This article introduces Elicit, an AI-powered literature search tool renowned for its precision in finding relevant papers.
“I can’t find the papers I need at all…”
“I’m spending a huge amount of time on literature searches…”
These problems can be solved with Elicit.
Literature searching can vary greatly depending on individual techniques, such as keyword input.
However, with Elicit, anyone can easily find the papers they need.
It is also characterized by its ability to perform comprehensive searches, which is useful for writing review articles.
You can find all the necessary papers without omission.
Continuous use is possible even with the Free Plan.
Furthermore, in February 2025, a function was added to create high-quality Systematic Reviews.
You can create a simple review article in one go.
If you want to start using Elicit right away, click here.
Summary of Elicit
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
Previously, it couldn’t be used continuously for free, so it was excluded from everyday tools.
However, it has recently been improved to be available for free!
Moreover, the search accuracy has been significantly improved, and the search results are easier to view.
It has been instantly upgraded to an everyday tool in my mind.
Especially,
When you want to comprehensively grasp specific keywords.
It is very useful for preventing information omissions.
Recently, a “systematic reviews” function has been added, further enhancing Elicit’s comprehensiveness.
There is no more capable tool when exploring new fields or writing review articles.
Try it for free first.
The timing for when payment is required is also explained in the article.
Official website: Elicit (https://elicit.com/)
Elicit’s literature search has three types
Let’s introduce Elicit’s functions right away.
Elicit’s literature search has three types
Elicit’s literature search (1): systematic reviews
In a nutshell, Elicit’s systematic reviews is a function that allows AI to fully automate the main steps of a Systematic Review, while allowing humans to adjust each stage.
- Five steps to report presentation
- Users can intervene at each stage.
The key point is that users can intervene.
This function creates highly accurate reviews, but it is only available in the Pro Plan, which is the top-tier plan in Elicit.
| Free Plan | Plus Plan (From $10) | Pro Plan (From $42) | |
| systematic reviews |
The steps are as follows:
Five steps to output.
The user adds confirmation from time to time.
[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.
It is highly recommended for researchers in the following situations.
・Writing review articles and Systematic Reviews
・Writing papers
・Exploring new fields
Elicit’s literature search (2): Research report
Research report is a simplified version of systematic reviews.
Unlike systematic reviews, the process of “intervening in paper screening” is eliminated, and it becomes fully automated.
Also, the number of papers screened and data extracted is reduced.
At this time, if you want to further increase the number of target papers, you need to upgrade to the PLUS plan.
However, even the Free Plan provides quite detailed generated content.
Elicit’s literature search (3): Find papers
Elicit allows for very accurate literature searches.
Search from over 125 million academic papers
Elicit’s database contains over 125 million academic papers, and it searches for the papers most relevant to the search Research Question.
Presents Summaries with Citations for the Question
When you enter a Research Question in the search field, it presents Summaries with Citations summarizing the top 8 papers for the question.
[Note] Searches can be performed in Japanese, but the generated content is only in English.
The above figure is translated using the browser’s translation function.
It is also recommended to use DeepL, etc.
Automatically extract elements of each paper
In the search results screen, in addition to the paper title and information, a summary is automatically extracted as shown in the figure.
Furthermore, you can add necessary items by selecting them.
You can see at a glance what kind of experiment was conducted and what the results were.
The common waste of time of “I went to the literature page and read the abstract, but it’s not what I was looking for!” is eliminated.
There are two great things about this table.
- You can finely set the items you want to extract yourself
- You can move to the corresponding part of the text by clicking on the extracted sentence
1: You can finely set the items you want to extract yourself
You can edit the columns to extract the information you want.
For example, you can extract specific information such as “What is the age of the population?” or “What is the amount of reagent administered?”
(You can also enter in Japanese)
In addition, default items are placed as selectable options.
- Summary
- Main findings
- Intervention
- Outcome measured
- Limitations
- Intervention effects
2: You can move to the corresponding part of the text by clicking on the extracted sentence
If you want to check the contents of the extracted sentence in detail, you can move to the corresponding part of the text by clicking on it.
When you turn on the high-precision mode of the Paid Plan, numbers are assigned to each sentence of the extracted text, allowing you to check the cited parts in detail.
Be sure to set the high-precision mode for important items.
[Please note that there are restrictions depending on the pricing plan in the following points]
- Number of columns in the list
- Presence and number of high-precision modes
Easy-to-use search filters
Elicit also has easy-to-use filter functions!
The filter includes the following items.
- PDF availability
- Years of publication
- Journal value
- Research type
- Required keywords
- Excluded keywords
Other functions of Elicit
Extract data from papers and Tabularized by key elements
Elicit has a function that extracts content from uploaded paper PDFs and Tabularized by key elements.
Using Elicit’s data extraction function…
- You can understand the contents of the paper at a glance
- Comparative Analysis of Papers
When you upload a paper to “Extract data from PDFs”, it creates a table as shown below.
You can understand the contents of the paper at a glance.
The specifications for editing table items and switching only specific columns to high-performance mode are the same as the paper search screen.
[Please note that the number of PDFs that can be extracted depends on the pricing plan]
Upload multiple papers you want to compare and create a table.
You may find that “the experimental conditions are slightly different only in this paper”, or
You may be able to resolve the question of “Why is this study the only one with conflicting results?”
There is a lot to be gained by looking at papers all at once!
The above is an overview of Elicit’s functions.
In terms of paper search performance, I feel that Elicit has top-level quality that surpasses other AI tools.
Previously, continuous use was not possible with the Free Plan, but the plan has been revised so that you can continue to use it without paying.
Please consider a Paid Plan if you want to introduce more high-performance functions.
Official website: Elicit (https://elicit.com/)
Elicit Pricing Plans
Elicit has three pricing plans.
- Free Plan
- Plus Plan(From $10 per month)
- Pro Plan(From $42 per month)
Paid Plan Fees
| Plus | Pro | |
| Monthly Subscription | $12/month | $49/month |
| Annual Subscription | $10/month ($120/year) | $42/month ($499/year) |
Differences in Elicit’s Pricing Plans
As a recommendation for plan selection,
- If you use it on a daily basis, Plus is convenient
- Upgrade to Pro when writing review articles and Systematic Reviews
The new function “systematic reviews” can only be used with the Pro Plan.
You can perform unlimited searches even with the Free Plan.
The main differences are
- Amount of data that can be extracted
- Fewer columns in the search results list
- High-precision mode cannot be used
- No export function
| Free | Plus | Pro | |
| Literature Search | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| systematic reviews | |||
| Data Extraction | Up to 20/month | Up to 50/month | Up to 200/month |
| Adding Columns to the Table | 2 columns at a time | 5 columns at a time | 20 columns at a time |
| High-Precision Mode | Up to 1 column per list | Unlimited | |
| Chat with Papers | Unlimited with 4 papers at a time | 8 papers at a time and Unlimited | 8 papers at a time and Unlimited |
| CSV/BIB/RIS Export |
Try starting with the Free Plan,
“I want to display more items in the table when searching for papers.”
“I want you to create a more accurate table.”
“20 data extractions from PDFs per month is not enough.”
When you feel this way, it’s time to upgrade to Plus.
“I want to use systematic reviews!”
In that case, consider upgrading to the Pro Plan.
Elicit’s Advantages
Integration with Zotero
I am also happy that Elicit can be linked with Zotero.
- Upload the papers you want to read directly from Zotero
- Download the papers you want to save directly from SciSpace search results to Zotero
It’s really helpful to save the hassle of moving PDFs!
Share search history
The search history is automatically saved in the Notebook.
Because that Notebook can be shared with colleagues and co-researchers,
“I’m referring to these papers” “There are papers like this”
The exchange can be done very smoothly.
Extract information from multiple PDFs in chat format
This function is similar to ChatGPT and ChatPDF, but you can select a paper and ask questions about the content in chat format.
It is also possible to select multiple papers at the same time, and it will present a summary of the contents of those papers in response to the question.
Update information is always sent by email
Elicit is constantly being improved.
Even small improvements are shared in detail with explanations and images attached to the registered email address.
Elicit’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.
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!
How to Get Started with Elicit
Starting Elicit is very easy and there are three ways to do it.
- Login with GitHub
- Log in with Google
- Create an account
・Name
・Email address
・Password
Enter and Sign up
How to Upgrade Elicit’s Plan
If you want to upgrade, click “Pricing” in the upper right corner of the start screen.
Select Plus or Pro.
You can save money by choosing Annually (Annual Subscription).
After selecting a plan, proceed to the payment screen.
Alternative Tools / Similar Tools to Elicit
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/）
Consensus (Literature Search)
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
Consensus is an AI specialized in academic literature search and excels at data extraction and analysis.
For example, for research questions that can be answered with Yes or No, a Consensus Meter is displayed.
It shows what positions exist in prior research by categorizing studies into Yes, No, and Possibly, and presenting their proportions.
It allows you to grasp the dominant perspective in the field at a glance.
Another appealing point is that, as long as usage is not frequent, you can access top-quality literature search capabilities for free.
For more details:
Official Site:Consensus（https://consensus.app/search/）
Explanatory Article: Find Scientific Evidence Fast: 3 Powerful Search Tools & Pricing of Consensus AI
Summary of Elicit
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
Let’s maximize Research Efficiency by using AI effectively like this.
Please try the Free Plan first.
Official website: Elicit (https://elicit.com/)
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