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Elicit Review
AIHQ SCORE
8.8/ 10
Elicit is an AI research assistant specifically designed for academic researchers, automating literature review by finding relevant papers, extracting key information, and synthesizing findings across studies. Using language models trained on academic literature, it helps researchers discover papers, understand methodologies, and identify research gaps efficiently. Best for PhD students, academic researchers, and anyone conducting systematic literature reviews.
8.8
AIQ SCORE™
Quick Summary
Elicit automates research workflows by finding relevant papers, extracting data into organized tables, and synthesizing information across studies—all tasks that typically consume hours of manual work. Trained specifically on academic literature, it understands research methodologies, study designs, and academic conventions better than general AI tools. The free tier offers 5,000 one-time credits; Plus ($10/month) provides 12,000 monthly credits for serious researchers.
- Best For: Academic researchers, PhD students, systematic reviews
- Pricing: Free (5,000 credits once), $10/month (12,000/month), $42/month (50,000/month)
- Free Tier: Yes, 5,000 one-time credits
- Database: 125+ million academic papers
- Special Feature: Automated data extraction into tables
✓ Pros
- Specifically trained on academic literature
- Automated data extraction into tables
- Searches 125+ million papers
- Understands research methodologies
- Consistent extraction across studies
- Export results for further analysis
- Saves weeks of manual literature review time
✗ Cons
- Free tier limited to 5,000 one-time credits
- Credit system can feel restrictive
- May miss paywalled paper content
- Occasional extraction inaccuracies
- Better for quantitative than qualitative research
- Expensive for extensive research projects
What is Elicit?
Elicit is an AI-powered research assistant built specifically for academic literature review and research synthesis. Unlike general AI tools, Elicit is trained on academic papers and understands research methodologies, statistical concepts, and scientific conventions, making it uniquely effective for scholarly work.
The platform searches across 125+ million academic papers, identifying relevant studies based on research questions. Elicit then extracts key information—methodology, sample size, findings, limitations—and organizes it into structured tables that researchers can export and analyze. This automation transforms literature review from a weeks-long process into hours.
Elicit excels at systematic reviews and meta-analyses where researchers must process dozens or hundreds of papers. It can identify studies by methodology, extract specific data points consistently across papers, and synthesize findings across multiple studies. This consistency and thoroughness make Elicit particularly valuable for rigorous academic research requiring comprehensive literature coverage.
What sets Elicit apart is its academic specialization—trained specifically on research papers, it understands study designs, statistical methods, and research conventions better than general AI tools. The automated extraction of structured data from papers saves researchers countless hours of manual work during literature reviews.
Best Use Cases for Elicit
Elicit excels at automating systematic literature review for academic researchers. The platform’s strength lies in finding relevant papers, extracting key data, and organizing findings at scale. Here are Elicit’s primary use cases:
1. Systematic Literature Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Conduct comprehensive literature reviews by automatically finding relevant papers and extracting key information into organized tables. Elicit identifies studies by methodology, population, intervention, or outcome, ensuring thorough coverage of relevant research. PhD students and researchers use Elicit to process 50-100+ papers for systematic reviews, reducing weeks of manual work to days while improving thoroughness and consistency.
2. Finding Relevant Papers & Research Gaps
Discover papers relevant to your research question that keyword searches might miss. Elicit understands conceptual relationships and finds papers based on meaning rather than exact keyword matches. Researchers use Elicit at the beginning of projects to map the existing literature landscape, identify research gaps, and ensure they’re building on the most relevant prior work.
3. Understanding Research Methods & Study Design
Extract methodological details across multiple studies to understand common approaches, sample sizes, and analytical techniques in your field. Elicit helps researchers learn from prior studies’ methodologies, identify methodological trends, and make informed decisions about their own research design. Graduate students use Elicit to understand how experienced researchers approach similar questions.
4. Synthesizing Findings Across Studies
Compare findings, effect sizes, and conclusions across multiple studies to identify patterns and inconsistencies. Elicit organizes extracted information to make cross-study comparison effortless. Meta-analysts use Elicit to ensure consistent data extraction across studies, reducing bias and improving the reliability of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Limitations & Accuracy
Elicit’s accuracy depends on the quality and accessibility of papers in its database. Paywalled papers may only show abstracts, limiting information extraction. Some highly specialized or recent papers may not be indexed yet. Additionally, Elicit’s AI extraction, while sophisticated, occasionally misses nuances or misinterprets complex methodological details—critical information should always be verified against original papers.
The credit system can feel restrictive, especially for researchers conducting large systematic reviews. The free tier’s 5,000 one-time credits exhaust quickly for comprehensive literature reviews, necessitating paid subscription. Even the Plus plan’s 12,000 monthly credits may not suffice for extensive research projects, potentially requiring the Pro plan ($42/month) which may stretch academic budgets.
Elicit works best with quantitative research and may struggle with qualitative studies, theoretical papers, or highly interdisciplinary work that doesn’t fit standard research frameworks. Researchers in humanities, arts, or emerging interdisciplinary fields may find Elicit less useful than researchers in established scientific disciplines with standardized methodologies.
Elicit Pricing & Plans
Basic
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5,000 one-time credits
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Search papers
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Extract data
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Organize findings
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Export results
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All core features
Plus
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12,000 credits/month
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Everything in Basic
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Priority support
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Advanced extraction
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Collaboration features
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Export to citation managers
Pro
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Everything in Plus
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50,000 credits/month
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Batch processing
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Priority processing
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API access
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Dedicated support
Frequently Asked Questions
How many papers can I analyze with my credits?
Credit usage varies by task—simple searches cost fewer credits than detailed data extraction. As a rough estimate, Plus plan (12,000 credits) might process 40-60 papers with full extraction, while Basic (5,000 one-time) might handle 15-25 papers. For systematic reviews requiring 100+ papers, the Pro plan or careful credit management becomes necessary.
Can Elicit access paywalled papers?
Elicit can find paywalled papers but typically only accesses publicly available abstracts unless you have institutional access. Connect your university credentials to access papers through your institution’s subscriptions. Without access, Elicit provides limited information from abstracts only, which may not suffice for detailed data extraction.
How accurate is Elicit's data extraction?
Elicit’s extraction is generally reliable but not perfect. It excels at standard information like sample sizes, methodologies, and clearly stated findings. Complex or ambiguous information may be extracted incorrectly or incompletely. Best practice: use Elicit for initial screening and data organization, then verify critical information by reviewing original papers directly.
Can I collaborate with team members on Elicit?
Plus and Pro plans include collaboration features allowing teams to share searches, extracted data, and findings. This makes Elicit valuable for research teams conducting joint literature reviews or multi-investigator studies. However, each user needs their own subscription—team pricing isn’t currently available for academic users.
Does Elicit replace manual literature review?
Elicit accelerates and automates much of literature review but doesn’t eliminate the need for human judgment and expertise. Use it to find papers, extract initial data, and organize information—but researchers still need to read key papers thoroughly, assess quality, and synthesize findings with domain expertise. Think of Elicit as a highly efficient research assistant, not a replacement for scholarly work.
