Elicit

What is Elicit?

Elicit is an AI research tool designed to help researchers search academic literature, summarize findings, extract data, and generate structured research reports. Its core purpose is to support evidence gathering and synthesis across literature review workflows, from initial question to organized outputs.

Instead of treating research as a single chat session, Elicit emphasizes report-style work: it can search through large numbers of papers and trials, then produce structured briefs with citations drawn from underlying sources.

Key Features

• Semantic search across large research collections: Elicit can search over 138 million academic papers and 545,000 clinical trials, using semantic search so users don’t need to know all the right keywords.
• Research report generation with citations: Elicit generates research briefs based on a process inspired by systematic reviews, and supports evidence traceability using sentence-level citations from underlying sources.
• Deep customization for report content: Elicit Reports can be customized so users can change which papers are included and what information is covered.
• Systematic review workflow support: Elicit can automate parts of systematic reviews, including screening and data extraction, while partially supporting search and report generation.
• Interactive research outputs beyond chat: Elicit supports rich, interactive tables and multi-step workflows for organizing and working with extracted information.
• Source library for reuse: Elicit includes a library to store and organize sources so they can be reused across future projects.
• Alerts for ongoing literature monitoring: Elicit Alerts help users stay on top of new research without relying solely on a crowded inbox.

How to Use Elicit

1. Start with a research question: enter the topic or question you want to answer.
2. Run a search: use Elicit’s semantic search to find relevant papers and (where applicable) clinical trials.
3. Generate a structured report: create a research brief that summarizes what the literature says, with citations tied to the underlying sources.
4. Customize the report: adjust which papers are covered and which information is included.
5. Work with outputs: use interactive tables and follow the multi-step workflow to review extracted information.
6. Save and monitor: store sources in the library for later reuse and set up alerts to track newly evolving research.

Use Cases

• Quick literature scoping for a new question: when you need an initial understanding of what science already knows, you can search broadly and produce a structured report to guide next steps.
• Building a systematic review workflow: if you are conducting a systematic review, you can use Elicit to automate screening and data extraction while still supporting parts of search and report generation.
• Producing customized research briefs for internal teams: teams can tailor reports by selecting which papers to include and what information to extract, producing consistent outputs for stakeholders.
• Data extraction for comparative analysis: you can use Elicit’s interactive tables and workflow steps to extract and organize information from multiple sources for analysis.
• Ongoing monitoring as evidence changes: set up Elicit Alerts to track new publications related to your topic over time, and keep relevant sources in the library for future updates.

FAQ

How does Elicit support evidence traceability? Elicit supports AI-generated claims with sentence-level citations from the underlying sources.

What can Elicit search? Elicit can search over 138 million academic papers and 545,000 clinical trials, with additional data sources coming soon (as stated on the page).

Can I control what goes into a generated report? Yes. Elicit Reports can be deeply customized, including changing which papers are covered and what information the report includes.

Is Elicit only for chat-style question answering? No. The page states Elicit goes beyond chat by providing interactive tables and multi-step workflows that fit structured research tasks.

Does Elicit help with systematic reviews? It can automate screening and data extraction of systematic reviews, with partial support for search and report generation.

Alternatives

• General-purpose academic search engines (keyword-based): These can help you locate papers, but they typically don’t generate structured, citation-backed research briefs or automate screening/data extraction in the same way.
• Tools for systematic review management and screening: These are often used to organize screening workflows and extraction, but may not provide the same end-to-end report generation with sentence-level citations described for Elicit.
• Research knowledge-base and citation management tools: These help store and organize sources, but they don’t necessarily provide semantic search at the scale described or the structured report generation workflow.
• AI literature summarization tools (chat-focused): Chat-based summarizers can provide quick overviews, but they may not support the structured, report-style outputs with interactive tables and customization referenced on Elicit’s page.