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Literature Mapping in Scientific Research: A Comprehensive Review

Accelerate scientific research with Literature Mapping: a comprehensive tool for knowledge discovery and data-driven insights.

Literature mapping is a process that involves analyzing and visualizing the scientific literature on a particular topic to identify research gaps, improve collaboration, and inform decision-making.

In this article, we list five benefits of literature mapping for scientists and researchers and show you types and tools to save your time and help you find better evidence.

What is Literature Mapping?

Literature mapping is a process that involves analyzing and visualizing the scientific literature on a particular topic. It includes systematically searching, collecting, and reviewing relevant studies, articles, and books published in a specific field or discipline.

The purpose of literature mapping is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge on a topic, identify gaps in the literature, and potential areas for future research. It can be useful for those who seek to conduct a systematic review, develop a research proposal, or explore new research areas.

Benefits of Literature Mapping

Here are five benefits of literature mapping for scientists and researchers:

• Identify research gaps : Literature mapping helps researchers to identify gaps in the existing research and to determine areas that require further investigation.
• Visualize the research landscape : By creating visualizations of the scientific literature, researchers can see the relationships between different research topics.
• Save time : Literature mapping can help researchers save time by providing an overview of the literature on a particular topic, including relevant studies and duplicated work.
• Improve collaboration : Literature mapping can help researchers to collaborate more effectively by providing a shared understanding of the research landscape. This improves communication, and facilitates the workflow between different disciplines.
• Inform decision-making : Literature mapping can help researchers to make assertive decisions. This can be especially useful for policymakers and other decision-makers who need to make decisions based on scientific evidence.

Types of Literature Mapping

Feature mapping.

Feature mapping is a technique used primarily in data analysis and machine learning to identify patterns and relationships between features of a dataset. It involves analyzing the data and plotting the relationships between different features of the dataset on a map or chart.

Some of the main features include:

• Identification of relationships : Feature mapping can help identify the relationships between different features or variables in a dataset. This can allow for better modeling and prediction of outcomes.
• Pattern recognition : By plotting the relationships between features of a dataset, feature mapping can help identify patterns and anomalies that may not be immediately apparent in the raw data.
• Visualization : Feature mapping often involves creating visual representations of the relationships between features of a dataset. This can help make the data easier to understand and interpret.
• Dimension reduction : When dealing with large datasets with many features, feature mapping can help reduce the dimensionality of the data. This can help simplify the data and make it easier to analyze.
• Data clustering : Feature mapping can also help identify groups or clusters of data points that share similar features. This can allow for more targeted analysis and modeling of specific groups within the dataset.
• Feature selection : Feature mapping can aid in the selection of the most important features from a dataset. By identifying the relationships between features, researchers can determine which features are most relevant to the outcomes they are trying to predict.

Topic Tree Mapping

Topic tree mapping is a technique used to visualize and organize the relationships between different topics or themes within a larger subject area. It involves creating a hierarchical structure of topics, with more general topics at the top and more specific subtopics branching out below.

Content Mapping

Content mapping is the process of creating a visual representation or map of the content of a document, website, or other information source. It involves breaking down the content into its constituent parts, organizing it according to a logical structure, and presenting it in a user-friendly and easily accessible way.

Taxonomic Mapping

Taxonomic mapping is the process of assigning different taxonomic categories to specific objects or organisms based on their characteristics, traits, and other distinguishing features. This mapping enables the organization and identification of different species and helps researchers and scientists to conduct various studies and experiments related to their classification, evolution, and diversity.

Concept Mapping

Concept Mapping is a visual representation of the relationships between concepts and ideas in a particular field. It involves identifying key concepts, and organizing them into a hierarchical structure. It can help to identify gaps in knowledge and aid in the development of new theories.

Rhetorical Mapping

Rhetorical mapping is a process used in communication studies and critical discourse analysis to analyze the structure and content of discourse. It involves creating a visual representation or diagram of a text or speech that identifies its various components, such as arguments, claims, evidence, and rhetorical strategies used to persuade the audience. Rhetorical mapping allows researchers to understand how the speaker or writer uses language and persuasion techniques to influence the audience’s beliefs and attitudes.

Citation Mapping

Citation Mapping involves tracing the citation history of a particular article, and identifying the articles that have cited it. This can help to identify the impact of the article on the field, and identify related research.

Tools for Literature Mapping

• Citation Gecko : Citation Gecko is a web-based tool that allows users to quickly and easily search for and download citation data from various academic databases. It streamlines and simplifies the process of finding and organizing citations for research projects.
• Inciteful : Inciteful is a literature-mapping tool that visualizes citation networks and identifies key authors and articles within a particular field of research. It can be used to explore the literature on a specific topic, as well as to identify gaps in current research.
• OpenKnowledge : OpenKnowledge is an online platform for sharing and discovering research papers and other scholarly materials. It enables users to search for and download documents, as well as to connect with other researchers who are working in the same field.
• ConnectedPapers : ConnectedPapers is a search engine that allows users to explore citation networks and discover the most influential papers and authors in a particular field. It uses citation information to uncover relationships between different papers and to suggest potentially relevant articles to read.
• LitMaps : LitMaps is a mapping tool that allows users to explore the relationships between different articles and concepts within a particular field of study. It visualizes the connections between different scholarly articles and helps users to develop a deeper understanding of the underlying themes and concepts within a particular field.
• Local Citation Network : Local Citation Network is a tool for mapping the relationships between different articles and authors within a particular geographic area. It allows users to explore the research in progress in a particular region and to identify potential collaborators and sources of funding.
• CoCites : CoCites is a literature-mapping tool that identifies the most frequently cited articles and authors within a particular field. It allows users to explore the relationships between different papers and to identify key areas of research.
• VOSviewer : VOSviewer is a tool for visualizing citation networks and identifying key authors, papers, and concepts within a particular field of research. It allows users to explore the relationships between different papers and to identify areas of overlap and potential collaboration.
• ResearchRabbit : ResearchRabbit is a web-based research tool that allows users to search for and collect scholarly articles and other research materials. It streamlines the research process by helping users to find relevant articles and to organize and annotate their findings.

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You are here, structuring your ideas: creating a literature map.

It is important to have a plan of the areas to be discussed, using this to indicated how these will link together. In the overall structure of the literature review, there should be a logical flow of ideas and within each paragraph there should be a clear theme, around which related ideas are explored and developed. A literature map can be useful for this purpose as it enables you to create a visual representation of the themes and how they could relate to one another.

A literature map (Cresswell, 2011) is a two dimensional diagrammatic representation of information where links are made between concepts by drawing arrows (which could be annotated to define the nature of these links). Constructing a literature map helps you to:

• develop your understanding of the key issues and research findings in the literature
• to organise ideas in your mind
• to see more clearly how different research studies relate to one another and to group those with similar findings.

Your map can then be used as a plan for your literature review.

As well has helping you to organise the literature for your review, a literature map can be used to help you analyse the information in a particular journal article, supporting the exploration of strengths and weaknesses of the methodology and the resultant findings and enabling you to explore how key themes and concepts in the article link together.

It is important to represent the different views and any conflicting research findings that exist in the literature (Newby, 2014). There is a danger of selective referencing, only including literature that supports your own beliefs and findings, disregarding alternative views. This should be avoided as it is based on the assumption that your views are the correct ones, and it is possible that you could miss key ideas and findings that could take your research in new and exciting directions.

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Literature Reviews: A Working Definition

A literature review is a methodical or organized review of the published literature on a specific topic or research question designed to analyze--not just summarize--scholarly writings that are related directly to your research question. That is, it represents the literature that provides the context for your research and shows a correspondence between those writings and your own work.

Before you get started...

The past few years have seen an explosion of online tools designed to automate the process of doing literature reviews. These tools generally work by asking you to identify a relevant article (often called a "seed article") and use the metadata attached to articles (such as authors and keywords), or citations and reference lists to find related articles. Most tools offer some type of visualization feature to trace the connections between papers, and increasingly, tools offer summaries of the research content. These tools provide researchers with an option to at least partially automate some of their literature review work which can save a lot of time.

Things to keep in mind:

• Very little independent research has been done to test the reliability, scope, and accuracy of these tools
• In our own testing of tools that provide summaries of articles, we have sometimes found that summaries do not reflect the same key take-aways that we have identified
• Reproducibility of searches is questionable so they may not be the best choice for things like systematic reviews
• Because of the reliance on citation chaining, there is a built in bias towards heavily cited works which ends up creating a feedback loop that may cause you to miss relevant and/or newer materials
• Not everything is indexed in the data sets used by a given tool; this is particularly the case in the arts and humanities which are more oriented towards books
• Both the tools themselves, many of which are open access projects, and the indices they rely on may stop being updated/maintained, or go offline for a variety of reasons
• You still need to use a library to access full text in a majority of cases

NOTE: This is a rapidly evolving field and we will be updating this guide on a regular basis.

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Howard Aldrich

Kenan professor of sociology, dept of sociology @ unc chapel hill.

Powerful Tools for Mapping a Research Literature

Professor Courtney Page Tan , Assistant Professor of Human Resilience in the Department of Security and Emergency Services at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, has compiled a list of powerful literature mapping tools. You can use these tools to increase the scale and scope of the literature for your projects. Many provide stunning graphical displays of search results (Edward Tufte would approve).

Connected Papers lets you explore connected papers in a visual graph, beginning with a starter paper you select. You can start with a DOI, URL, or paper title. Purposes: (1) Get a visual overview of a new academic field; (2) Make sure you haven’t missed an important paper; (3) Create the bibliography to your thesis; and (4) Discover the most relevant prior and derivative works.

scite_ Smart Citations for Intelligent Research . Smart Citations allow users to see how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation and a classification describing whether it provides supporting or disputing evidence for the cited claim. They claim a database of over 23 million full-text articles.

Open Knowledge Maps . Calling themselves a “visual interface to the world’s scientific community,” their tool allows you to start with a few keywords to search for literature on a topic. Results display the main areas at a glance, and papers related to each area. In addition to giving you an overview of the area, it helps you identify important concepts. They highlight open access papers in their search results.

Local Citation Network . You input an article using its DOI or a scanned copy containing DOIs and the program shows you suggested articles for you to follow up.

They explain that “This web app aims to help scientists with their literature review using metadata from Microsoft Academic and Crossref . Academic papers cite one another, thus creating a citation network (= graph) . Each node (= vertex) represents an article and each edge (= link / arrow) represents a reference / citation. Citation graphs are a topic of bibliometrics, for which other great software exists as well .

This web app visualizes subsets of the global citation network that I call “local citation networks,” defined by the references of a given set of input articles. In addition, the most cited references missing in the set of input articles are suggested for further review.”

Citation Gecko Gecko is designed to help you find the most relevant papers to your research and give you a more complete sense of the research landscape. Users start from a small set of ‘seed papers’ that define an area you are interested. Gecko will search the citation network for connected papers allowing you to quickly identify important papers you may have missed.

PRISMA Flow Diagram Generator . This is the most complex of the tools. It generates a graphical representation of the flow of citations reviewed in the course of a Systematic Review. Click here for an example.

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How to Create a Literature Map

How to create a literature map. The Literature Map helps researchers review literature for gaps and points of impact. They are useful in both academic and industry related research projects to help gain traction and market interest.

Book a seat for our upcoming Literature Mapping Webinar Workshop

Learn More about Literature Mapping

Research projects usually start with a Literature Review which involves using tools such as search engines ( e.g. google scholar) and document management and reference systems (e.g. Endnote and Mandalay).

The literature review will attempt to create a space for the research project that has not been covered or is yet to be developed.

Literature Mapping uses graphical methods to plot your literature in a graphical format. There are many types of graphical method from mind mapping to infographic formats.

See our Research Gate Forum where leading experts have discussed the various graphical literature tools from Mind Maps through to Quiqqa and other methods.

Dr Jonathan Drane has developed a unique but simple literature mapping method which streamlines your literature review and helps you refine your topic and its place in the literature universe.

‘In our method we prefer to use a ‘cards on desktop’ graphical logic.  It uses cards (like the icons on your desktop) and allocates identifiers to the cards including different colours as well as other key information points. Think of each card as if it was a library card which is also linked back to the actual publication it refers to’. Dr Jonathan Drane

In the method there is also an X-Y axis to allow for key concept themes to be pinned to the axis. From there each card is positioned based on its alignment to the theme. In the chart below this method is applied to City Growth Dynamics themes from Dr Drane’s doctorate.

‘ As I spent weeks in the literature mapping phase of my doctorate I realised that it was made clearer by using graphical representation of the various themes and concepts.’ Dr Jonathan Drane

An example of his literature map system is shown above which is extracted from Dr Drane’s Doctorate .

Impact and Strategic Importance

Research occurs in a huge range of endeavours from academic research to competitive analysis, market and corporate strategy. A central activity in these is to make sure you know what the current literature, articles and books are in the relevant strategic arena.

The use of literature review is essential to maintaining a strategic advantage and identifying the gaps in the theory or in corporate offerings.

We recommed that you take some time out and attend our upcoming webinar on this topic . Whether you are an academic or a business person or government researcher, this is important.

We look forward to seeing you at this webinar.

Dr Jonathan Drane

Download this article and other related resources (free).

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Link to Jonathan’s Research Gate page page on Literature Mapping

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What is a “mapping study?”

You are familiar with those short literature reviews in the introduction of research studies. The author provides a brief background to the study, highlighting related research. You also know about review articles in which writers describe a batch of articles that they have selected. If there were a “reliability” spectrum of review articles, both of these would be on the low end—not because they are necessarily inaccurate, but because they were selected by the writer and may be biased.

On the other end of the spectrum is the systematic review, which, if done correctly, eliminates (or greatly reduces) possible bias. So it is felt to be the most reliable.

These types of reviews deal with the substance of the article's content. Something is studied, and the focus is on the results: “Here is what we found.” The review discusses the findings.

Mapping studies are also reviews, but they do not discuss the findings. They are based on the concept that published articles not only represent findings, but, indirectly, represent activity related to the finding. For example, an article that presents findings of a study at a community center of an education intervention to improve health represents not only the study results, but it also represents that research on community health education took place. The article also indicates where the research took place and, of course, in what journal it was published. So mapping collects data on kinds of activity, locations where it occurs, and media where it is published.

On the spectrum of reliability, mapping, if done correctly, is on the higher reliability end of the spectrum but still has some vulnerability: decisions about “core,” zones, and limits are arbitrary.

So, what is mapping? It is a review that seeks to identify, not results, but linkages. Mapping focuses on characteristics such as where the activity took place, where the funding came from, and in what journal or other medium it was presented. Mapping often focuses on published items but need not; some mapping studies include other media (e.g., books, newspapers, grant proposals).

Some definitions say mapping follows the flow of information through publications. The weakness of this definition is that citations may refer to established information, such as a laboratory test designed years ago; such citations do not represent flow of information. The information has been sitting in the researcher's information bin for years.

“Mapping” also sometimes refers to “concept maps,” which are visual tools that organize and display knowledge in a visual way, such as using flow charts, graphs, and Venn diagrams.

“Scoping reviews” also track down published studies but are more similar to systematic reviews. Compared to systematic reviews, scoping reviews do focus on findings but do not always have quality as an initial requirement to be included, and synthesis of data is typically more qualitative [ 1 ].

EXAMPLES OF MAPPING

Mapping research is performed in many disciplines. The method is sometimes called a systematic mapping review.

Have you ever wondered about the distribution of social content in Wikipedia? A mapping study found that the highest percent of articles, 30%, dealt with culture and the arts. The next 3 topics, in order, were “people and self,” geography and place, and society and social sciences. Health and fitness was eighth, taking up 2% of the social content articles [ 2 ]. This study was led by Aniket Kittur, an expert in human-computer interaction, social computing, and social networks.

Have you ever wondered about agricultural research in India? (You might, if you were a government policy advisor.) Most publications are on plants of economic interest, and the greatest subtopic is “Pests, pathogens and biogenic diseases of plants,” according to a mapping study by Subbiah Arunachalam, an editor and scientometricist. The professor added, “This macroscopic analysis not only provides an inventory of India's publications, but also gives an idea of endogenous research capacity. If appropriately linked with public policy, it can help restructure the nation's research priorities” [ 3 ].

If you wondered about the state of research about physical activity programs for adolescents, you would appreciate another recent mapping study. It found that most researchers used randomized controlled studies (about 80%), and most studies used self-report, although a third used pedometers or accelerometers [ 4 ]. They also found that research on the topic had increased recently.

MAPPING IN LIBRARY SCIENCES

Have you ever wondered about where clinical laboratory science and medical technology literature is published? A typical library science mapping study was done by Frances Delwiche. She found that the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature was the only database with complete coverage of the key journals. Delwiche said her study's goals were “to identify the predominant format of literature used in this field, the currency of the literature most frequently used, the core journals of the field, and the level of indexing coverage of the core journals by the major bibliographic databases. The results will serve as a valuable aid to librarians responsible for collection development in the field” [ 5 ].

In library science, many mapping studies focus on finding journals that publish the greatest number of related papers. These journals would be of higher priority for purchasing. The list may also be instructive to faculty, for example, to scan tables of contents.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Here is an example to illustrate the literature mapping process. This is an imaginary exercise, and the data are made up. Suppose you want to map the literature of pediatric podiatry research. What this means is, you want to describe where the published research is coming from.

First, you identify the major journals related to pediatric podiatry. You ask people who use pediatric podiatry information what they think are the key or most important research journals for them. There are other ways to find major journals: For example, impact factors might be used; however, a journal's impact factor may be due to its publication of articles not related to pediatric podiatry. Regardless of the method used to select major journals, the process is a judgment call. Usually, you decide there are a handful of major journals.

Then you search the major journals for every article related to pediatric podiatry published in the past 3 years. You find 100 articles. From these articles, you extract all the references that they cite. This becomes your database. Each article has about 7 end-of-article reference citations, so you have 700 items.

For each of the 700 items (citations) in your database, you have or can find the name of the journal it was published in (its origin), the location of the researchers, and the source of funding. You can group your items by any characteristic you wish. Perhaps you want to know where the research is coming from: you group by location of the researchers. Perhaps you want to know where the funding comes from: you group by funding source. We are librarians, so we group by the title of the journal.

You then have a database, a list. Each row will have the journal name and the number of articles in that journal that were cited by articles related to pediatric podiatry in the major journals. For example, the Journal of Podiatry might be at the top of the list, as it was the source journal for 100 citations in the major journals. The next highest number might be 50, associated with the Annals of Podiatry . The third might be Pediatric Orthopedics (a surprise to you) with 25 citations. These 3 journals accounted for 175 or one quarter of the total. You want to find the journals that are sources for much of the work, which is usually about a third of the database items, so you add 4 more journals to your list until you reach 233 total citations (1/3 of 700). You label these 7 journals as in Zone 1 for journals that provide important information as defined by having many articles cited in a major journal.

Now, you want to define Zone 2. You go down your list until you find journals that were sources for another 233 citations. There will undoubtedly be more than 7 journals, following Bradford's Law of Scattering ( Figure 1 ). Bradford's Law does not provide a proscriptive formula: journals can be moved in and out of Zone 1 to make the map fit the pattern. In this case, there are 14 more journals, and you label them as being in Zone 2.

Bradford's Law of Scattering

You can now advise librarians that two-thirds of important literature related to pediatric podiatry will likely be in journals that are in the 21 (7+14) journals that are in Zone 1 or Zone 2 of your list.

If you had done the sorting by researcher location, you might have said that most of the research came from large Midwestern states or something like that.

If you had done the sorting by funding source, you might have said that most of the funding came from the National Institutes of Health, and second was the Pediatric Podiatry Foundation.

The Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section mapping review process is described in a separate article (See Perryman: “Mapping Studies,” this issue).

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Thank you to Shelley Arvin, Cunningham Memorial Library, Indiana University, for contributing to this manuscript.

I. Diane Cooper, MSLS, AHIP, moc.liamg@xobrotidealmj , Editor-in-Chief, Journal of the Medical Library Association

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Concept maps or mind maps visually represent relationships of different concepts. In research, they can help you make connections between ideas. You can use them as you are formulating your research question, as you are reading a complex text, and when you are creating a literature review. See the video and examples below.

How to Create a Concept Map

Credit: Penn State Libraries ( CC-BY ) Run Time: 3:13

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Mind Map of a Text Example

Credit: Austin Kleon. A map I drew of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing in 2008. Tumblr post. April 14, 2016. http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/142802684061#notes

Literature Review Mind Map Example

This example shows the different aspects of the author's literature review with citations to scholars who have written about those aspects.

Credit: Clancy Ratliff, Dissertation: Literature Review. Culturecat: Rhetoric and Feminism [blog]. 2 October 2005. http://culturecat.net/node/955 .

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Aaron Tay maintains a large, comprehensive list of literature mapping tools on his blog. Here are a few popular free, or freemium, ones:

• Research Rabbit Always free, non-profit citation chasing literature mapping and visualization tool. Searches a very large literature corpus covering >90% of academic databases, plus grey literature. Start with uploaded citations, or link to Zotero citation manager. Clear FAQ and help documentation .
• Connected Papers Searches the Semantic Scholar database. Allows you to create and explore a visual map of connected papers based on any single search result. Free tier allows limited number of maps per month.
• Inciteful Free literature mapper based on a seed paper, or pair of papers to explore connecting literature.
• Iris.ai Explore literature from open access research papers (from CORE UK and PubMed, >70 million items) on an AI generated map. Free tier requires you to supply an article URL, maps connections to it, and allows you to filter the map with concepts you supply.
• Litmaps Literature navigator and recommender with a free tier. Allows you to search and generates a map of relevant articles based on any one paper. Search results are drawn from CrossRef, OpenAlex, and Semantic Scholar (>200 million items). Allows both citation-based search and semantic similarity searching.
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3 Innovative Literature Mapping Tools for Citation Maps 

In the ever-evolving landscape of academic research, navigating through vast amounts of literature can be daunting. Enter innovative literature mapping tools, packed with unique features.

They simplify and revolutionise the way researchers interact with scientific literature, enhancing the efficiency and depth of literature reviews.

Let’s dive into how these tools are reshaping the approach to academic research.

Innovative Literature Mapping Tools

What is a literature mapping tool.

A citation mapping tool is a game-changer. Think of it as a detective tool that uncovers the intricate web of connections within scientific literature.

These tools visualise citation relationships, creating a citation map or literature map that guides you through the complex maze of scholarly papers.

One popular example is Inciteful, offering innovative literature mapping tools that not only track citation links but also analyse the context of the citation, revealing direct citation relationships and co-citation networks.

Imagine you have a ‘seed paper,’ a starting point in your literature review. A literature mapping tool then take this seed paper and branch out, finding papers:

• That cite it (direct citation relationships) or
• Those that share a thematic connection (co-citation). 

This forms a citation tree or network, showing you not just one paper but a cluster of similar papers, interconnected by their citation relationships.

More modern citation mapping tool also integrated AI. They not only map out citation relationships but also delve into the citation context or sentiment, offering a richer, more nuanced understanding of how papers are interconnected. 

Litmaps is a cutting-edge citation mapping tool that offers a unique approach to visualising the connections in scientific literature.

It’s designed to simplify and enhance the process of conducting a literature review, especially for researchers looking to map out the citation landscape of a specific topic.

At its core, Litmaps lets you visualise citation relationships in a dynamic, interactive manner. It works by creating a literature map that shows how different papers are connected through citations. 

You start with a ‘seed paper,’ and Litmaps builds a citation network around it, by:

• Identifying seminal papers,
• similar papers, and 
• Other papers that cite your chosen article.

This is particularly helpful for understanding the context and development of research in a given field.

One of the key features of Litmaps is its ability to create a citation tree. This tree not only shows direct citation relationships but also highlights co-citations. This gives you a deeper insight into how ideas and research are interconnected.

In terms of visualisation, Litmaps excels. It uses a similarity graph, not just a standard citation graph, to display connections.

This means you’re seeing a more nuanced representation of the literature, based on the similarity metric of papers, rather than just citation counts.

Litmaps also allows for a high level of customisation. You can filter papers based on:

• The number of citations,
• Publication date, and even
• Specific keywords.

This makes it a highly flexible tool for conducting systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

Litmaps also have a more user-friendly interface, and additional features like tracking the latest papers on a specific topic or a random set of systematic reviews.

Inciteful is an innovative literature mapping tool that stands out in the field of academic research for its unique approach to visualizing citation networks.

This tool is designed to make the process of literature review more intuitive and insightful, especially for researchers and scholars delving into new or complex fields.

When you use Inciteful, you start by selecting a ‘seed paper’. From this single paper, Inciteful creates a citation network, branching out to reveal not only papers that cite your chosen article but also those that are contextually related through co-citation and citation relationships.

This forms a comprehensive citation map, allowing you to see how various research pieces interconnect.

A standout feature of Inciteful is its visualization capabilities. The tool presents a citation graph, where each node represents a paper, and connecting lines indicate citation links.

This visualization helps you grasp the structure of scientific discourse in a field, revealing seminal papers, emerging trends, and key authors. You can then filter and sort papers based on keywords, number of citations, or publication date.

Inciteful isn’t just about numbers of citations; it delves deeper. The tool analyzes the context of citations, bringing to light the sentiment and relevance of each citation relationship.

This adds an extra layer of depth to your literature review, offering insights that go beyond traditional citation counting. Inciteful Incorporates metadata from various sources like:

• Google Scholar,
• Web of Science, and
• Microsoft Academic

Inciteful also ensures that its citation network is rich and current. The tool also supports importing bibliographic data in BibTeX format, making it flexible and adaptable to various research needs.

This makes Inciteful not just a powerful research tool but also a highly customizable one, suited for everything from quick overviews to in-depth systematic reviews.

Connected Papers

Connected Papers is a cool literature mapping tool that offers researchers and scholars an intuitive way to explore the citation network of a specific paper or topic.

It stands out compared to the other mapping tools for its user-friendly design and effective visualisation techniques.

Connected Papers takes a ‘seed paper’ of your choice, then generates a citation graph based on the seed paper, producing a visual network that displays how this paper is connected to others through direct citations and co-citations.

This network reveals the most relevant papers, showing you the ‘big picture’ of research trends and developments related to your topic.

The citation graph in Connected Papers isn’t just a simple map; it’s a detailed visualisation tool. Each node represents a paper, and the lines between them indicate citation relationships.

This visualisation allows you to easily identify:

• Research papers,
• Citations, and even 
• Emerging trends in the field.

You can see at a glance which papers are most cited and how they interlink, providing a comprehensive overview of the scientific landscape.

Connected Papers uses metadata and bibliographic information from databases like Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Microsoft Academic. This ensures that the citation network you’re exploring is both extensive and up-to-date.

It also supports importing data in BibTeX format, making it versatile for different research needs.

This tool is particularly valuable for researchers who are looking to map out the landscape of a new or complex field. It helps in identifying related papers that might not be immediately obvious, providing a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

Literature Review Made Easy, With Citation Map Tools

Litmaps, Inciteful, and Connected Papers represent the forefront of academic research tools, each bringing a unique approach to literature mapping.

They empower researchers with advanced visualisation, comprehensive citation networks, and user-friendly interfaces, making literature reviews more efficient and insightful.

As the landscape of scientific research continues to grow, these tools are invaluable allies in navigating and understanding the complex web of academic knowledge.

Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.

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How to undertake a literature search: a step-by-step guide

Affiliation.

• 1 Literature Search Specialist, Library and Archive Service, Royal College of Nursing, London.
• PMID: 32279549
• DOI: 10.12968/bjon.2020.29.7.431

Undertaking a literature search can be a daunting prospect. Breaking the exercise down into smaller steps will make the process more manageable. This article suggests 10 steps that will help readers complete this task, from identifying key concepts to choosing databases for the search and saving the results and search strategy. It discusses each of the steps in a little more detail, with examples and suggestions on where to get help. This structured approach will help readers obtain a more focused set of results and, ultimately, save time and effort.

Keywords: Databases; Literature review; Literature search; Reference management software; Research questions; Search strategy.

• Databases, Bibliographic*
• Information Storage and Retrieval / methods*
• Nursing Research
• Review Literature as Topic*

• Skip to search box
• Skip to main content

Princeton University Library

Literature mapping.

• Manual Mapping
• Connected Papers
• Open Knowledge Maps
• Research Rabbit

Litmaps creates interactive literature maps: collections of articles that make up your different research topics. Create maps for your research by searching our literature database; linking your reference manager; or through automatic generation from seed articles.

• << Previous: Manual Mapping
• Next: Connected Papers >>
• Last Updated: Dec 15, 2023 3:29 PM
• URL: https://libguides.princeton.edu/litmapping

Literature Reviews

• What is a Literature Review?
• Concept Mapping
• Writing a Proposal
• For Faculty

Need help? Ask a librarian

Concept map example: Chocolate Purchasing Factors

What is concept mapping.

Concept Maps are a way to graphically represent ideas and how they relate to each other.

Concept maps may be simple designs illustrating a central theme and a few associated topics or complex structures that delineate hierarchical or multiple relationships.

J.D. Novak developed concept maps in the 1970's to help facilitate the research process for his students. Novak found that visually representing thoughts helped students freely associate ideas without being blocked or intimidated by recording them in a traditional written format.

Concept mapping involves defining a topic; adding related topics; and linking related ideas

Use Bubbl.us or search for more free mind-mapping tools on the web.

More Examples of Concept Maps

• Govt Factors in Consumer Choice
• Mental Health
• Social Psychology
• << Previous: Examples
• Next: Writing a Proposal >>
• Last Updated: Mar 25, 2024 8:48 AM
• URL: https://researchguides.njit.edu/literaturereview