# Filtering in Elicit

Elicit provides several ways to narrow your search results: natural language in your query, the Filter button in the UI, and advanced search syntax. This guide covers all of them in one place. Some filter types work only with specific [tools and workflows](https://support.elicit.com/en/articles/14757543) in Elicit.

Note that filters are not screening criteria. To narrow your papers by specific or custom screening criteria, please use the Screening function of the [Systematic Review workflow](https://support.elicit.com/en/articles/14759154).

# 1. Natural language filters (Research Agent)

The simplest way to filter is to just say what you want in your Research Agent query. Elicit will automatically detect and apply the right filter.

**By date:** "Papers about the benefits of taking L-theanine published after 2020"

**By study type:** "RCTs on L-theanine published after 2020"

Supported study types include: randomized controlled trial, systematic review, meta-analysis, review, and longitudinal.

**Combining criteria:** Mix and match in a single query. Elicit will pick up multiple filter criteria at once: "Full-text RCTs on creatine published after 2018"

# 2. The Filter button (Systematic Reviews)

Click the **Filter** button at the top of the Paper search window in a Systematic Review to access filter controls.

![Screenshot of the Elicit Systematic Review filter panel showing publication year, journal quality, and study type filter options](https://elicit-e64f0748155d.intercom-attachments-1.com/i/o/sumscdci/2317681586/468a1c8ddc7e237779d5c6ea6bd3/027f0c4b-be6d-403d-b539-b0f2d43d0347.png?expires=1791972000&signature=4676493086d12f4fbec14c8146d2361ffd7b7ef836f0f558206b54d33618ca24&req=diMmEc92nIRXX%2FMW1HO4zfOzQosMhgrW2rlHirnqGsJpTsgtW9oJJ%2Fq95Iu0%0APhgt23lkgVOEwX0L3qg%3D%0A)

## Publication year

Set a date range to restrict results to papers published within a specific window. Set a start year, end year, or both.

## Journal quality

Use the **Journal quality** slider to restrict results to papers from higher-ranked journals. Rankings are based on the **SCImago Journal Rank (SJR)**.

- **Q4:** all ranked journals

- **Q3:** top 75% of journals

- **Q2:** top 50% of journals

- **Q1:** top 25% of journals only

- The default setting (**All**) also includes papers from unranked journals

## Study Type

Select the study types you want to include in your search. All paper types will be included if you don't make a filter selection. The filter options include Review, Meta-Analysis, Systematic Review, RCT, and Longitudinal.

## Abstract Keywords

Set keywords that the abstract *contains* or *does not contain*. If you add more than one keyword, the keywords are treated as AND: the abstract must contain all keywords listed to be included.

# 3. Advanced search syntax (Research Agent)

The Research Agent also accepts filters typed directly into your query. These cover things the Filter button doesn't: searching within a named journal, restricting to highly cited or open access papers, and looking up a specific paper by title, DOI, or author. Add them to the end of your question:

- Papers from one journal: `3D printing +journal:"Journal of Medical Devices"`

- Highly cited papers: `How can I reduce hallucination when using a language model? +citations:>100`

- Open access only: `What is the safety profile of acetaminophen? +oa:true`

Filters can be combined, and there are more of them, including author, title, DOI, PubMed ID, year, and reference count. For the full list and the syntax rules, see [Advanced search](https://support.elicit.com/en/articles/14758825-advanced-search).

# 4. Filtering clinical trials (Systematic Reviews)

Elicit can search clinical trial registrations in Systematic Reviews in addition to research papers. Clinical trials have their own set of filters.

![Screenshot of the Elicit clinical trials filter panel showing results required, phase, and recruitment status filter options](https://elicit-e64f0748155d.intercom-attachments-1.com/i/o/sumscdci/2317681683/0c710f101516499f619b22007498/8956a51d-12ac-4170-be45-b0f57078376a.png?expires=1791972000&signature=aba032d2618e63ce711a5aa52589518ce10b5036a3e78c08ac01f03c14a61b5c&req=diMmEc92nIdXWvMW1HO4zY%2Bq5jsYDkws9i%2BzEP5ON4osU8E7KHzDo0j%2BbdFK%0AyPq0vSTCXjFdCCxvw9E%3D%0A)

## Switching to clinical trials search

Switch to clinical trials at the start of a workflow by selecting the source as either **"Research papers"** or **"Clinical trials"** in the source drop down menu, available in Systematic Reviews and Research Reports.

![](https://downloads.intercomcdn.com/i/o/sumscdci/2704330843/bc79a99aa4b57a8f838a31a09942/Screenshot+2026-09-30+at+1_37_02%E2%80%AFPM.png?expires=1791972000&signature=3522bfcb1d37eeb95a4eaa5b012630f36b4b1a590cd5faf56cd0276ff3d08efd&req=dicnEsp9nYlbWvMW1HO4zewzVsnuTCZjfYVjC5RdGE%2BbUpkoDnTKXozzDK65%0ADbznwHSwuvRruMLaCck%3D%0A)

Research Agent sessions have no source selector. To keep an agent session to trials, say so in your prompt, for example "only use clinical trial registrations."

## Limitations to be aware of

- **Data source:** Clinical trials data comes from [ClinicalTrials.gov](http://ClinicalTrials.gov), which is primarily US-focused. International trials may be underrepresented.

- **Search scope:** Clinical trial search looks at protocol and registration information, not full-text results papers.

- **Results availability:** The "Results Required" filter only catches results posted to [ClinicalTrials.gov](http://ClinicalTrials.gov).

When running a Systematic Review, add multiple search tabs to include papers from both Clinical Trials and the Research Papers corpus.