Elicit

What is Elicit?

Elicit is an AI research assistant designed to help users find, analyze, and synthesize academic papers at scale. Built by Ought, the tool uses large language models to search peer-reviewed literature, extract key findings, and answer research questions without requiring users to read full papers individually.

The platform allows researchers, students, and professionals to input a research question, which Elicit then uses to search academic databases and retrieve relevant papers. Rather than returning a simple list of citations, it automatically extracts answers, methods, results, and conclusions from papers in a structured format. Users can filter results by publication date, relevance, and field, and the interface displays extracted data in tables that compare findings across multiple studies. This approach significantly accelerates literature review workflows, particularly for systematic reviews and meta-analyses where researchers must process hundreds or thousands of papers. Elicit supports searches across disciplines including medicine, psychology, economics, machine learning, and social sciences.

The freemium pricing model allows limited free searches monthly, with paid subscriptions providing higher usage caps and priority access to new features. The tool integrates with standard academic workflows—users can export results as CSV or import citations into reference managers—and supports batch analysis for researchers processing large paper collections. Elicit does not require institutional access or subscription fees to academic databases; instead, it leverages open-access papers and its own indexed collection. The platform is used by graduate students writing theses, industry researchers conducting competitive analysis, and academic institutions evaluating emerging research areas.

Similar tools in the research automation space include Research Rabbit, which focuses on citation mapping and paper recommendations through interactive networks, and Co