EcoSynthesisAI transforms the overwhelming chaos of a large-scale systematic review into a clear, structured manuscript outline. Designed to break the "cognitive bottleneck" of synthesizing thousands of papers, this browser-based tool uses advanced AI (Google's Gemini and Gemma) to read your abstracts, extract critical data (Drivers, Responses, Species), and intelligently organize them into a coherent thematic taxonomy and note papers with conflicting conclusions before you even write a single sentence.
Note: EcoSynthesisAI does not perform web searches or fetch papers. It assumes the user already has a curated list of papers (e.g., from Web of Science) and needs help organizing and understanding them.
Although it was originally designed to assist with Ecology reviews, the tool is based entirely on Google's AI models and therefore should be applicable to any field of science. Note that we have not currently tested it on fields unrelated to Ecology.
The tool is active at this link. A peer reviewed paper for this tool is currently in review.
UPDATE: Google is retiring the 2.5 model version (as well as Gemma 3). We have updated Gemini in this tool to the 3.0 version and added the 3.1 Flash Light version. Flash Lite can be used instead of Gemma 3 once Gemma 3 is retired on April 10, 2026. We are working on getting Gemma 4 included in this tool.
Conducting a large-scale systematic review often requires a team to hold thousands of disparate findings in their heads simultaneously to find patterns. EcoSynthesisAI solves this "cognitive bottleneck" by turning a flat list of papers into a structured workspace.
-
From Abstract to Outline The tool automatically sorts papers into connected Themes (Main Sections) and Sub-Themes (Sub-Sections) that mirror the structure of a final review paper. This transforms a chaotic spreadsheet into a logical Table of Contents before you even start writing.
-
Streamlined Collaboration By organizing literature into distinct conceptual buckets, research teams can easily split the writing workload. A researcher assigned to the "Physiological Responses" section only needs to review the papers specifically sorted into that theme, rather than wading through the entire library.
-
Accelerated Insight Instead of researchers manually cross-referencing hundreds of PDFs to find disagreements in the literature, the tool's Synthesis Engine instantly flags papers that provide conflicting evidence on a topic while also summarizing the overall evidence present in each theme. This allows researchers to immediately pinpoint the most contentious or complex areas of their field and focus their intellectual energy where it matters most.
-
Private & Client-Side Because the tool runs entirely in your browser (client-side), your ideas and research data are only communicated with Google's AI models and never sent elsewhere. Your API key is only used to access Google servers and otherwise never leaves your browser.
To use EcoSynthesisAI, you need a Google AI Studio API Key (free with a Google account).
- Go to Google AI Studio
- Create a new project
- Click "Get API Key" in the top left
Note:
As of December 2025, the free tier works well with the Gemma model while Gemini 2.5 has strict limits per day. Large workloads that require Gemini's more advanced model may require a paid tier to increase rate limits.
-
Enter API Key:
Paste your Google AI Studio key into the password field. -
Define Topic (optional):
Enter a short description of your review topic (e.g., "Impact of urbanization on bird song").
This provides context for the AI. -
Select AI Model:
-
Gemini 2.5 Flash
Best quality and reasoning. Recommended when accuracy is the priority.
Free tier limits are low (≈20 requests/day as of Dec 2025). -
Gemma 3 27B
Higher rate limits. Use this if you hit Gemini’s quota.Note that every single batch counts as a query. So if you click the run button once and the tool processes it in 20 batches, you will hit Gemini's limits.
-
-
Input Data:
Paste your raw list of papers into the large text box.Format Requirements:
-
Accepts plain text.
-
Should include Title, Abstract, Authors, Journal, and Year. Generally organized like so:
Authors (Year). Title. Journal
Abstract (on new line) -
Variations on citation format should be okay, but the tool was only tested on this format.
-
Ensure one blank line between papers for proper separation (i.e., Abstract, empty line, and then next citation).
-
- Click Start Extraction (green button)
- Wait while papers are processed in batches
(e.g., "Batch 1/5")
Do not close the tab during processing.
- Preliminary Categories:
As batches finish, folders appear on the right and are labeled (Preliminary).
These reflect early structure while the AI learns field-specific patterns.
After all batches are processed, the tool performs a Post-Hoc Optimization.
What it does:
- Merges synonyms
(e.g., Rainfall → Precipitation) - Fixes repeated subcategories
- Reorganizes folders into a clean manuscript-like taxonomy
Completion:
When all (Preliminary) tags disappear, the final categorization is complete.
Some input text may contain encoding errors (“Mojibake”: é instead of é) or malformed content.
- If a batch fails, a Data Repair Required window appears.
- Your task:
Inspect the displayed text and correct any obvious issues
(gibberish blocks, broken titles, etc.) - Click Retry Batch to continue processing.
Switch between analysis modes using the tabs at the top of the interface.
Standard folder view.
Synthesis:
- Click the ⚡ Sparkle Icon next to a sub-theme to generate:
- A written synthesis
- A contradiction analysis
- e.g., highlighting conflicting findings across papers
- The Synthesis buttons at the the top will perform this same action across multiple categories at once. Synthesize Sub-Themes will perform this analysis for every sub-category, and Synthesize Main Themes will perform this analysis for every main category.
Click Suggest Merges to review and improve the taxonomy structure. IT IS INTENDED THAT YOU PUSH THIS BUTTON MORE THAN ONCE. After you have gone through one round of suggested merges, push the button again to review the taxonomy structure. EcoSynthesisAI will likely see things it missed the first time. The system may suggest:
- Merging overlapping sub-themes within a category
- Moving a sub-theme to a more appropriate category
- Merging duplicate or redundant categories
- Renaming unclear or overly broad categories
Suggestions are evidence-based and reference patterns found in paper titles.
You can accept or reject each suggestion individually.
If no meaningful improvements are found, no changes are suggested.
-
If the system has no clear structural improvements left to make, it may begin flip-flopping (e.g. suggesting changes that undo earlier accepted suggestions).
- If this happens, you can click the 🔒 Lock icon on a category or sub-theme to prevent further suggestions involving it.
- Locked items will be excluded from future merge or move proposals.
-
You may rename categories or sub-themes manually at any time.
-
If a suggestion involves moving a sub-theme to a different category, it is strongly recommended to click the Validate button (shown in purple with a verification tooltip).
- This triggers an additional AI check using a larger set of papers to confirm that the proposed move is appropriate.
A Sankey diagram linking Drivers (Causes) to Responses (Effects).
- Hover to highlight connected papers
A time-series showing research interest over time.
- Filters available for Drivers or Responses
A heatmap showing the Research Vacuum.
- Dark green = many papers
- White = research gap
Geographic and taxonomic (species/group) distributions.
Ask natural-language questions about your dataset.
Example: "Which papers found negative effects of fire in Canada?"
Warning: Always verify results generated through Chat.
Avoid losing progress!
-
Export Progress:
Click Export to download a.jsonfile of all extracted data and categories. -
Resume Later:
After refreshing the page, click Import and load your saved JSON. -
Export Data:
Use Download CSV to export tables for Excel/R.
Figures also provide downloadable data tables. -
Export Images:
All charts include a Save Image button for high-resolution PNGs.
- Cause: Rate limit reached
- Fix:
- Wait 60 seconds (if per-minute limit)
- Switch to Gemma 3 (higher daily quota)
- Cause: Very long or corrupted abstract
- Fix:
- Use the Manual Fix window
- Or shorten the abstract before re-pasting
- Cause: Large-dataset taxonomy resolution
- Fix:
- Wait (can take several minutes)
- If >30 minutes, check browser console (F12)
- Safe-refresh and reload your exported JSON
-
Client-Side Execution:
All processing occurs in your browser. -
Direct Connection:
Your API key is sent only from your device to Google’s servers.
It is never sent to us or stored by us. -
Minimal Analytics:
A tag allows Google Analytics to record that the tool was opened—no data content is tracked. -
Data Persistence:
Data lives in browser memory only.
Closing the tab without exporting will erase your progress.
Save often!