ResearchRabbit Database
The ResearchRabbit database has 270+ million research articles.
We use three data providers to ensure the best coverage possible:
Our database includes articles with Open Access Metadata. That can include articles that are both Open Access, and those behind publisher paywalls.
We seek to maintain a robust database, because that's what high-quality research requires. Since we source our data from multiple providers, we have one of the largest academic databases among similar tools.
We have many common publishers including:
PubMed
arXiv
bioRxiv
medRxiv
Web of Science
Scopus
Microsoft Academic Graph
📌 Want to check publisher coverage? See some of the included publishers here.
Common Questions: Database
What's the coverage of the ResearchRabbit database?
The Litmaps database covers 270+ million articles across multiple disciplines, pulling data mainly from Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, and Crossref.
A 2022 study in Scientometrics found that Semantic Scholar has the second-best subject coverage across 56 research databases (Gusenbauer, 2022). Since we use this data, our coverage is comparable to top-tier scientific databases.
How does the ResearchRabbit database maintain quality?
Our core search algorithm relies on citations, but citation-based searches can be biased due to citation hacking, predatory journals, and unreliable research, a challenge for all literature search tools.
How we maintain quality:
Update the database weekly to ensure accuracy.
Prioritize the most recent, highest-cited versions of articles.
This approach enhances transparency and reliability in your research discovery.
Why is a paper missing?
There are several reasons an article can be missing from our database.
If an article is missing, possible reasons include:
✔ It lacks Open Access metadata, meaning we cannot legally index it.
✔ It has not been indexed by Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, or Crossref.
✔ It is too new, and its data has not been fully updated.
Why is a paper missing citations or references?
Sometimes articles our database display a lower number of references and/or citations than an article is expected to have. This can be for several reasons:
✔ You're comparing the citations and references to other sites (i.e. Google Scholar) which calculate them differently.
✔ Those references/citations don't have Open Access metadata.
✔ Some newer articles may have a delay in their citations and references appearing.
✔ Citations of older articles by very recent articles may similarly have a delay before appearing.
✔ You're looking for a different version of the article. Different versions may have different DOIs.
What is Open Access Metadata?
Open Access Metadata refers to the metadata of articles being accessible to databases like us. That metadata includes:
Title
Author(s)
Publication date
Abstract
References & citations
Open Access means that the publisher has made this information publicly accessible. We're legally only able to index Open Access metadata, so we can't represent articles (or citations/references of articles) that don't have this supplied.
Open Access (OA) articles are not the same as those with Open Access metadata. OA articles are a subset of literature whose actual paper contents are publicly accessible. Our database has both OA articles and closed-access articles.
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