Ms. Maanasi Mahalingam, M. Optom., FAAO
Project Manager, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Editorial Support Assistant, Vision Science Academy
Vision Science Academy Exclusive
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the application of computers, in problem-solving and decision making, similar to human brains. AI has created a lot of transformations in every aspect of human life, including research. It has been widely used for its easier and faster processing. A typical researcher spends nearly hundreds of hours every year, reading research papers. (1) Recently, AI has been found to be helpful for both authors and reviewers in terms of literature search, detecting plagiarism, creating bibliographies, etc. Thus, this blog is written to understand and the ways to utilise AI tools in research.
Commonly used AI platforms: (2-5)
I. Scite
Scite AI platform is mainly used for Citation analysis and evaluation, visualising citations, conducting literature reviews, and evaluating the credibility of research papers. It is widely used by students and researchers.
II. Elicit
It is mainly used to summarise research articles and extract data (Figure 1). It can provide one sentence summary of abstracts, select relevant articles, and create tables based on the details extracted from a paper. It also can be used to prepare presentations and posters.
Figure 1: Shows the website of elicit.
Image courtesy: https://elicit.com/?workflow=table-of-papers
III. ChatGPT(6,7)
ChatGPT is used to brainstorm research ideas (Figure 2), text generation , summarisation, and provides assistance for programming, data validation, and mainly data interpretation. It provides feedback to the researchers as well.
Figure 2: A prompt has been given to ChatGPT “Propose a methodology to study about the cycloplegic refraction in school children” and in a few seconds, the platform has generated the methodologies to perform the study.
Figure 3: User website of research rabbit.
IV. Research Rabbit(8)
This AI platform is mainly used to discover the publications, create visualisations of the publications, and collaborate with the researchers, working in the same field. It also recommends research papers by Similar work, Earlier work, or Later work and people by These authors or Suggested authors.
V. Scispace
Scispace is a tool to understand and learn research papers in a faster way. It provides clear and concise explanations of specific questions raised, while reading a paper. It aids in manuscript submission, peer review and publication.
Table 1: Available AI tools for research.
| AI platforms | Uses |
|---|---|
| Tableau | Used to visualise and analyse data, create tables and graphs. |
| TLDR | Summarises the long articles, paragraphs, essays to key summary paragraphs. |
| Mirrorthink | Helps in literature search, perform, comprehend complex mathematical equations. |
| Grammarly | Helps in improving the grammar, spelling, punctuation, and context of the text. |
Every AI needs to create an account and utilise the platform based on their needs. Their accounts can be customised according to their demands in their research. There are a lot more AI platforms available online. Although there are many AI platforms available, there are few challenges that must be addressed. Researchers should paraphrase the contents, provided by the AI platforms, rather than copy pasting it. Sometimes, the results provided by the platforms may be complicated and not transparent. Researchers should be aware of the ethical considerations, data privacy and the potential risks associated with these platforms as well.(9,10) Thus, it is better not to rely completely on these advancements completely, rather than using them wisely.
Conclusion:
Millions of scientific papers are published in every field, every year. However, writing a research paper is always tedious and time consuming. Researchers can make use of the available tools, which can be used without the need for any complex codes. Thus, AI platforms, as discussed above, can help researchers, save their time and to work efficiently.
References:
- Keshav, S. (2007). How to read a paper. ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 37(3), 83-84.
- Academy, E., & Academy, E. (2020, August 25). Artificial intelligence in research and publishing. Enago Academy. https://www.enago.com/academy/artificial-intelligence-research-publishing/
- Artificial Intelligence (AI). (n.d.). National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. https://www.nibib.nih.gov/science-education/science-topics/artificial-intelligence-ai
- Khedkar, S. (2023, September 13). Using AI-powered tools effectively for academic research. Editage Insights. https://www.editage.com/insights/using-ai-powered-tools-effectively-for-academic-research#:~:text=Researchers%20can%20use%20AI%20tools,an%20important%20aspect%20of%20research.
- R, S. (2023, November 23). Top 7 Artificial intelligence (AI) tools in scientific research. iLovePhD. https://www.ilovephd.com/top-7-artificial-intelligence-ai-tools-in-scientific-research/
- Rahman, M. M., Terano, H. J., Rahman, M. N., Salamzadeh, A., & Rahaman, M. S. (2023). ChatGPT and academic research: a review and recommendations based on practical examples. Rahman, M., Terano, HJR, Rahman, N., Salamzadeh, A., Rahaman, S.(2023). ChatGPT and Academic Research: A Review and Recommendations Based on Practical Examples. Journal of Education, Management and Development Studies, 3(1), 1-12.
- Three ways to leverage ChatGPT and other generative AI in research. (2023, June 19). THE Campus Learn, Share, Connect. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/three-ways-leverage-chatgpt-and-other-generative-ai-research
- Cole, V., & Boutet, M. (2023). ResearchRabbit. The Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association, 44(2), 43.
- Abbadia, J. (2023, July 5). Exploring the role of AI in academic research. Mind the Graph Blog. https://mindthegraph.com/blog/ai-in-academic-research/
- Jones, K. (2023, January 19). Challenges of AI. Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank. https://www.chathamhouse.org/2022/03/challenges-ai
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