Litmaps

What Litmaps is

Litmaps helps researchers find papers and organize literature reviews using citation networks and advanced search. Its catalogue contains more than 270 million papers. A Litmap shows connections between articles through citations and references; users can visualize and annotate papers and change how the map is arranged. Topic monitoring sends automatic emails when new articles appear. Maps can be shared as images, public links, or with selected email addresses. The free plan includes basic search, up to 20 inputs and 100 articles, one Litmap, and a monthly summary, but not collaboration. Pro Education costs $10 a month, billed $120 / year, and provides advanced search, unlimited inputs, articles, and Litmaps, plus daily or configurable alerts; an academic email address is required. A Team plan offers unlimited team-wide collaboration and those advanced search and unlimited-use features, with pricing available by inquiry. Litmaps Pro syncs Zotero collections and Litmaps Tags in both directions. Articles can also be imported from BibTeX, RIS, or PubMed files and exported in BibTeX, RIS, or CSV. Open Access PDFs are available to all users; other PDF access requires institutional access through LibKey.

Who it suits

It suits researchers discovering papers, mapping citation relationships, and organizing literature reviews. Teams needing shared maps or collaboration can consider the Team plan; Pro Education requires an academic email address.

Limits

The free plan is limited to basic search, 20 inputs, 100 articles, one Litmap, and a monthly summary, and it has no collaboration. Pro (Education) requires an academic email address; PDFs other than Open Access papers require institutional access through LibKey.

Getting started

1. Open the Litmaps website and use its web-based service.
2. Start with the free plan, or choose Pro (Education) with an academic email address.
3. Search for papers, then create a Litmap to visualize citation and reference connections.
4. Import references from BibTeX, RIS, or PubMed files if needed.
5. Share a map as an image, public link, or with selected email addresses.

Verdict

Litmaps combines paper discovery with citation mapping, monitoring, and sharing. The free plan has defined limits, while Pro Education expands search and usage and Team adds collaboration.