How to Summarize Medical Research Papers with AI (Step-by-Step Guide)

How to Summarize Medical Research Papers with AI (Step-by-Step Guide)

Learn a precise, ethical workflow for summarizing medical papers with AI — including prompts, checks, and pitfalls to avoid.

Updated 2025-09-17 By MedNav AI Team
Summarize medical research papers with AI workflow illustration

This guide shows you a reliable, auditable way to summarize medical papers with AI—fast, with citations, and without cutting corners.

Principles for trustworthy AI summaries

  • Stay source-grounded with citations and line references.
  • Capture PICOS, outcomes, and limitations—avoid hype.
  • Record prompts and settings for transparency.

Step-by-step in NotebookLM

  1. Upload the PDF or URL; name the source clearly (Author Year Journal).
  2. Run a methods-first prompt to establish study design and endpoints.
  3. Extract outcomes with effect sizes and confidence intervals; cite lines.
  4. List limitations, risks of bias, and generalizability concerns.
  5. Create a 150–200 word abstract with references to sections/pages.
AI-powered summarization workflow diagram showing steps to extract and organize findings
Figure: AI workflow for summarizing medical papers — from upload to structured outputs.

Prompts you can reuse

- "Identify study design, population, intervention, control, and primary endpoints (PICOS). Cite lines."
- "Extract primary and key secondary outcomes with effect sizes and CIs; tabulate; cite lines."
- "List limitations and potential biases. Separate design vs execution issues; cite lines."
- "Write a 180-word neutral summary suitable for a journal club; include page refs."
  

Quality checks

  • Spot-check 2–3 key claims directly in the PDF.
  • Cross-validate outcomes against tables/figures.
  • Flag uncertain items for manual review.

Keep momentum:

FAQ

Can I cite AI summaries?

Cite the original paper, not the AI. Use AI to accelerate reading and note-taking.

How do I avoid hallucinations?

Force citations, copy exact lines for quotes, and verify numbers in tables.

Turn this into your workflow

Get the MedNav Notion templates and NotebookLM prompt pack used in this article.

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