Choosing your sources
Tick your sources below the input field, for each question. This guide says what each one contains, what combines and which one to choose.
Emerit Science Team
1. The four sources
Charlie queries the sources you tick. Internet and Patents are ticked with one click, Emerit Corpus opens a list, and My libraries depends on how many libraries you have.
Emerit Corpus
The scientific literature: PubMed, HAL, bioRxiv and PMC full text. Ticked by default.
My libraries
The documents you have imported. Only one library per question for now.
Internet
The web, including health authority websites. Unticked by default.
Patents
European and international patents. Premium and Team plans.
- At least one source. The last ticked source cannot be removed: “Keep at least one source.”
- Your choice is remembered for the next session, in the same browser. A ticked source stays ticked until you untick it.
- During a session, a change applies to what follows: “Applies to the next messages.”
- The session header reminds you of the active sources, for example “Emerit Corpus · Internet”.
On the first search of a session, Charlie queries all the ticked sources. On a follow-up question, it may reread what it already found instead of querying a source again. The search card points this out: see Reading and checking an answer.
2. Emerit Corpus and its sub-sources
Click the “Emerit Corpus” chip to choose where to search in the literature.
- PubMed: the biomedical literature.
- HAL: the French open archive.
- bioRxiv: preprints in biology.
- PMC full text: the full text of more than 7 M articles.
PubMed, HAL and bioRxiv are queried together by default, on abstracts. Untick those that don't serve your question.
On a detail question, such as a dose or a sample size, Charlie can complete these abstracts with passages from the full text. The search card then displays the “Full text” channel.
“None” removes the Emerit Corpus from the search, if another source is ticked. “All” goes back to the three abstract sources.
PMC full text, to search the body of articles
Tick “PMC full text” when the information is in the body of an article: method, dose, sample size, numerical result.
For example: “What dose of Akkermansia muciniphila was administered in mouse models treated with anti-PD-1?”
This source is queried alone for now. Ticking it unticks PubMed, HAL and bioRxiv, and vice versa. The menu reminds you: “Full text is searched on its own for now.”
Charlie then searches for passages rather than abstracts. Its citations point to a specific passage, which you open highlighted in the PDF: see Reading and checking an answer.
3. My libraries
Tick a library so that Charlie answers from your documents. The chip appears as soon as you have one.
- A single ready library: one click on the chip ticks it, and the chip takes its name. It is ticked automatically, until you make another choice.
- Several libraries: the chip opens a list. Choosing a library replaces the previous one.
- Labels in the list: “Being prepared” for a library that is not ready yet, which cannot be ticked, and “shared” for a colleague's library.
To query only your documents, tick your library, then choose “None” in the Emerit Corpus menu.
Keep the Emerit Corpus ticked to compare your documents with the literature.
From the “Libraries” page, “Session with this library” opens a session where it is already ticked.
To create and populate a library, see Libraries.
4. Internet
Tick Internet when the information is outside publications: a health authority recommendation, a regulatory status, an organization's website.
For example: “What is the regulatory status of lecanemab in Europe and the United States?”
A protein sequence also requires Internet: Charlie reads it in UniProt or GenBank.
The pages used appear in the Sources panel, under “Internet sources”, with the “Web” badge.
5. Patents
Tick Patents to search European and international patents. This source is reserved for the Premium and Team plans.
On the free plan, the chip carries a crown and leads to the plans.
Charlie first proposes a query, which you validate or adjust before launching the search. Patents details this process.
6. What combines
Tick several sources: Charlie queries them for the same question, and each has its own search card. Three combinations are ruled out.
| Sources | Together? | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Emerit Corpus + Internet | Yes | Both are queried. |
| Emerit Corpus + a library | Yes | Both are queried. |
| A library + Internet | Yes | Both are queried. |
| Emerit Corpus or Internet + Patents | Yes | The patent query is validated first. |
| PMC full text + Internet or a library | Yes | The exclusivity of PMC full text only applies within the corpus. |
| PMC full text + PubMed, HAL or bioRxiv | No | Ticking one unticks the other. |
| Two libraries | No | The second replaces the first. |
| Patents + a library | No | Ticking one unticks the other, with a message. |
The two possible messages between Patents and library: “Patents can't be searched from a library: it has been unselected.” and “A library can't be searched together with patents: “Patents” has been unselected.”
7. The filters
Open the filters with the settings icon, to the right of the microphone: the “Parameters” window appears.
- Period: move the slider or type the years.
- “Number of citations (minimum)”: set aside articles with few citations.
- “Article type”: randomized controlled trial, review, comparative study, for example.
- “Language”: the language of publication.
“Validate” applies your choice. “Reset” clears the filters and restores the default sub-sources. A number on the icon indicates the number of active filters.
The icon only appears if the Emerit Corpus is ticked, and never in a patent session.
The filters also apply to PMC full text. A period there sets aside articles whose year is unknown.
As soon as a question is sent with filters or a selection of sub-sources, these settings are frozen for the session. The window then displays “Filters already used for this session”. To change them, open a new session.
To review the filters of an answer, use the “Filters” icon below it: see Reading and checking an answer.
8. When to choose what
Start from what you are looking for.
| You are looking for | Tick |
|---|---|
| The state of knowledge on a topic | Emerit Corpus |
| A dose, a method or a sample size in the body of an article | Emerit Corpus, with PMC full text |
| What your own documents say | Your library, with the Emerit Corpus on “None” |
| Your documents against the literature | Your library and Emerit Corpus |
| An official recommendation or a regulatory status | Internet, with or without Emerit Corpus |
| Filings on a target or by an applicant | Patents |
| The state of the art and the filings on the same target | Emerit Corpus and Patents |
Tick what the question needs
A source unrelated to your question adds noise to the search.
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