In recent years, the number of scientific publications has grown exponentially, making it very difficult to find fast, reliable sources for research, grant applications, literature reviews and informed decision-making. One of the most innovative solutions in this area is Consensus, an artificial intelligence service that combines classical information retrieval algorithms with the power of generative language models.

What is Consensus?

Consensus is a hybrid platform for searching, analysing and organising scientific literature. Unlike traditional search engines (e.g. Google Scholar or PubMed), Consensus not only provides a list of relevant articles, but also performs a preliminary analysis of the scientific consensus on a given topic and automatically generates structured abstracts based on peer-reviewed publications.

Key options:

– An index of more than 220 million scientific articles (Semantic Scholar, PubMed, OpenAlex, etc.), regularly updated database.

– Hybrid semantic and keyword information retrieval: searches are performed both by keyword and by query relevance.

– Using GPT-4 models to generate short and detailed summaries based on dozens of articles.

– Visualisation of the level of consensus (“for”, “against”, “undecided”) on the research question.

– Quick access to original sources (DOI, PubMed, PDF) and export of links to major bibliography managers, including Zotero.

How the tool works

Question formulation
Formulate your research question in English – in the form of a statement so that the system can classify the answers (“Does remote work improve employee retention?”).

Searching and sorting results
Consensus uses both classical BM25 (keywords) and vector matching (semantic relevance) to search for articles in its database. The most cited and most recent papers appear at the top of the results.

Analysis and summary
In the analysis phase, the tool uses GPT-4 to create a short summary (“Consensus summary”) indicating what the scientific literature says about your question. The Deep Search function is available to subscribers – a structured overview of methods, results and discussions (up to 1000 articles per request).

Consensus visualisation
 The interactive Consensus Meter shows how researchers’ opinions are divided (pro, con and undecided).

Working with sources
Each statement contains direct links to the original publications (DOI, PubMed, etc.), which can be exported to Zotero or another manager.

Integration with Zotero

Of particular value to researchers is that Consensus supports direct export of bibliographic information to Zotero (as well as Mendeley and EndNote):

– With one click, you can add the selected article to your Zotero library, which significantly speeds up the preparation of reading lists.

– The articles you find can be organised into thematic lists directly on the Consensus platform.

– It allows you to quickly summarise, cite and organise your results for scientific papers, coursework, reports or grant applications.

Price and tariffs (July 2025)

Free plan:

– Up to 3 Deep Search requests per month

– 10 detailed analyses (Pro Analysis), 10 Study Snapshots, 10 Ask Paper chats

– Unlimited basic search and bibliography export

Premium:

– $11.99 per month or $8.99 per month if paid for a year

– 100 Deep Search/month, unlimited summaries, extended PDF handling and personalised lists

– Priority of requests

Team plan:

– $12.99/user/month (annual fee), extended features for research collectives: shared folders, collective limits, administration and SSO integration

Special conditions for students and universities:

– 3 months Premium free via university email; separate terms for academic institutions.

Examples for use in scientific work

HR and personnel management
Question: “Does AI-based resume screening reduce hiring bias?”

Consensus generates a summary of current research, shows the level of consensus among authors, and links can be exported to Zotero for further use in reports or publications.

Medicine and healthcare
Question: “Does intermittent fasting improve metabolic health in adults?”

Quick access to dozens of reviews, a consensus chart based on meta-analyses and links to leading studies.

Education and sociology
Question: “Do project-based learning methods increase student motivation in STEM disciplines?”

A systematic overview by country, age group and intervention – all quickly exportable for a literature review.

Logistics, ecology, innovation
Question: “Do predictive maintenance systems in ports reduce downtime and operational costs?”

A structured summary report and quantitative assessment of the level of hypothesis support in the literature.

Methodological limitations

– The entire world scientific corpus is not indexed: some local journals and articles in languages other than English are missing.

– The automatic summaries generated by GPT-4 may omit statistical details, study limitations and design features. It is important to at least read the original annotation or methodology to make decisions.

– For narrower or less researched topics, the answer may be “No consensus”. It is recommended to expand or rephrase the query.

Conclusion

Consensus is a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence tool that significantly reduces the time spent on scientific literature searches and primary analysis, making it easier for both individual researchers and teams. It does not replace critical reading of original articles, but serves as an effective starting point for systematic reviews and evidence-based decision-making. Integration with Zotero allows you to move quickly from search to publication, reporting and application.

We recommend you try the free version, evaluate the relevance of the results to your needs and use the Deep Search and integration features to improve the efficiency of your research work.

If you want to learn how to use Consensus from scratch, our experts are ready to provide individual or group training – for researchers and educational teams. We offer support at all stages of implementing the tool in your research or education projects.

To book a consultation or training workshop, please fill in the form on our website or contact us directly by email or phone.