Why it matters
- Searches 125M+ scientific papers — one of the largest academic databases for AI-powered literature search.
- Structured data extraction across papers in a table format accelerates systematic reviews from weeks to hours.
- Non-LLM primary answer generation: findings are extracted from actual papers, not AI-generated summaries from training data.
- 2M+ users across academia validates it as the leading AI tool for scientific research workflows.
Key capabilities
- Paper search: Find relevant papers from 125M+ academic papers database by research question.
- Relevance ranking: AI ranks papers by relevance to your specific research question.
- Structured extraction: Extract study characteristics (design, sample size, population, outcomes) into tables.
- Paper summaries: AI-generated summaries of individual papers with key claims highlighted.
- Multi-paper synthesis: Compare findings across multiple papers side-by-side.
- Citation export: Export found papers to citation managers (Zotero, Mendeley, RIS format).
- PDF upload: Analyze papers not in the database by uploading PDFs (paid plans).
- Boolean search: Advanced search with AND/OR/NOT operators for precise literature scoping.
Technical notes
- Database: 125M+ academic papers (Semantic Scholar corpus + additional sources)
- Paper types: Peer-reviewed journals, preprints (arXiv, bioRxiv), conference papers
- Extraction: LLM-powered field extraction from paper abstracts and full text
- Export: CSV, BibTeX, RIS citation formats
- PDF support: Upload and analyze custom PDFs (paid plans)
- Pricing: Free (limited queries); Plus ~$12/mo; Professional ~$50/mo
- Company: Elicit; Berkeley, CA; non-profit-adjacent research focus; founded 2021
Ideal for
- Graduate students and researchers conducting systematic literature reviews who need to process dozens of papers.
- Scientists exploring a new research area who need to quickly understand existing evidence.
- Healthcare and policy researchers needing structured evidence synthesis across multiple studies.
Not ideal for
- Real-time news or business research — Elicit is focused on peer-reviewed academic literature.
- Non-academic topics without scientific paper literature (product reviews, business analysis).
- Users who need full-text access — Elicit shows abstracts and extracted data but accessing full papers requires institutional access or open access.
See also
- Consensus — Similar AI paper search with a consensus score for research questions.
- SciSpace — AI research tool with PDF reader and in-paper Q&A.
- Semantic Scholar — Free academic paper search engine with basic AI features.