Create a new systematic review

Start a systematic review. Elicit runs the stages you configure — searches, abstract screening, fulltext screening, extraction, and a report. Each stage runs only when you include it; omit a stage to skip it. The default example below runs a complete review end-to-end.

Systematic reviews are long-running operations. The response includes a sessionId and a links.self URL (/api/v2/sessions/systematic-reviews/:sessionId) that you poll for status. You can also watch progress live at the url in the response.

Plan limits

Plan	Max columns	Max results per query	Max total results	Figure extraction
Pro	20	1,000	5,000	No
Scale	30	5,000	20,000	Yes
Enterprise	40	10,000	40,000	Yes

Example

curl -X POST https://elicit.com/api/v2/sessions/systematic-reviews \
-H "Authorization: Bearer elk_live_your_key_here" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
  "researchQuestion": "Do GLP-1 receptor agonists reduce MACE in T2D patients?",
  "searches": [{ "query": "GLP-1 cardiovascular outcomes", "maxResults": 200 }],
  "abstractScreening": { "generate": true },
  "fulltextScreening": { "reuseAbstractCriteria": true },
  "extraction": { "generate": true, "useFigures": false },
  "generateReport": true
}'

Request body

researchQuestionstring required

The research question the review is investigating.

protocolDetailsstring

Free-form context (PICO, methodology, inclusion/exclusion rationale) used when Elicit generates screening criteria, extraction columns, or the final report.

generateReportboolean

Generate a full report at the end of the review. Requires extraction.

titlestring

Optional title for the review.

isPublicboolean

Whether the review should be publicly accessible via its URL without authentication. Defaults to false.

dryRunfalse

Deprecated. Omit this field to create the review.

Example request

{
  "researchQuestion": "Do GLP-1 receptor agonists reduce MACE in T2D patients?",
  "searches": [
    {
      "query": "GLP-1 receptor agonist cardiovascular outcomes",
      "corpus": "elicit",
      "maxResults": 200
    }
  ],
  "abstractScreening": {
    "criteria": [
      {
        "name": "Human study",
        "instructions": "The study must be conducted in human subjects (not in vitro or animal-only)."
      }
    ]
  },
  "fulltextScreening": {
    "criteria": [
      {
        "name": "Human study",
        "instructions": "The study must be conducted in human subjects (not in vitro or animal-only)."
      }
    ]
  },
  "extraction": {
    "questions": [
      {
        "name": "MACE hazard ratio",
        "instructions": "Extract the hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval for 3-point MACE.",
        "choices": [
          "yes",
          "no",
          "maybe"
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "generateReport": true
}

Response

Systematic review creation accepted. The review is now running asynchronously. Poll links.self for status.

type'systematicReview' required

sessionIdstring uuid required

The session ID (UUID) returned by the create endpoints and GET /sessions

status'processing' required

Initial status is always processing

urlstring required

URL to view the review in the Elicit web interface

isPublicboolean required

Whether the review is publicly accessible via its URL without authentication

Example response

{
  "sessionId": "5ad08bfb-cbe0-4911-a8c3-309760d33029",
  "links": {
    "self": "https://elicit.com/api/v2/sessions/reports/5ad08bfb-cbe0-4911-a8c3-309760d33029",
    "resume": "https://elicit.com/api/v2/sessions/5ad08bfb-cbe0-4911-a8c3-309760d33029/resume"
  }
}