Litmaps
Literature review software for better research
About Litmaps
Litmaps is a literature discovery and citation mapping tool that helps researchers find relevant academic papers through citation and reference connections. It searches a catalogue of 270+ million papers, visualizes how articles relate on interactive maps, and emails alerts when new papers on a topic are published.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Citation-network discovery surfaces relevant papers that keyword searches in standard databases miss
- Visual date-versus-citation maps make it easy to identify seminal papers and research clusters
- Free plan is usable for small projects, and education licenses get a 75% discount on Pro
- Automated literature alerts keep researchers current on new publications in their topic
- Zotero sync fits into existing reference-management workflows
- Used by 350,000+ researchers across 150 countries
Cons
- Free plan is capped at 2 maps and 100 articles per map, and alerts are paid-only
- Commercial Pro pricing ($40-$50/month) is steep compared with the education rate
- Shows how papers connect but not whether later work supports or contradicts them
- Not suited as the primary search method for systematic reviews that require strict, reproducible database searches
Key Features
Citation-Based Discovery
Finds the most relevant articles by following citations and references from one or more seed papers, rather than keyword matching alone.
270M+ Paper Catalogue
Search across a catalogue of more than 270 million academic articles to start or expand a literature review.
Interactive Literature Maps
Visualize collections of papers as maps, plotted by date and citation count or other measures, to spot seminal works and clusters.
Seed Maps
Generate a map of connected literature from a single starting paper to quickly orient yourself in an unfamiliar field.
Literature Alerts
Weekly or configurable email updates when new articles connected to your maps are published (Pro and Team).
Advanced Search and Filters
Unlimited inputs and custom filters to narrow discovery results on paid plans.
Zotero Sync
Sync collections with a Zotero account so maps and reference libraries stay aligned.
Sharing and Collaboration
Share Litmaps with colleagues, students, or advisors; the Team plan adds team-wide unlimited collaboration.
Annotation
Annotate articles on a map to record notes and structure a literature review.
Pricing
- Basic search
- Up to 20 inputs
- 2 Litmaps
- 100 articles per map
- No literature alerts
- Billed annually ($12.50/month billed monthly)
- Advanced search
- Unlimited inputs, articles, and Litmaps
- Weekly / configurable literature alerts
- Country-based discounts available
- Billed annually ($50/month billed monthly)
- Advanced search
- Unlimited inputs, articles, and Litmaps
- Weekly / configurable literature alerts
- Everything in Pro
- Team-wide unlimited collaboration
- Licensing for classrooms and labs
- Institution-wide licensing
- Custom plans
Best For
Starting a Literature Review
Students and researchers drop in a seed paper and get a map of connected work to scope a new topic quickly.
Finding Missed Papers
Expand an existing reference list through citations to catch relevant studies and gaps before submitting a thesis or paper.
Staying Current in a Field
Set up literature alerts so new papers related to your maps arrive by email each week.
Supervising Students and Labs
Advisors and lab teams share maps to align on core literature and onboard new members.
Writing a Related Work Section
Build out a related work section by iteratively adding interesting papers and exploring their connections.
Similar Tools
AnkiDecks AI
AI flashcard generator that converts your notes to Anki cards in seconds
Elicit
AI for scientific research
Jenni AI
AI-powered academic writing and research assistant
SciSpace
AI research agent with 150+ tools and 280M+ papers
Sourcely
Find Sources in Seconds. Save Your Sleep.
Synthical
AI-powered platform for science discovery