Most scientific literature is available online, making it easier yet often overwhelming for researchers to stay updated. Scientists typically review abstracts before deciding whether to read a full PDF, and not every paper ends up relevant. An AI research tool, such as scienceOS, may help with this. Acting as an AI document reader, it automates the extraction and summarization of key information from documents, saving you valuable time. The AI tool streamlines the scientific literature review process and frees up more time for experimentation, analysis, and innovation.
This guide shows you how to extract information from research papers using the AI PDF chat in scienceOS.
An AI PDF reader to analyze papers
The AI paper reader of scienceOS uses natural language processing to analyze, review, and even search through multiple PDFs for topics of interest.
- Login to your scienceOS account and start a new chat.
- Upload one or even multiple research papers. (You may drag and drop a PDF file into the chat, use the paperclip icon in the message bar, or click on the button in the top right corner to upload a PDF.)
- Once uploaded, the AI research assistant will automatically identify the title and further publication details.
Uploading documents to the AI PDF reader. A short video showing how to upload papers, and generate summaries and citation networks.
After the upload, you can analyze the text according to your research needs. For example, the AI document reader can generate a structured summary of the paper, providing a quick overview and key insights to help you decide if a full read is necessary. If you want to explore related scientific literature, you can also create a citation network based on the uploaded PDF.
For all retrieved information, the AI PDF reader indicates the respective page, allowing you to view the context within the PDF file. The text is highlighted in yellow, making it easy to locate and verify details within the original publication. This streamlines the process of revisiting and reviewing your research notes, enhancing the efficiency of your literature review.
The AI PDF reader in scienceOS. A screenshot of the AI document reader, showing how the paper and the relevant text fragments are displayed next to the answer.
Further, if you or your lab frequently generate paper summaries according to a unified and consistent format, you may even create an AI Action – a custom saved prompt in scienceOS – to automate this process.
Analyze a section with the AI PDF reader
Sometimes, you may be interested in specific sections of a scientific publication. In these cases, the AI PDF chat helps extract targeted information, such as methodologies or results.
For example, extracting methods may be useful when setting up new protocols. Using natural language, you can ask the AI paper reader to process all the methodologies mentioned in the uploaded document. This approach is ideal for addressing specific questions, such as details on certain techniques or comparing methods across similar research papers.
Evaluating research papers with the AI PDF reader. A brief video demonstrating how to extract results from an uploaded document and find other papers that support these results.
Or, you may want to evaluate the results section – whether to identify potential research gaps or as part of writing and finalizing your own study. Reviewing results across multiple papers can help scientists gather specific data, such as experimental outcomes or statistical findings, relevant to their research goals.
The functionality to extract information from an uploaded PDF and compare it with data from millions of other research papers, makes the AI document reader of scienceOS a powerful tool for focused and productive research.
AI research tools significantly impact how researchers conduct literature reviews. If they offer an integrated AI PDF reader, they enable quick extraction of relevant information across documents, enhancing the overall literature research workflow.
