The chart in Analyze shows every article in your search as a single dot, so you can see the shape of the research at a glance.
What does each dot mean?
One dot is one article.
Dots are stacked by publication year. Older articles sit on the left and newer ones on the right.
Taller columns mean more articles were published that year.
A tall stack on the right tells you the topic is busy right now. A few lonely dots on the far left are often the roots of the field: classic early papers worth digging up.
What happens to the dots when I add filters?
When you add a filter, the articles that match are highlighted and the rest fade to light grey, so you can see where your matching articles sit against the whole search. The labels at the top of the chart switch between two views:
Keywords: matching articles are shown in the color of each keyword you’ve added, so you can see which articles match which keyword.
Combined Filters: only the articles that match everything you’ve set are shown, in dark blue. This is the number you explore.
The numbers at the top are buttons as well as counts. The Keywords number counts articles that match your keywords, and the Combined Filters number counts those that match everything.
How do I move around the chart?
Use the controls at the bottom of the chart:
Zoom in and zoom out: get a closer look at a busy year
Recentre: snap the chart back to its starting view