Your map shows how the papers in your search connect, so you can spot foundational work, the latest research and where the gaps are at a glance. 🐰 Here's how to read it.
The basics
Left to right: publication date. Older papers sit on the left, and more recently published papers on the right.
Bottom to top: citations. The higher a paper sits, the more often it has been cited.
Dots: each dot is a paper. The bigger the dot, the more connected it is to the rest of your map.
Lines and arrows: citations between papers. An arrow points from a paper to a paper it cites.
What the dots mean
Seed icon: your Seeds, the papers you started from.
Hollow dots: recommended papers ResearchRabbit has found for you.
Coloured dots: papers you've saved, shown in the colour of their collection.
Badges: red or orange badges flag possible risks with a paper. See Exploring article risk with Signals.
Changing what you see
Click the eye icon at the top right of the map to open Display Settings:
Collection Colors: show or hide your collection colours on the dots.
Article Connections: show or hide the citation lines. Hiding them can make a busy map easier to read.
Moving around the map
Use the controls at the bottom of the map to select papers, zoom in and out, and recentre the map. Click a paper to see its details, and to explore its Similar papers, Refs and Cites. To add more papers to your map, see How to grow your map.
Reading a real map
Here's what an example map tells you, paper by paper.
Eastman, 2009 and Kharbouch, 2006 (top left)
These are big dots high up on the left: older papers with lots of citations. Almost every arrow on the map ends up pointing at Eastman, 2009, which makes it the foundational paper in this set. If you're writing about this topic, your reviewers will expect to see it cited.
Fenves, 1966 and Delis, 1995 (far left, lower down)
These are the oldest papers on the map, but they sit lower than Eastman. They're early work the field grew out of, but they don't get cited as often today. They're useful if you want to show where an idea began.
Zhou, 2022 and Chen, 2024 (top right)
These are recent papers that are already well cited. They're currently influential. Read these to find out where the field is heading and which debates are live right now.
Zou, 2023 and Senousy, 2026 (bottom right)
These are recent papers with few citations so far. Senousy, 2026 sits right at the bottom because it's brand new, but look at all the arrows coming out of it. It cites papers from across the whole map. Its reference list is a ready-made reading list for the field.
The orange and pink collections
Orange papers are spread across the whole timeline, from 2006 to 2023. Pink papers are clustered on the right, from 2024 onwards. So the pink collection is made up of recent work only. If that collection is part of your literature review, you may be missing the foundational papers it builds on.
What to look for on your own map
Open your map and work through these questions.
Which paper has the most arrows pointing at it? That's likely the key reference in your area. Make sure it's in your collection and in your reading list.
What's in your top left corner? These foundational papers belong in the background or opening section of your literature review.
What's in your top right corner? Read these to check your review reflects where the field is now, and not only where it was ten years ago.
What's in your bottom right corner? Emerging papers can point to new methods, fresh questions and gaps you could explore in your own research.
Is one colour bunched up in one part of the map? If a collection sits only on the right, it may be missing older foundational work. If it sits only on the left, it may be out of date.
Are there any red or orange badges? Check these papers before you cite them. Red means significant risks were found, so investigate before relying on the paper.
💡 Tip: A recent paper with lots of arrows coming out of it has already done a lot of the reading for you. Open it and look through its references.