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Connected Papers
Literature mapping
Connected Papers uses an algorithm to judge similarity between journal articles, then presents you with a visual map of connected articles. You need to create an account to use this application, and there are free and paid options. A free account will provide access to five graphs per month.
Once you have created an account, use the search bar to identify the paper you want to use as your origin paper. You can search by DOI (digital object identifier) or URL, but the simplest way to search is by title.
Figure 1: Search bar in Connected Papers
Once you have selected your Origin Paper, you can create a map of papers that are connected to it through citations. The map is accompanied by a list of those papers, divided into "Prior" (older) papers and "Derivative" (newer) papers.
Figure 2: Literature map on Connected Papers
Interpreting the graph
The “origin paper” can be identified by its grey halo. When you click on other papers in the graph, your selected paper will get a white halo and a line will appear, illustrating the connection(s) between that paper and the origin paper.
These lines can move backwards and forwards in time, directly connecting the papers (sometimes via intermediate papers) or demonstrating indirect relationships of similarity.
In the illustration below, three papers are highlighted, and we can see a direct line of influence: Carothers, 2013 influenced Zell, 2015 which influenced Gergen, 2018.
Figure 3: Direct relationship between three papers on Connected Papers
In the illustration below, three papers are highlighted, and we can see a less direct relationship of similarity: Zell, 2015 influenced BOTH Gergen, 2018 and Archer, 2019.
Figure 4: Direct and indirect relationships between three papers on Connected Papers
Looking at both illustrations, we can infer that Carothers, 2013 influenced Zell, 2015 which influenced BOTH Gergen, 2018 and Archer, 2019.
Advantages
- Interactive graph makes relationships between papers clear.
- Useful for visual learners.
Disadvantages:
- At the time of writing, the DOI search function is unreliable and the Semantic Scholar Paper URL search function is not intuitive to use.
- Free account users limited to 5 graphs per month.