Literature search with AI

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an AI-based Large Language Model (LLM) that communicates through text-based input (prompts) and responds in natural language. With its ability to understand the context of a conversation, it can respond accurately to follow-up questions or clarifications.

Use case:

• Supporting literature research by identifying relevant search terms, their synonyms, related terms and translations
• Summarising texts
• Translation of texts

Cost/payment model: Free basic version, registration required

Semantic Scholar

Semantic Scholar is a traditional search engine with AI enhancements. Its database includes articles from publishers, data providers and web crawls. The added value for literature research lies in the content processing of the articles.

Use case:

• Searching for articles on a specific topic
• In-depth analysis of individual articles (Ask this paper, limited skimming support in the Semantic Reader)
• Citation analysis (highly influential citations, citation types)

Cost/payment model: Free, no registration required (but possible for personalised work)

Consensus

Consensus is a search engine that uses the most relevant scientific articles to answer questions. It is particularly useful for decision making based on scientific evidence and provides a detailed summary along with references or links to the cited publications.

Use case:

• Answering scientific questions and summarising scientific topics through analysis, including references
• Searching for articles on a specific topic using various filters (peer review, study types, etc.)
• In-depth analysis of individual articles using AI (Ask this paper, Key takeaway, Study snapshots)

Cost/payment model: Free basic version (limited AI credits per month), registration required

Elicit

Elicit is an AI-powered research assistant that assists with literature searches and provides systematic overviews. As the database is formed by Semantic Scholar, Elicit covers all academic disciplines in principle, but is particularly well-suited to empirical-quantitative subject areas such as medicine, the life sciences, and the social sciences. Elicit summarises key findings and extracts structured data.

Use case:

• Searching for articles
• Answering scientific questions, including source references
• Extracting data from articles (e.g. experimental results) and presenting it in clear research matrices

Cost/payment model: Free basic version with unlimited searches, summaries and chats for up to four papers simultaneously, as well as data extraction from 20 PDFs per month, registration required

Research Rabbit

Research Rabbit allows users to find similar publications based on one or more scientific articles. This tool is suitable for exploratory, advanced literature searches. The relationships between individual articles or authors are displayed graphically.

Use case:

• Exploratory search for scientific articles to complement a (systematic) search.

Cost/payment model: Free, registration required

Connected Papers

Connected Papers is suitable for searching for scientific articles and, like Research Rabbit, is a literature mapping tool that visually represents the relationships between individual articles.

Use case:

• Exploratory search for scientific articles to complement

Cost/payment model: Free basic version available without registration (limited number of graphs per month, which increases with registration)