ResearchRabbit is a powerful literature search tool that helps you find the most relevant papers for your research topic quickly. Whether you’re starting from scratch or building on a library you already have, here’s how to use ResearchRabbit to dive into the literature faster.
How to start searching with ResearchRabbit
You can jump into a new search from scratch by looking directly for papers on your research topic or question. Here's how to start with a simple keyword search:
Log into the application: Sign up for free if you haven't already
Click the search bar: Type in keywords on your topic. Avoid typing in your entire research question, and instead focus on specific key terms you want to explore.
Hit Enter
Review the results: ResearchRabbit will return a list of papers related to your search. Look for:
Relevance in the title and abstract
Recency (recent publication date)
Influence (citation count and journal quality)
Select seed paper(s): Select 1–3 papers that look promising. These will become the seeds of your search.
Click "Find more articles": ResearchRabbit will use these papers to jump-start a new search, using these papers as inputs. This is where the real searching begins!
Review the results: Now, ResearchRabbit has found the most relevant papers to your topic based on how they connect (through citations and references) to your seed paper(s). Review these by:
Map: Clicking on the papers on the map to see how they connect to one another
List: Reviewing the articles in the list. Click it to see its position on the Map.
👉 ResearchRabbit helps you discover literature not just based on your topic or keywords, but based on connection.
You can keep up the search by saving relevant articles you find, and creating a new search iteration. This allows you to jump into the research rabbit hole with ease, making sure you go down the right path with purpose!
How to search using an existing library
Already have a set of papers you want to build on? ResearchRabbit makes it easy to start searching from an existing library.
Option 1: Use a ResearchRabbit collection
If you’ve already been saving papers in ResearchRabbit, you can run a new search based on that collection. To search on an existing collection in ResearchRabbit:
Open your library
Select the papers or collection(s) you want to use as seeds
Click "Find more articles" to start exploring related research
Option 2: Upload or import articles
Are you using a reference manager like Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote or RefWorks? You can import any papers from there to ResearchRabbit. Simply go to your library, export the articles, and import the file into ResearchRabbit to search on them.
To import articles into ResearchRabbit:
Click "Import" on the home page or drop the file directly into the search bar
Import a BibTeX, RIS, or CSV of references
Click "Import __ articles"
That's it! ResearchRabbit will immediately create a new search with your articles as seed inputs. Review the suggestions to find potential missing links in your work.
👉 No matter where you begin, whether with keywords, a Zotero library, or your own curated set of references, ResearchRabbit uses those inputs to generate new recommendations. Each time you save or add a paper, your search gets sharper and more comprehensive.
Next steps
With ResearchRabbit, searching isn’t a one-off action. It’s iterative discovery. Start with a few keywords or papers, review the results, save the best ones, and let ResearchRabbit surface the next wave of relevant research.
New to ResearchRabbit? Try your first keyword search today.
Already have a reading list? Import it and see what you’ve been missing.
ResearchRabbit helps you discover faster, search smarter, and stay organized, all in one place.