What is Connected Papers?
Connected Papers helps researchers explore a field visually. You enter a paper by DOI, arXiv link, title, or a Semantic Scholar or PubMed URL, and it draws a graph of similar papers. Papers that are closely related sit near each other, so you can quickly see the main clusters, key works and recent activity around a topic.
Beyond the graph, the Prior Works view surfaces important earlier papers the field builds on, and the Derivative Works view finds later reviews and state-of-the-art work that followed. It draws on the Semantic Scholar database, which covers hundreds of millions of papers across every science. The free plan gives 5 graphs a month with all features; Academic and Business plans unlock unlimited graphs.
Main Features
- Visual similarity graph built from a single paper
- Prior Works view for foundational papers
- Derivative Works view for reviews and newer research
- Multi-origin graphs from several starting papers
- Saved papers and graph history
- Covers all fields via the Semantic Scholar database
How to Get Started with Connected Papers
- Go to connectedpapers.com
- Paste a DOI, arXiv link, paper URL or title
- Click Build a graph and explore the nodes
- Open Prior or Derivative Works to widen your reading list
Connected Papers Pricing
The free plan includes 5 graphs per month with all features. Academic costs $3 a month (billed $36 a year) for academics, non-profits and personal use, and Business costs $10 a month (billed $120 a year), both with unlimited graphs.
Who Should Use It?
- PhD students starting a literature review
- Researchers entering a new field
- Students building a thesis bibliography
- Industry R&D teams scanning research
- Librarians helping patrons find related work
Connected Papers Alternatives
- ResearchRabbit: Discover and track related research through citation maps.
- Semantic Scholar: Free AI-powered search engine for scientific papers.
- Elicit: AI research assistant that finds and summarises papers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Connected Papers free?
Partly. The free plan gives 5 graphs per month with all features. Unlimited graphs need the Academic plan ($3 a month billed yearly) or Business plan ($10 a month billed yearly).
Where does Connected Papers get its data?
It uses the Semantic Scholar database, which contains hundreds of millions of papers from all fields of science.
What can I enter to start a graph?
A DOI, an arXiv link, a paper title, or a Semantic Scholar or PubMed paper URL.