Litmaps
Litmaps is a web-based research tool that uses citation networks and search to help researchers find papers and conduct literature reviews.
What Litmaps is
Litmaps is a web-based research tool that uses citation networks and search to help researchers find papers and conduct literature reviews. Its catalogue contains more than 270 million papers. A Litmap shows how articles connect through citations and references, and users can visualize, annotate, and dynamically adjust those maps. Topic monitoring can send automatic emails when new articles appear. Maps can be shared as images, public links, or with selected email addresses. Users can import articles from BibTeX, RIS, or PubMed files and export them in BibTeX, RIS, or CSV formats. Litmaps Pro syncs Zotero collections with Litmaps Tags in both directions; its help guide also describes workflows with Mendeley, EndNote, and PaperPile. Open Access PDFs are available to all users, while other PDFs require institutional access through LibKey. The free plan includes basic search and limited inputs, articles, and maps; Pro Education is $10 a month, billed $120 / year, and requires an academic email address. Team pricing is available by contacting the company.
Good
- Catalogue contains more than 270 million papers
- Visualizes citation and reference connections
- Imports and exports common reference formats
- Topic monitoring sends automatic emails
- Pro syncs Zotero collections and Tags bidirectionally
Watch out
- Free plan limits inputs, articles, and maps
- Free plan has no collaboration
- Pro Education requires an academic email address
- Non-Open Access PDFs require institutional access through LibKey
Who it suits
Litmaps suits researchers organizing literature reviews and tracking new work in a topic. Its free plan may suit individual users with modest mapping needs, while Pro Education and Team add broader use and alerting.
Verdict
Litmaps brings paper discovery, citation mapping, and topic monitoring into a web-based research workflow. Check the free-plan limits and PDF access requirements against your needs before choosing a paid plan.
Plans and prices
From Litmaps's own pricing page, checked 22 Sep 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Pro | $10 a month | Unlimited inputs · Unlimited articles · Unlimited Litmaps · billed monthly |
| Pro | $120 a year | Unlimited inputs · Unlimited articles · Unlimited Litmaps · save 20%; requires academic email address |
| Free | Free | Basic search · up to 20 inputs · 100 articles, 1 Litmap · monthly summary · no collaboration |
| Pro (Education) | $10 a month | Advanced search · unlimited inputs, articles, and Litmaps · daily/configurable alerts · requires academic email address · $120 / year - save 20% |
| Team | Priced on request | Advanced search · unlimited inputs, articles, and Litmaps · team-wide collaboration (unlimited) · daily/configurable alerts · Talk to us |
The facts
Each one read from Litmaps's own pages, with the date it was checked.
Where it runs
- Citation mapping
- A Litmap visualizes research based on how articles connect through citations and references.checked 30 Sep 2026
The company
- Company
- Litmaps is operated by Litmap Limited, a New Zealand company with its registered office in Wellington.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Headquarters
- Wellington, New Zealandchecked 28 Sep 2026
What it does
- Exports
- Articles can be exported in BibTeX, RIS, or CSV formats.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Monitoring
- Monitor sends automatic emails when new articles on a topic appear.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Other reference managers
- Articles can be imported from BibTeX, RIS, or PubMed files; the help guide describes workflows with Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and PaperPile.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Paper catalogue
- Its search catalogue contains more than 270 million papers.checked 30 Sep 2026
- PDF access
- Open Access article PDFs are available to all users, while access to other PDFs requires connecting institutional access through LibKey.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Privacy compliance
- The privacy policy says Litmaps seeks to comply with applicable data protection laws, including the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and EU GDPR.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Purpose
- Litmaps uses citation networks and advanced search to help researchers find important papers and conduct literature reviews.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Security and privacy
- The privacy policy says passwords are stored as salted hashes, full card numbers are not stored by Litmaps, and personal data is not sold.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Sharing
- Litmaps can be shared as an image, a publicly accessible link, or with selected email addresses.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Support
- The Help Center offers user guides, research help, and one-on-one help through its contact option.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Visualization
- Users can visualize and annotate articles and dynamically change how papers are mapped.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Zotero sync
- Litmaps Pro syncs Zotero collections with Litmaps Tags in both directions.checked 30 Sep 2026
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