Complete guide to Consensus

Getting started

Go to consensus.app and create a free account. Type a research question in natural language (for example, "does exercise improve memory in older adults?") and Consensus will search over 220 million academic papers to show you the most relevant studies. The Consensus Meter visually summarizes whether the evidence points to yes, no, or mixed results, based on the 20 most-cited and best-designed studies on the topic.

Use cases

Advanced setup

1. Enable Medical Mode
   In the search mode selector, turn on Medical Mode to limit results to clinical guidelines and leading medical journals.
2. Set up Deep Search
   Available on the Pro/Deep plan, it lets you run an automated search across hundreds of papers for extensive literature review work.
3. Apply discounts
   Check Billing to see if you qualify for the 40% student discount or the 25% clinician discount before subscribing to the Pro plan.
4. Save searches and collections
   Organize relevant papers into topic-based collections so you can pick your research back up later without losing track.

Tips

• Phrase your research question in binary form (yes/no/depends) so the Consensus Meter is more precise and useful.
• Combine Consensus with Elicit or Semantic Scholar: Consensus gives a quick view of the consensus, the others allow deeper data extraction.
• Take advantage of the free plan for occasional queries before paying for Pro, especially if you don't research daily.
• Use Medical Mode if you work in health sciences to avoid noise from low-quality or non-peer-reviewed studies.

FAQ