search

search finds peer-reviewed papers for a query and returns them ranked, in one call. Your assistant reads the papers and writes the answer. It’s the right tool for lookups and for questions your assistant can answer from a list of papers. For a question that needs several research steps and a written, cited answer, use create_thread instead. See Search vs Threads. search works without an account at reduced limits. ChatGPT Deep Research may call it several times with different queries and filters while it builds a report.

Parameters

Every parameter except query is optional.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`query`	string	Yes	The research question or topic, up to 500 characters. Use specific academic terminology for best results.
`year_min`	integer	No	Exclude papers published before this year.
`year_max`	integer	No	Exclude papers published after this year.
`month_min`	integer	No	Minimum publication month (1–12). Use with `year_min`.
`month_max`	integer	No	Maximum publication month (1–12). Use with `year_max`.
`study_types`	string array	No	Filter by study design. Values: `rct`, `meta-analysis`, `systematic review`, `literature review`, `case report`, `non-rct experimental`, `non-rct observational study`, `non-rct in vitro`, `animal`.
`sjr_max`	integer	No	Maximum journal quartile (SCImago Journal Rank). `1` is Q1 (highest), `4` is Q4. Set to `1` for Q1 journals only.
`sjr_min`	integer	No	Minimum journal quartile. Excludes better (lower-number) quartiles. For example, set to `2` to keep Q2–Q4.
`human`	boolean	No	Set to `true` to include only studies involving human subjects.
`controlled`	boolean	No	Set to `true` to include only controlled studies.
`sample_size_min`	integer	No	Exclude studies with fewer participants than this number.
`citation_min`	integer	No	Exclude papers with fewer citations than this number.
`medical_mode`	boolean	No	Set to `true` for clinical, medical, or evidence-based medicine questions. Limits results to top medical journals and clinical guidelines.
`exclude_preprints`	boolean	No	Set to `true` to return peer-reviewed papers only.
`open_access`	boolean	No	Set to `true` to include only open-access papers.
`duration_min`	integer	No	Minimum study duration in days. Useful for longitudinal or long-term studies.
`duration_max`	integer	No	Maximum study duration in days.
`country`	string	No	Comma-separated ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes (for example `us,gb`) to limit to those countries of study. Unknown codes are ignored.
`publisher_name`	string	No	Comma-separated publisher names, for example `Elsevier`.
`journal_name`	string	No	Preferred journal, for example `Nature`. Boosts matching papers without excluding others.
`domain`	string	No	Comma-separated academic field codes, for example `med` or `bio,cs`.
`page`	integer	No	Zero-indexed result page, up to `49`. Pages after the first need a paid plan.
`page_size`	integer	No	Results per page. Defaults to 20, capped by your plan.
`include_full_text_chunks`	boolean	No	Set to `true` to include query-relevant full-text excerpts. Paid plans only.

Response

search returns a text payload written for AI agents: the ranked papers (title, link, authors, year, citation count, journal, and abstract), plus instructions to cite each paper inline by its number.

Found 20 papers, showing top 20.

[1] [Caffeine and endurance performance: a meta-analysis](https://consensus.app/papers/details/3f1c.../?utm_source=claude_code) (Smith et al., 2021, 154 citations, Sports Medicine, DOI: 10.1007/s40279-021-01470-1)
  Abstract text...

[2] ...

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS: When discussing these findings, you MUST cite papers inline using their numbered references, e.g. [1], [2]. ...

Paid plans also get DOIs and, with include_full_text_chunks, full-text excerpts. In ChatGPT, results appear in the Consensus widget.

Need structured JSON? Use the Consensus API, which shares your monthly allowance with MCP.

Example prompts

“What does the research say about the effectiveness of remote work on productivity?”
“Find RCTs and meta-analyses since 2020 on cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety”
“Search for high-quality human studies on gut microbiome and mental health with at least 100 participants”
“Recent research on large language model hallucination from top-tier journals”

Good to know

Cost: one call per 100 papers returned, rounded up, with a minimum of one call per search. See plans and access.
Papers per search: your plan sets the maximum page_size, from 3 without an account up to 1,000 on Enterprise.
Rate limits: set by your plan. See plans and access.

Introduction

Tools

Connect your client

Parameters

Response

Example prompts

Good to know

​Parameters

​Response

​Example prompts

​Good to know

Parameters

Response

Example prompts

Good to know