# Elicit

> AI research assistant that searches academic papers and clinical trials, extracts data and writes cited reports.

Elicit is an AI research assistant for scientific literature. Elicit takes a research question, searches more than 138 million papers and 545,000 clinical trials, extracts findings into tables and produces reports in which each claim is cited to a sentence in its source. A free Basic plan is available, with paid tiers for heavier use.

**Best for:** Researchers and R&D teams who run literature or systematic reviews and need cited, traceable evidence synthesis.

- Official site: https://elicit.com
- Listed in: [Research & AI Search](https://trendhub.net/ai-tools/category/research-tools), [Academic & Essay Writing](https://trendhub.net/ai-tools/category/academic-writing), [Summarizer](https://trendhub.net/ai-tools/category/summarizer)
- Last checked: 2026-10-09 (facts taken from elicit.com)
- Source page: https://trendhub.net/ai-tools/elicit-ai-research-assistant-scientific-papers

## Key facts

- Platforms: Web, API, MCP
- Pricing model: Freemium
- Free plan: Yes
- API: Yes
- Made by: Elicit

## What is Elicit?

Elicit is an AI research assistant built for working with scientific literature. Its semantic search covers more than 138 million academic papers and about 545,000 clinical trials, so relevant studies can be found without knowing the exact keywords. From the results, Elicit extracts data into interactive tables, summarises papers and lets users chat with full texts, and every generated claim is backed by sentence-level citations to the source. Research Reports produce a brief modelled on the systematic review process and can be customised by changing which papers and fields are included. A dedicated workflow automates the screening and data extraction stages of systematic reviews. The Research Agent gathers evidence across databases, journals, public data and uploaded documents and returns cited reports, tables, figures and slides. A Library stores sources for reuse, Routines keep work updated as new research appears, and an API and MCP server are available.

## Key features

- **Semantic Paper Search**: Searches over 138 million papers and roughly 545,000 clinical trials by meaning rather than exact keywords.
- **Research Reports**: Generates a cited research brief whose included papers and extracted fields can be edited.
- **Systematic Review Workflow**: Automates paper screening and data extraction for systematic reviews, with partial support for search and reporting.
- **Research Agent**: Collects evidence from scientific databases, public data and uploaded files and produces cited tables, figures and slides.
- **Sentence-Level Citations**: Links each AI-generated statement to the exact passage in the underlying paper.
- **Library and Routines**: Keeps sources organised for later projects and re-runs research to pick up newly published work.

## Use cases

- **Literature Reviews**: Find and summarise the existing studies on a research question.
- **Systematic Review Screening**: Screen thousands of abstracts against inclusion criteria and extract data points.
- **Evidence for Drug Development**: Assess how a condition has been defined across clinical trials and prior literature.
- **Policy Briefs**: Compile cited evidence to support a policy decision.
- **Keeping a Review Current**: Schedule a routine that reports new papers relevant to ongoing work.

## Things to know

- **Usage pool varies by plan**: Research Agent, Research Reports and systematic review usage is limited on Basic and scales up on each paid tier.
- **Exports need a paid plan**: Exporting results as DOCX, PDF, BIB, CSV or RIS files starts with the Plus plan.
- **Systematic reviews are partly automated**: Elicit automates screening and extraction but only partially supports the search and report stages of a systematic review.
- **Enterprise data handling**: The Enterprise plan lists no training on customer data by default, plus SSO and custom deployment options.

## FAQs

### What is Elicit?

Elicit is an AI research assistant that searches scientific papers and clinical trials, extracts data from them and generates cited reports.

### What is Elicit used for?

Elicit is used for literature reviews, systematic reviews, evidence synthesis and research reports in fields such as pharma, academia, medtech and policy.

### Is Elicit free?

Yes. Elicit has a free Basic plan with unlimited paper search, summaries and chat with papers, and limited use of the Research Agent and Research Reports.

### How much does Elicit cost?

Elicit offers Basic, Plus, Pro, Scale and Enterprise plans with monthly or yearly billing per user. For current figures, see the official pricing page.

### What data sources does Elicit search?

Elicit searches more than 138 million academic papers and about 545,000 clinical trials, and its Research Agent can also use public data sources and uploaded documents.

### Does Elicit have an API?

Yes. Elicit provides an API and an MCP server; API access is listed from the Pro plan upward.

### Does Elicit cite its sources?

Yes. Every claim Elicit generates is tied to a citation that points at a specific sentence in the source paper.

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Source: https://trendhub.net/ai-tools/elicit-ai-research-assistant-scientific-papers (trendhub)