What Is Consensus?
Consensus is an AI academic search engine and research workspace focused on scientific and scholarly literature. Unlike a general chatbot that can answer from broad internet knowledge, Consensus is designed to retrieve research papers first and then synthesize what those studies say.
This research first approach is useful when users need evidence backed answers, literature review support, medical research context or a fast overview of a scientific question. Search results remain connected to the papers behind them, making it easier to inspect evidence instead of accepting an uncited response.
Natural Language Search For Academic Evidence
Consensus accepts natural language questions, keywords and more structured searches. Researchers can refine results with filters and explore paper level summaries. For yes or no style research questions, Consensus can surface evidence patterns that make it easier to see how the literature leans while still allowing users to open the source papers.
Designed For Literature Discovery And Synthesis
The platform is useful at the beginning of a literature review when researchers need to identify relevant papers, refine terminology and understand major findings. Deeper search features can expand the number of papers analyzed and produce a more structured evidence synthesis for difficult topics.
Who Is Consensus Best For?
- Students searching for credible academic evidence
- Researchers exploring a new topic or refining a literature review
- Clinicians looking for research backed summaries with linked papers
- Writers who need scientific sources behind claims
- Professionals who want a research focused alternative to general web search
Key features
Academic search across scientific and scholarly papers; natural-language research questions; AI synthesis of evidence from relevant papers; linked citations to underlying research; advanced filters by publication and study characteristics; deep search for complex research questions; individual paper analysis and key findings; research library for saving papers; institution access for research organizations and universities
Use cases
Searching academic literature; supporting literature reviews; exploring medical research; finding evidence for writing; exploring research questions; discovering research papers; fact-checking scientific claims; summarizing research findings
How to use
How To Use Consensus
- Open Consensus Search: Start from the Consensus search interface. You can begin with a topic even before building a detailed academic query.
- Ask A Research Focused Question: Use a clear natural language question, keywords, a Boolean query or a paper title. Questions that could realistically be answered by scholarly research work best.
- Review The AI Synthesis: Read the generated summary to understand the main direction of the evidence.
- Inspect The Cited Papers: Open the papers behind important statements and check study details before using a conclusion in serious academic or professional work.
- Apply Advanced Filters: Refine the literature by factors such as publication year, study design or other available research filters.
- Use Deeper Search When Needed: Switch to a deeper research mode for questions that need broader paper coverage and more detailed synthesis.
- Save Useful Research: Add important papers or searches to your account library so they can be revisited during writing or review work.
- Continue With A More Specific Query: Use insights from the first search to narrow terminology, compare populations or focus on a stronger research question.
Best for
Researchers, Students, Clinicians, Writers, Evidence Seekers
Integrations
Institution Library Access | Organization API | Research Library
Commercial use
For professional and research use, subject to Consensus terms and publisher access rights.
