A literature map (or, Litmap) organizes, connects, and structures existing literature on a specific topic. These visual aids provide a clear overview of your work, help you see how it all connects, and discover new literature. It’s like putting together a puzzle where each piece is a study, article, or paper. You can create these maps manually or by using a literature map generator to speed up the process and uncover connections you might have missed.
Use literature maps in research to:
We'll use the Litmaps tool, which helps researchers create literature maps. If you haven't guessed it yet, the term "Litmaps" itself is based on "literature maps".
There are different ways to create a literature map based on what kind of research you're doing. Here, we'll dive into two common mapping methods.
All these examples treat individual articles as nodes, and their connections as citations or references. You can also include details like authors, journals, and a chronology of work directly on the map.
Literature Map Example: Literature Review
You can bring a literature review to life by creating a Litmap for it. This helps you to more easily communicate your research with others, as well as spot important gaps in your work.
Below is an example Litmap for a completed literature review. This type of map can be created for the references of a specific paper or project, or even an entire PhD thesis. This literature review map visualizes all the articles used in the review (as nodes) and their connections via citations/references (as lines connecting nodes). The different colors correspond to the sub-topics in the review and help the reader to understand how research connects.
You can review the image below or interact with the Map of literature directly at its live link here.
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Literature Map Example: Author's impact
In this literature map example, we look at one author's work and how it has impacted a field. This type of literature mapping is useful when reviewing the work of a particular researcher or group.
This literature map (Lit maps) shows the research of Dane DeQuilettes and visualizes how his work in solar-powered energy evolved. Over the last decade, his work has increased the power conversion efficiency of solar cells. The Litmap clearly visualizes this, with annotations for each publication's efficiency. You can explore the live Litmap at the link here.
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In addition to seeing the historic work of a researcher, we can also use literature maps to see how their contributions impact future research.
The Litmap below shows the same author's work at the center, but now with other, more recent work along the ring. The recent publications share many connections with his work, indicating how important his contributions were to future research in his field.
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You can create a literature map for any research project in just a few steps using Litmaps. Here are the key steps in creating a literature map on your work.
Before you can create a literature map you need to first collect all the relevant literature on your topic or review. If you're starting your map from scratch, you can use the Litmaps app to search for literature and build your map as you go. Otherwise, you can import articles you already have into Litmaps.
Once you've collected articles for your review you can create a Litmap for your collection. If you're searching for articles in Litmaps, you'll automatically have a Litmap as you search.
Finally, you can then edit and annotate your visual map by re-arranging the papers, adding labels or changing the colors. Watch the video below for detailed instructions on just how to do that.
Now that you've created a map of the literature of your existing work, you can use it to discover additional sources or find potential research gaps.
You can search for relevant articles on your topic using your literature map. Litmaps will find relevant literature based on how it connects to all the literature you have already. You can also use your Litmap to find potential research gaps you may have overlooked.
Now you've wrapped up your literature map, but the process isn't quite over. New research comes out every single day, so how can you be certain your work won't get outdated?
Make sure to enable monitoring on your literature map in Litmaps, to get automatic email updates when any new papers on your topic comes out. Litmaps will automatically run the search for you each week on the newest published papers, and let you know if you miss anything.
A successful literature map clearly visualizes the research being discussed and provides a bird's-eye view of the project or field. Litmaps helps you see how certain topics or fields influence on another, as well as more clearly communicate your work with your colleagues. Perhaps most importantly, you can use Litmaps to understand your own work better, and find any missing links you may have overlooked.
If you want to learn more about how to use Litmaps in your literature review and research, check out our introduction to Litmaps here.
1. What does a literature map do?
A literature map helps you visually organize and connect research articles around a specific topic. Think of it as a bird’s-eye view of the academic landscape you’re working in. It makes it easier to spot research gaps, understand how studies relate to one another, and keep track of what’s been done. Instead of juggling dozens of PDFs, a literature map puts it all in one interactive space.
2. How to create a Litmap?
Creating a Litmap is super straightforward, especially if you’re using a tool like Litmaps. First, gather your key research papers. You can search directly in Litmaps or upload articles you already have. As you go, Litmaps builds a visual map for you, showing how papers are connected through citations. From there, you can edit, organize, and even color-code your map to highlight different themes or timelines.
3. What is a literature concept map?
A literature concept map is similar to a Litmap but focuses more on themes and ideas rather than citations. Instead of showing who cites whom, it shows how key concepts in your research connect. It's great for brainstorming, planning a literature review, or simply making sense of complex theories across different studies.
4. Which tool is widely used for creating citation maps for research papers?
Litmaps is one of the go-to tools for creating citation maps. It’s designed specifically for researchers who want to visualize how studies connect and discover new papers along the way. Other tools like VOSviewer are also useful, depending on what kind of map or analysis you’re after, but Litmaps is a favorite for its user-friendly interface and real-time updating features.
