped with GPT-4 | 10 times a month | Unlimited | |
| Ask Paper | 10 cases per month | Unlimited | |
In conclusion, if you want to use it on a daily basis, we recommend the Paid Plan.
Various restrictions will be lifted.
If you are a student, you can use it at a great discount
＼Students get 40% OFF the Pro Plan／
- Register your school email address
Or… - Send an email to student@consensus.app with the following information and follow the instructions sent.
- Email of your current Consensus account
- Proof of enrollment (student ID, email address, etc.)
- Graduation year
Consensus’s Disadvantages
It is search-specific (few other installed functions)
The disadvantage is that it is a search-specific tool and has few other installed functions such as Reading Support, writing functions, and a Library.
Ask Paper also has only very simple functions.
If you want to leave tasks other than searching to someone else, we recommend SciSpace, Paperguide, etc., which are All-in-one tools.
For details, please see the category page that summarizes All-in-one tools!
Consensus’s Alternative Tools / Similar Tools
SciSpace (All-in-one)
SciSpace is the most researcher-focused all-in-one tool I know.
It offers a wide range of features covering the entire workflow from search to reading.
I am a heavy user myself.
SciSpace is the kind of tool that does it all
- Search, read, write, and generate citations in one place
- High-precision literature search with Deep Review
- Clear explanations of confusing text, figures, and tables
- Side-by-side comparison of related papers in your library
- Autonomous research agents
- Output quality is limited on the free plan
- Premium: from $7.20/month
- Advanced: from $42/month
- Prices reflect the 40% off coupon
Among the many features offered by SciSpace, the ones I especially recommend are as follows.
In particular, Deep Review has dramatically improved the accuracy of my literature searches.
An actual review follows
The key point is the keyword optimization process, which can be used intuitively without any prompts at all.
In addition, the paper reading support allows AI to answer a wide range of questions.
It can even explain figures and tables.
It is a researcher-focused AI packed with many other features as well.
For those who want to learn more about SciSpace:
Official Website：SciSpace（https://typeset.io/）
Elicit (Literature Search)
Elicit is this kind of tool
- High-precision, comprehensive literature search
- Well suited for exploratory and review-based research
- Generation of systematic reviews
- Extraction of structured data from papers
- Upgrade if you need systematic reviews
- Upgrade for richer search results and higher-quality synthesis
- Upgrade to extract data from more papers
- Plus plan: from $10/month
- Pro plan: from $42/month
The most compelling feature of Elicit is its systematic reviews, which you can customize in fine detail.
[Points]
- Upload the necessary papersyourself
- Confirm and modify the paper selection criteria
- Adjust the passing score for the papers
- Confirm and modify the extraction items from the papers
More accurate than fully automated
The report is like a single paper as a Systematic Review.
Actual report
Abstract 👇
The process of literature search and screening 👇
Overview of the top 40 studies selected for systematic reviews 👇
Main outcomes 👇 (Divided into several subsections, presenting quantitative data and effect sites)
Simple summary in bullet points 👇
This report can also be downloaded as a PDF.
In addition, standard literature searches automatically extract key elements from each paper.
You can also verify the extracted statements by checking the corresponding sections in the main body of the paper.
For more details:
Official Website: Elicit（https://elicit.com/）
Detailed Article: [Automated Literature Review] A Thorough Explanation of Elicit’s Functions (Literature Search/Summarization) and Pricing Plans!
How to get started with Consensus
Register as a user
Press the “Try for free” button in the upper right corner to register as a user (Sign up).
- Log in with Google
- Log in with Facebook
- Create an account
- Email address
- Password
You can use it without Sign up, but we recommend registering as you will not be able to use the bookmark function.
FAQ about Consensus
- Is it available on the free plan?
-
High-precision Deep Search can also be used up to 3 times a month. The pricing structure allows even Free Plan users to continue using it.
- How can you use the paid plan at a lower cost?
-
If you are a student, you can use the Pro Plan for 40% OFF.
Consensus Summary
Consensus allows you to comprehensively grasp the overview of research with simple questions!
Consensus Meter and labeling functions make it a visually easy-to-understand tool.
Please try it!
Details are
Official website: Consensus (https://consensus.app/search/)
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