Elicit
AI research assistant for evidence-based decisions
What is Elicit?
Elicit is an AI-powered research assistant that transforms how scientists, clinicians, and product teams navigate academic literature. Instead of endless scrolling through Google Scholar, Elicit lets you ask complex research questions and receive synthesized, structured answers drawn from over 138 million scholarly papers and 545,000 clinical trials. It's purpose-built for evidence synthesis, automating systematic literature reviews that typically take months by handling screening, data extraction, and report generation in a fraction of the time. Users report cutting review time by up to 80 percent. The platform goes beyond simple search. Its AI generates research briefs inspired by systematic-review methodology, complete with citation-backed answers and customizable sections. Researchers can build personal source libraries, set up real-time alerts for new publications, and deploy Research Agents to automate competitive landscape analysis. The result is a comprehensive research co-pilot that prioritizes rigor and reproducibility. Elicit serves a broad range of industries. Pharmaceutical researchers validate drug targets and design clinical trials. Academics accelerate grant proposals and thesis work. Policy teams draft evidence-based documents. Even consumer goods companies use it for material science research and product benchmarking. The free tier offers unlimited semantic search and summaries, with two automated reports per month. Power users upgrade to Pro ($49/user/month) for extended workflows, or Scale ($169/user/month) for team collaboration and figure extraction. Enterprise plans include custom integrations, SSO/SAML, and dedicated support. If your work demands rigorous, evidence-backed decisions, Elicit is a game-changer.
How to Use Elicit
Getting started with Elicit is straightforward, whether you're conducting a systematic review, scoping literature for a grant proposal, or monitoring new research in your field. Follow these steps to leverage Elicit's powerful research capabilities and accelerate your evidence synthesis workflow.
Sign up and define your research question
Create a free Elicit account at elicit.com. Start by clearly defining your research question or topic of interest. Elicit works best with specific, well-framed questions that it can break down into searchable concepts for semantic retrieval. You can refine your question as you explore the results.
Search the scholarly database
Enter your research question into Elicit's search bar. The AI performs semantic search across 138M+ papers and 545K+ clinical trials, ranking results by relevance rather than just keywords. Use filters to narrow by publication date, study type, or methodology. You can also use keyword-search mode to query PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov simultaneously.
Generate a structured research report
Select the most relevant papers and click 'Generate Report.' Elicit creates a structured research brief with sections like Background, Findings, and Limitations, complete with citation-backed answers. You can customize sections, choose citation styles, include up to 80 papers per report, and use multiple output templates.
Customize and export your findings
Refine your report by editing multi-column tables (up to 30 columns on Scale), extracting data from papers, and adjusting content. Export the final document in your preferred format. Set up real-time alerts to track new publications, and deploy Research Agents to automate ongoing landscape analysis and competitive monitoring.
Elicit Core Features
Elicit Use Cases
- 1Pharmaceutical research: Rapidly scope literature for drug target validation, clinical trial design, and safety assessments. Elicit helps teams screen thousands of papers in hours instead of weeks, accelerating the path from discovery to clinical testing.
- 2Academic research: Conduct systematic reviews, build grant proposal backgrounds, and complete thesis literature surveys with structured, auditable workflows. The PRISMA-2020 compliant pipeline ensures rigor and reproducibility for peer-reviewed publications.
- 3Medical device and technology: Gather safety and efficacy evidence for regulatory submissions and product clearances. Elicit's semantic search and extraction tools help teams compile comprehensive evidence dossiers for FDA or CE marking.
- 4Policy and government: Draft evidence-based policies and health-technology assessments by synthesizing large volumes of academic literature. Teams can trace every claim back to its source, ensuring transparency and defensibility.
- 5Consumer goods and industrials: Research material science innovations, benchmark product performance, and explore emerging technologies. Elicit's Research Agents continuously monitor new publications so teams stay ahead of market trends.
Pros and Cons of Elicit
Pros
- Massive, up-to-date scholarly database with semantic search across 138M+ papers and 545K+ clinical trials, ensuring comprehensive coverage across scientific disciplines
- Significant time savings for systematic reviews with users reporting up to 80% reduction in review time through automated screening, extraction, and report generation
- High accuracy and citation transparency with sentence-level source attribution, making every claim verifiable and appropriate for regulatory or academic use
- Rich customization options including flexible report templates, multi-column tables, and collaborative team workspaces that adapt to diverse research workflows
✕ Cons
- Free tier limited to 2 automated reports per month, forcing heavier users to upgrade to paid plans starting at $49/user/month which can be costly for individual researchers
- Advanced capabilities like figure extraction, large-scale paper screening, and admin controls are locked behind higher-priced Scale and Enterprise tiers
- Steep learning curve to master multi-step workflows, customization options, and Research Agent configuration, requiring time investment to fully leverage the platform
Elicit vs Top Alternatives
| Feature | Semantic Scholar | Scite.ai | Perplexity AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semantic search scope | Indexes 200M+ papers with AI-powered recommendations | 200M+ papers with citation context analysis | Web search plus limited academic paper access |
| Automated report generation | No automated report generation or synthesis | Smart citation reports and reference checks | AI-generated answers with inline citations |
| Systematic review workflow | Citation graph and influence metrics only | Limited systematic review assistance | No dedicated systematic review workflow |
| Real-time collaboration | No real-time team collaboration features | Basic sharing and team features | Collaborative spaces for team research |
Elicit Pricing
Basic
- Unlimited search and summaries
- 2 automated reports per month
- Limited Research Agent
- Import from Zotero
- View source papers
Pro
- Extended Research Agent
- Systematic review workflow (screen 5k papers)
- 144 reports per year
- 20-column tables
- 135 data-source extractions
- 10 personalized alerts
- API access
- AI answer explanations
- Multiple report templates
Scale
- Full Research Agent
- Figure extraction from papers
- Real-time team collaboration
- 240 reports per year
- 200 data-source extractions
- 30-column tables
- Admin panel
- Seat management
Enterprise
- Unlimited alerts
- Screen up to 40k papers
- 40-column tables
- PRISMA-grade accuracy
- SSO/SAML authentication
- Two-factor authentication
- Domain verification
- Dedicated success team
- Custom data-source integration
- Unlimited API access
- Optional single-tenant deployment
Elicit FAQ
What is Elicit?+
How much does Elicit cost?+
Does Elicit have a free tier?+
How many papers does Elicit index?+
Can Elicit help with systematic reviews?+
What industries use Elicit?+
Does Elicit offer API access?+
Elicit Review — Editor's Score
Who Should Use Elicit?
Ideal for academic researchers, pharmaceutical scientists, policy analysts, medical professionals, and product teams who regularly conduct literature reviews, systematic reviews, or evidence synthesis and need to save time without compromising on accuracy or traceability.
Elicit is a powerful AI research assistant that delivers genuine time savings for evidence synthesis. While it has a learning curve and premium tiers are pricey, the depth of its scholarly database and automation capabilities make it a standout tool for researchers who need rigorous, reproducible literature reviews. It's not for casual browsing, but for serious academic or industry research, it's a game-changer.
- Semantic search across 138M+ papers and 545K+ clinical trials
- Automated systematic reviews with up to 80% time savings
- PRISMA-2020 compliant workflows for auditable research
- Generous free tier with unlimited search and summaries
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📺 Elicit Tutorials & Introduction
Elicit AI Can Now Do Your Entire Systematic Review (In Minutes)
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