How it Works & Consensus FAQ’s

What is Consensus?

Consensus is an academic search engine, powered by AI, but grounded in scientific research. We use language models (LLMs) and purpose-built search technology (Vector search) to surface the most relevant papers. We synthesize both topic-level and paper-level insights. Everything is connected to real research papers.

 

Consensus Search Scope

200M+ Research Papers

The current source material used in Consensus comes from the Semantic Scholar database, which includes over 200M papers across all domains of science. We continue to add more data over time and our dataset is updated monthly.

For example:

 

GUIDELINES

Best Practices for Search Queries

When you input a question or a phrase (i.e. the benefits of mindfulness), we then run a custom fine-tuned language model that generates a question-relevant conclusion based on the user query and the abstract of the given paper. For every other type of search, we use the Key Takeaway that we extracted already.

How should I format my search query?

Start with simple searches like “Avocados” or “Cancer.” To compare concepts, try “Magnesium & Sleep. For more tips, check out: How to Search.

How to explore connections between concepts?

See how two concepts relate to each other:

How to include an instruction for Pro Analysis in a search?

Add an instruction for Pro Analysis with your search:

 

PROCESS

Consensus Search Mechanics

We run a custom fine-tuned language model over our entire corpus of research papers and extract the Key Takeaway from every paper. We then remove things like ‘what’, ‘is’, and ‘are’ from the query and run a combination of keyword search + Vector search over the abstract and title of all our papers. This gives us a very intelligent measure of the relevance of a research paper to your query.

How are results & their relevance determined?

This relevance score is then combined with many other pieces of metadata including but not limited to citation count, velocity of citations, study design, and publish date to re-rank the results and produce a top 20 possible results to surface.

How can I use the Pro Analysis?

Pro Analysis brings ChatGPT-type functionality to Consensus. Along with your search, you can have Pro Analysis answer questions, draft content, create lists, and more. Just tell Pro Analysis what to do along with your query. Unlike generative LLMs like ChatGPT, Pro Analysis is connected to the science. Each number refers to the research paper that the information is drawn from. Click on the number in Pro Analysis and you’ll drop down to the research paper (also with that number) on your results page.

How are question-type search queries answered?

When you input a question or a phrase (i.e. the benefits of mindfulness), we then run a custom fine-tuned language model that generates a question-relevant conclusion based on the user query and the abstract of the given paper. For every other type of search, we use the Key Takeaway that we extracted already.

How is the search result ranking determined?

This is the final order in which the research paper results appear on the results page. With this new list of 20 results (either the generated conclusion or the Key Takeaway), we run a final custom fine- tuned language model built for question and answering that ranks the results according to how well they address the user’s query.

How is the Summary & Consensus Meter powered?

When a question or phrase is entered with enough relevant results, we use OpenAI’s GPT-4 model to generate a one-sentence summary of the top 10 studies, visible in the Summary box on the results page. For yes/no questions, a custom model classifies results as “yes,” “no,” or “possibly,” shown in the Consensus Meter in the top right corner.

 

FEATURES

Key Features of Consensus

Consensus provides powerful tools to elevate your research: the Consensus Meter lets you quickly see scientific consensus and gain contextual insights, while Pro Analysis allows you to customize searches to draft content, format text, create lists, and explore topic-based syntheses.

What academic features are in Consensus?

Consensus offers several academic features, including advanced search filters by study design, sample size, and methodology. It also provides paper-level insights, study snapshots, quality indicators, auto-citations, and CSV export options to help researchers find, analyze, and organize relevant studies efficiently.

 

FOUNDERS

Meet the Team Behind Consensus

The Consensus team! Read more about who’s on the team here. Christian Salem and Eric Olson are the Co-founders of Consensus. The Consensus mission is to make the world’s best information accessible to everyone. Find the best science, faster, with Consensus.

The Consensus mission is to make the world’s best information accessible to everyone.

Find the best science, faster, with Consensus.

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This page was created based on feedback from Consensus users.

Is there an FAQ we missed? Email us with your feedback!