Research rarely goes in a straight line. You spot an interesting paper, wonder where it leads, and want to follow it. 🐰 That's what Rabbit-holes are for. They let you follow your curiosity down any path, while your main search stays exactly where you left it.
When to use a Rabbit-hole
Follow a hunch: see where an interesting paper leads, without committing to it.
Explore a new direction: look into a related topic, method or field you hadn't considered.
Go deeper: trace an idea back to its origins, or forward to the latest work.
Stay focused: wander as far as you like, knowing your base map is safe.
How to open a Rabbit-hole
From a paper
Open any paper and click:
Similar: papers that often appear in the same reference lists as this one.
Refs: the papers this one cites.
Cites: the papers that cite this one.
An author's name: other papers by that author.
From Analyze
Add filters in the Analyze tab, then click Explore matching articles (RR+). Your matching papers open as a Rabbit-hole, labelled with your filters. See How to filter articles in Analyze.
Finding your way around
Each Rabbit-hole opens as a new tab, named after the paper or your filters.
Switch between your base map and your Rabbit-holes using the icons on the left.
You can open a Rabbit-hole from inside another one, and go as many layers deep as you like.
Inside a Rabbit-hole
Top results first: a Rabbit-hole opens with the most relevant papers. Click Show more to dig deeper.
Grow settings: click the settings icon next to Show more to choose where to find articles from, how to rank them and how many to add. See How to grow your map.
Sort and filter: reorder your list, or narrow it down with Filter (RR+), just like in your main search.
Bringing papers back to your search
Found something useful? Use the Merge bar at the top of the Rabbit-hole:
Choose which papers to merge.
Check the search they're going into.
Click Merge. The papers are added to your base map as Seeds.
💡 Your Rabbit-holes are saved as part of your Search Journey, so you can come back and pick up where you left off.
Common questions
Will exploring a Rabbit-hole change my main search?
No. Your base map stays as it is. Papers only join it when you merge them in.
How is a Rabbit-hole different from growing my map?
Growing adds papers to your base map, based on all your Seeds. A Rabbit-hole explores separately from one paper, or from a filtered set of papers, so you can look around before deciding what to bring back.