Elicit

What is Elicit?

Elicit is an AI research assistant specifically developed for searching and analyzing scientific literature. The tool connects to databases of tens of millions of academic papers and helps you quickly find relevant studies based on a research question. Instead of endlessly screening abstracts, you get a structured summary of the key findings, the methodology used and the limitations for each paper found.

How does Elicit work?

Elicit runs on large language models trained on scientific text. As a result, the AI understands academic jargon and recognizes field-specific concepts across disciplines, from medicine and psychology to economics and engineering. Instead of simple keyword searches, the tool uses semantic search, so papers that use different terminology for the same concept are also found.

After searching comes the real added value: an AI extraction layer automatically pulls specific data points from papers, such as sample size, p-values and measurement instruments used. The result is presented in a clear table, comparable to a manually compiled extraction table in a systematic review.

Key features

• Automatic summaries — a structured overview of findings, method and limitations per paper.
• Compare claims — place statements from multiple studies side by side to see where research agrees or diverges.
• Semantic search — find relevant studies by meaning, not just keywords.
• Data point extraction — automated retrieval of concrete values such as sample size and p-values.
• Anchored sources — answers are linked to real, verifiable papers.

Use cases and alternatives

Elicit is ideal for conducting a systematic literature review, quickly getting up to speed in a new field, or checking whether a particular claim is supported by empirical evidence. A traditional review easily takes weeks; Elicit compresses that into hours. Unlike Google Scholar, which only shows links and abstracts, Elicit delivers a processed, structured analysis. And unlike general chatbots such as ChatGPT, it is anchored to existing papers, which strongly reduces the risk of hallucinations.

Who is it for?

Elicit targets academics, researchers, science journalists and students writing a master's thesis or doctoral research. Anyone who spends a lot of time on literature research can use Elicit to spend less time screening and more on substantive analysis.