Elsevier expands LeapSpace & sets up AI advisory board

Elsevier has expanded the content base of its AI research tool LeapSpace and set up an independent advisory board. The platform now draws on what Elsevier describes as the largest collection of peer-reviewed scientific material available to an AI research product.

LeapSpace now uses more than 23 million full-text peer-reviewed articles and books, alongside 2.6 billion cited references from Scopus. Elsevier said that full-text corpus accounts for 56% of recent global research citations and 42% of research articles published since 2021.

The update broadens the material available to researchers using the platform for tasks such as literature reviews, study design, manuscript drafting, and submission preparation. LeapSpace also includes Elsevier's own full-text journal articles and books, as well as more than 100 million scientific records from Scopus, covering content from more than 7,000 publishers.

The latest expansion comes through licensing agreements with BMJ Group, JAMA Network, Rockefeller University Press, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. Elsevier has also added selected full-text material from existing partners including Emerald Publishing, IOP Publishing, and Sage Publishing, as well as content from more than 1,500 other scholarly publishers and societies.

Elsevier is positioning the enlarged dataset as a way to distinguish LeapSpace from more general AI tools used in research. Its focus is on cross-publisher access and on using peer-reviewed source material rather than open-web content.

Research trust

The new advisory board is intended to address concerns about trust in AI tools within academia. Elsevier cited findings from its Researcher of the Future Report showing that 84% of researchers have used AI tools, while 22% said they trust them.

According to Elsevier, the board will advise on the algorithms used to surface and assess content, oversee publisher-neutral discovery and ranking, and support transparency in AI-generated outputs. It will also provide guidance on the use of AI in academic and scientific research settings.

The founding members are Chancellor's Professor Emeritus Jörg-Rüdiger Sack, who will chair the board; Professor Jodi Schneider; Professor Holger Hoos; Professor Fei Wu; and Dr. Mikiko Tanifuji. The group brings expertise from Carleton University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, RWTH Aachen University, Leiden University, Zhejiang University, and the National Institute of Informatics.

Elsevier has presented the board as an external layer of oversight at a time when academic publishers and technology companies face increasing scrutiny over how AI systems source, rank, and present research material. Questions around bias, transparency, and citation integrity have become more prominent as researchers experiment with generative AI for core parts of the research process.

Elsevier also pointed to user feedback on the product, saying nine out of 10 LeapSpace users surveyed reported that the tool is either essential to completing literature reviews or makes a substantial contribution to them.

Judy Verses, President, Academic and Government, Elsevier, outlined the company's view of the market. "Most AI tools give researchers answers. LeapSpace helps researchers achieve better outcomes across their whole workflow, while supporting their critical thinking, igniting their curiosity, and keeping them in control. LeapSpace is grounded in trusted science, transparent in how it works, and publisher-neutral by design. Breadth of content and rigor of governance, with independent assessment from leading experts at some of the world's top research institutions: that's what makes AI research-grade," she said.

The expansion reflects a broader push by established academic information groups to embed AI tools into the daily work of universities, laboratories, and corporate research teams. That contest is increasingly centered on access to proprietary content and assurances that outputs can be traced back to credible source material.

LeapSpace is sold to institutions and corporations. Elsevier said individual plans and free access are also available for academics and students. The tool is designed to help with complex tasks across the research workflow, from early literature review to preparing a paper or thesis.

For publishers, the announcement also signals the growing importance of content licensing in the AI market. Rather than relying only on abstract-level databases, providers are seeking full-text agreements that give models and search tools access to the language, structure, and evidence contained in journal articles and books.

Chancellor's Professor Emeritus Jörg-Rüdiger Sack described the board's purpose in those terms. "Trust in AI depends on more than how powerful the technology is. Researchers need confidence that the underlying content is selected fairly, that algorithms operate transparently, and that the same standards are applied consistently across publishers. The advisory board exists to provide independent oversight that helps ensure LeapSpace remains transparent, publisher-neutral, and grounded in trusted scientific evidence," he said.