ResearchRabbit

ResearchRabbit is a free literature discovery tool often called Spotify for papers, mapping citation networks to reveal related research.

Overview

ResearchRabbit reimagines how researchers explore literature. Seed it with a few relevant papers and it builds visual collections, then surfaces related work through citation networks and co-authorship graphs. Interactive visualizations show how papers connect and evolve over time, making it easy to spot seminal works and emerging trends. Because it learns from your collections, recommendations improve as you curate, and the tool integrates with Zotero and sends alerts when new relevant papers are published. The visualization approach changes how literature discovery feels: instead of lists, researchers see how fields cluster and evolve. Collections act like playlists that improve recommendations over time. Because the tool is free, whole labs can adopt it without procurement friction, which has driven its spread through graduate programs.

Key Features

• Citation network visualization mapping connections between papers
• Personalized recommendations that improve as you build collections
• Author and co-authorship graphs for exploring research groups
• Integration with Zotero for seamless reference management
• Alerts for newly published papers matching your collections
• Collaboration features for sharing collections with research teams
• Free access for individual academic researchers

Pricing

ResearchRabbit is free for individual researchers, funded through institutional partnerships. Team and lab features are available through organizational agreements, keeping the core discovery experience open to students and academics. The product is free for individuals, with organizational support funding continued development.

Who Is It For

ResearchRabbit is for graduate students and research groups exploring unfamiliar fields who learn better through visual maps of the literature than keyword lists. Supervisors use shared collections to orient new graduate students in unfamiliar research areas quickly. The tool also helps identify seminal papers quickly, which is invaluable when entering a new research area where the key authors and foundational studies are still unknown to the reader.

FAQ

Is ResearchRabbit free to use?

Yes, ResearchRabbit is free for individual researchers, with team capabilities offered through institutional arrangements. Free access covers the full individual researcher experience without feature gating.

Does ResearchRabbit offer an API?

ResearchRabbit focuses on its visualization interface and Zotero integration rather than a public API. ResearchRabbit integrates with Zotero rather than exposing a general-purpose API.

How does ResearchRabbit compare to alternatives?

ResearchRabbit excels at visual discovery and networking, while Connected Papers maps single paper neighborhoods and Elicit handles data extraction. ResearchRabbit maps discovery visually; Connected Papers focuses tightly on one paper’s immediate neighborhood.