Finding papers is no problem, but finding the ones you really care about is hard. Literature maps give you perspective to quickly identify and prioritise papers. Here are 4 ways to quickly find important papers using the free tool, Litmaps. #ad
A network data visualisation showing various papers (as circle nodes) connected together with lines. The x axis is the citation count and the y axis is map relevance.

ALT A network data visualisation showing various papers (as circle nodes) connected together with lines. The x axis is the citation count and the y axis is map relevance.

Aug 15, 2023 · 4:06 PM UTC

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First, here's how to set up a Literature Map. Try it with a set of papers you need to go through. If you're already using a reference manager like Zotero or Mendeley, just export your collection as a BibTeX.
a page from the litmaps tool showing how to export items

ALT a page from the litmaps tool showing how to export items

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Go to Maps within the Litmaps app by clicking it on the sidebar. Here, just click "New Map" to get started.
a page from the litmaps tool showing how to create a new map

ALT a page from the litmaps tool showing how to create a new map

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Import your papers into the Map Click on "Add Articles" -> "Import from Reference Manager" and upload the appropriate file. If you want to use papers you found in other ways, you can also search for articles by title, DOI, author, etc. by using "Search for Articles".
a page from the litmaps tool showing how to upload papers (e.g. BibTex, or RIS files)

ALT a page from the litmaps tool showing how to upload papers (e.g. BibTex, or RIS files)

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All your papers are represented as nodes. Connected papers cite or reference one another. By default, the map is sorted by Citation Count on the y-axis and Date of publication on the x-axis. Save your Map so in the later steps we can change the axes to prioritise papers.
a litmaps visualization of papers connected to each other based on citation, there is an option to change the axes

ALT a litmaps visualization of papers connected to each other based on citation, there is an option to change the axes

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1: Find the most recent, impactful work Look at papers towards the top right of the Map. These will be relatively recent papers with the most citations. When tackling a new topic, these can be a great place to start to see what are the most recent, important contributions.
a litmaps visualisation showing where to look to find the most recent impactful papers (top right of the graph)

ALT a litmaps visualisation showing where to look to find the most recent impactful papers (top right of the graph)

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2: Spot the most impactful and central papers Citation count is a good measure for impact but a paper can be impactful without being central to your topic. That's where Map Relevance comes in. It tells how well-connected each paper is. (Click on the Legend to change the axes)
a litmaps visualisation showing "map relevance", how well connected a particular research paper is

ALT a litmaps visualisation showing "map relevance", how well connected a particular research paper is

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3: Find new trailblazers When looking for new papers that made a big impact, you can't use citation count alone. It'll be skewed towards earlier publications. Instead, use "Momentum" - that's citation count adjusted for time. A couple new, exciting papers reveal themselves.
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4: Spot review papers Review papers are easy to spot when you visualise by Reference count and Citation count. In this map on co-composting papers, the review papers are the top two according to these measures.
a litmaps visualisation showing how to spot review papers (high on references and citation count)

ALT a litmaps visualisation showing how to spot review papers (high on references and citation count)

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Did you find this thread helpful? Like and retweet the first tweet in this thread to help other researchers manage their papers better. Follow us and @LitmapsApp for more helpful workflows and research tips.
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