Elicit

What Is Elicit?

Elicit is an AI-powered research assistant that helps scientists, students, and analysts find and analyze academic papers. Unlike traditional search engines like Google Scholar that rely on keyword matching, Elicit uses semantic search across a database of over 138 million academic papers to find relevant research even when exact keywords don't match.

Built by a team of researchers and engineers, Elicit was designed to automate the most time-consuming parts of literature review: finding relevant papers, extracting key data points, and synthesizing findings across multiple studies.

How Elicit Works

Semantic Paper Discovery When you enter a research question, Elicit doesn't just search for keywords — it understands the meaning behind your query. Ask "Does mindfulness meditation reduce anxiety?" and Elicit will find papers about meditation's effects on anxiety disorders, stress reduction techniques, and related mental health interventions, even if they don't use those exact words.

Automated Data Extraction Once you've found relevant papers, Elicit can automatically extract specific data points from each one: sample sizes, methodologies, key findings, statistical results, and more. This turns hours of manual reading into minutes of automated extraction.

Systematic Review Workflow Elicit's Systematic Review feature guides you through the entire process of conducting a rigorous literature review. It helps you define inclusion/exclusion criteria, screen papers, extract data consistently, and identify gaps in the existing research.

Research Reports The Research Reports feature synthesizes findings across multiple papers into a coherent summary, highlighting areas of consensus, disagreement, and uncertainty. It's like having a research assistant who has read all the papers and can give you an overview.

Key Features

• 138M+ Paper Database — One of the largest academic paper databases available, covering all major disciplines
• Semantic Search — Find relevant research even without exact keyword matches
• Data Extraction — Automatically pull specific data points from papers
• Systematic Reviews — Guided workflow for rigorous literature reviews
• Research Reports — AI-synthesized summaries across multiple studies
• Citation Management — Export citations in multiple formats
• Collaboration — Share projects and findings with team members

Elicit Pricing

| Plan | Price | Key Features | |------|-------|-------------| | Free | $0/mo | 2 research reports/month, basic search, limited extractions | | Plus | $12/mo | Unlimited search, 25 research reports/month, priority processing | | Pro | $42/mo | Everything in Plus, unlimited reports, API access, advanced extraction | | Enterprise | Custom | Team management, SSO, custom integrations, dedicated support |

The free plan is sufficient for occasional research needs, but serious researchers will benefit from Plus or Pro for the unlimited search and expanded report capabilities.

Who Is Elicit For?

• Academic Researchers — Speed up literature reviews, find overlooked studies, extract data systematically
• Graduate Students — Navigate large bodies of research for theses and dissertations
• Research Analysts — Compile evidence-based reports and market research
• Medical Professionals — Stay current with clinical research and systematic reviews
• Policy Researchers — Synthesize evidence for policy recommendations

Elicit vs Alternatives

Elicit vs Google Scholar: Google Scholar is broader but keyword-based. Elicit offers semantic search, automatic data extraction, and synthesis — features Google Scholar lacks entirely.

Elicit vs Consensus: Both use semantic search, but Elicit focuses on systematic review workflows and data extraction, while Consensus specializes in finding scientific consensus on specific questions.

Elicit vs Semantic Scholar: Semantic Scholar (by AI2) offers a free API and citation graph analysis. Elicit provides more hands-on research workflow tools and automated extraction.

Getting Started

1. Sign up at elicit.com with a free account 2. Enter your research question in natural language 3. Review the papers Elicit finds and refine your search 4. Use data extraction to pull key findings from selected papers 5. Generate a Research Report to synthesize findings

Elicit works best when you have a specific research question rather than a broad topic. The more focused your question, the more relevant and useful the results.