Beta test programme of Research Assistant
Update: Please note that the test program for the Research Assistant ended on 6 August 2024.
The Research Assistant is temporarily offered in external page ETH-Bibliothek @ swisscovery as part of the beta test programme of our service provider. Try out the Research Assistant and provide feedback to further develop and improve this service.
What is the Research Assistant?
The Research Assistant is an innovative AI-powered tool designed to enhance your search experience in swisscovery. It allows you to input queries using natural language and provides summarised answers based on abstracts from the Central Discovery Index (CDI). CDI is a central, unified index, for scholarly and academic material worldwide. It contains over 5 billion records and many different resource types from thousands of publishers, aggregators, and repositories.
The Research Assistant leverages large language models and the CDI to ensure responses are generated from reliable sources. Below each answer, the sources used are displayed with in-line citations, making it easy to verify and explore further.
Key features
- Natural language queries
- Summarised responses with citations
- Links to full-text resources
- Search suggestions
- Support for non-English searches and answers
How it works
The Research Assistant utilises a large language model and the Central Discovery Index to generate reliable, sourced responses.
The platform uses Retrieval Augmented Generation architecture (RAG) to generate a summary based on the top 5 abstracts related to your query, complete with in-line citations and links to the original sources.
AI-powered, source-based Answers
It is important to understand that the Research Assistant uses artificial intelligence to generate responses. While it draws from reliable academic sources in the CDI, we recommend verifying information through the provided citations and conducting further research as needed.
Accessing the Research Assistant
- Sign-in to external page ETH Library @ swisscovery.
- Look for the star icon next to the search bar and click to open the Research Assistant interface.
Please note: Access is currently limited to signed-in users.
Beta version: Your feedback matters
We are pleased to offer the Research Assistant as part of a beta test programme in our search interface external page ETH Library @ swisscovery. During this phase, feedback is collected to aid in service improvement. Input provided is essential for enhancing the service. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
We encourage you to provide feedback to the service provider in two ways:
- Rate the overview response using the thumbs up/down icons below the summary and explain your judgement in the notes.
- Evaluate individual abstracts by clicking the thumbs up/down icons next to each source.
As a beta version, the Research Assistant is continually evolving. Your feedback is very valued in shaping its future development. Thank you for your participation.