Short answer: A literature review map is a geographic visualization of where a body of research has been cited — something keyword search and database queries cannot show. It helps you identify dominant research clusters, find under-cited regional traditions, and justify your choice of sources. Citation Map builds one in under two minutes for free, using Google Scholar data. It can be paired with Connected Papers for paper-level networks.
Quick start: your first literature review map in 5 minutes
If you have never built a citation map before, this is the path of least resistance. Each step takes about 30 seconds.
1. Pick 3–5 seed authors
Choose authors who are central to your topic — the names that appear in every key paper you have read. Three is enough to start; five is better if your topic spans subfields.
2. Search each on citationmap.com
Type the author's name into the homepage search. The Google Scholar profile resolves and the map starts building in seconds.
3. Open the profile and view the world map
The interactive map renders in 2–4 seconds. Hover any country marker to see the citing institutions and per-paper citation counts.
4. Export PNG and CSV
Click Export to download a publication-ready PNG (300 DPI) and a CSV of every citing institution with country, latitude/longitude, and citation count.
5. Repeat and compare
Generate a map for each seed author. Look for overlapping high-density countries (your primary literature bases) and outliers that appear on only one map (under-engaged regional traditions).
Accessible by design
The map is visual, but the underlying data exports as a structured CSV (country, institution, lat/lon, citation count) and every profile page includes a textual top-10 summary — so screen-reader users and researchers who prefer text get the same core insight without depending on the visualization.
What is a Literature Review Map?
A literature review map is a geographic visualization of the citation footprint for a research topic. You choose a set of seed authors central to your field, generate a citation map for each, and the combined picture shows which countries and institutions engage with that body of work. The result is the spatial layer missing from traditional keyword-based reviews: you see not just what has been published, but where it has landed. On citationmap.com, each map is generated automatically from Google Scholar data — no coding, no API keys, no registration required.
How is a literature review map different from a citation map?
The two terms overlap significantly. A citation map typically visualizes a single author's geographic reach. A literature review map applies the same technique to a set of authors or papers that together define a subfield, giving a topic-level view rather than an individual one. Both are supported from the same interface — start with individual maps and compare them side by side to build the broader picture. See the guides index for related walkthroughs, including how to create a citation map step by step.
Why add a citation map to a literature review?
Traditional literature reviews lean on keyword search (Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science) and snowball citation tracing. These methods are strong for what has been written, but weak for where research has been adopted. A citation map fills that gap in about two minutes: it shows the institutions that have cited each seed author, revealing national and regional patterns that biblioshiny or CiteSpace require hours of scripting to produce.
Workflow 1: Scope a subfield in two hours
Start with 3–5 seed authors you already know are central to your topic. Generate a citation map for each. Look for overlapping high-density countries — those are your primary literature bases. Look for regions that appear on only one or two maps — those may be scholarly traditions you have not yet engaged with. A one-morning exercise can save weeks of misplaced reading. Pair this with connectedpapers.com for paper-level similarity networks.
Workflow 2: Systematic reviews with geographic inclusion criteria
PRISMA 2020 encourages transparency about inclusion decisions. If your review claims global applicability, a geographic citation map is a low-effort way to audit that claim. Generate maps for your top-cited included studies and report the regional distribution in a supplementary figure. If 90% of citing institutions cluster in North America and Europe, your review's claim to global relevance needs qualification. Many Cochrane-style protocols now explicitly require this kind of geographic reflection.
Systematic review checklist (PRISMA-aligned)
If you are writing a PRISMA 2020-compliant systematic review, the eight steps below show how a literature review map fits the protocol — written so you can lift them into your methods appendix.
- 1
Define your search strategy and inclusion criteria as usual.
- 2
After screening, pull the most-cited included studies (or their senior authors) as seeds.
- 3
Generate a citation map for each seed on citationmap.com.
- 4
Audit the regional distribution: do citing institutions cluster geographically?
- 5
If clusters are narrow, qualify your review's claim to global relevance and note the limitation explicitly.
- 6
Export each map as a 300 DPI PNG and include the most informative one as a supplementary figure.
- 7
Export the CSV of citing institutions and describe the data in your methods appendix.
- 8
Cite the data source as: "Geographic citation data retrieved from Google Scholar via citationmap.com on [date]."
Free, and staying free
Citation Map is free for unlimited author searches and map exports. There is no paywall on geographic data, no email gate, no API key. Paid tiers exist for the deeper crawls (more papers per profile, more citations per paper) used in O-1A / EB-1A / EB-2 NIW visa petitions and tenure files — but every literature review use case fits within the free tier. Compare to Litmaps (freemium with paid Pro), Web of Science (~$10–25k/year institutional), or Scopus (similar institutional pricing). You don't need any of those to build a literature review map.
Workflow 3: Identify international collaborators
Early-career researchers often want international co-authors but don't know where to look. A citation map for a senior collaborator (or for your own profile, if established) is a shortcut: the institutions cited most densely in your target country are the people already engaged with your work. Email them with a specific reference to their citing paper. Response rates are markedly higher than cold outreach — you have genuine common ground.
What data source should you cite?
Citation Map uses Google Scholar — the world's largest academic search index, free to use and updated continuously. When reporting your methods, we recommend: “Geographic citation data were retrieved from Google Scholar via citationmap.com on [date].”
What about bias in the underlying data?
No citation database is bias-free. Google Scholar has known English-language and STEM-leaning biases, and its indexing of grey literature and non-Western regional journals is inconsistent. A systematic review that depends on a citation map should note these limitations explicitly — the same way you would note coverage for Scopus or Web of Science. The map surfaces what Google Scholar knows about, not every citation that exists. Use this alongside regional databases (e.g., SciELO for Latin America, CNKI for China) for triangulation.
External resources worth bookmarking
- scholar.google.com — the underlying data source for citation counts and citing institutions.
- connectedpapers.com — paper-level topological network to complement geographic view.
- orcid.org — register your ORCID so that co-authors resolve cleanly across academic indices.
- prisma-statement.org — reporting standard for systematic reviews.
Examples from the showcase
Browse the showcase for worked examples across disciplines — computer science (see Geoffrey Hinton), biomedicine, and physics — each with a distinct geographic signature. If you want to start building your own review workflow right now, read the step-by-step tutorial for creating a citation map.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a literature review map?
- A literature review map is a geographic visualization of where in the world a body of research has been cited and adopted. Unlike a keyword index or citation network, it shows which countries and institutions engage with a set of authors or papers — revealing dominant research clusters, underserved regions, and global reach at a glance. Citation Map builds one automatically from a Google Scholar profile in seconds.
- How is a literature review map different from a citation map?
- The terms are often used interchangeably. A citation map typically refers to the geographic visualization for a single author — showing where their papers have been cited. A literature review map is the same technique applied to a set of seed authors or papers that define a research topic, giving a broader picture of where an entire subfield lives globally. Citation Map supports both use cases from the same interface.
- Can I use Citation Map for a systematic review?
- Yes. Citation Map is free, uses Google Scholar data, and generates a geographic citation map in under two minutes — no Python, no API keys, no registration required. For PRISMA-compliant systematic reviews, you can export a high-resolution PNG for your supplementary figures and a CSV of citing institutions for your methods appendix. Cite the data source as: 'Geographic citation data retrieved from Google Scholar via citationmap.com on [date].'
- How do I make a literature map in research?
- Go to citationmap.com, search for a key author in your topic (or paste their Google Scholar profile URL), and click their profile. The literature review map renders within 2–4 seconds. Repeat for 3–5 seed authors to see where your subfield's citations concentrate globally. Export as PNG or CSV to include in your review documentation.
- How long does it take to build a literature review map?
- Two to five minutes per seed author. The map itself renders in 2–4 seconds; the rest of the time is reviewing the geographic patterns and exporting PNG and CSV. A full multi-seed literature review map for a typical PhD chapter takes 20–30 minutes end to end.
- Can I monitor new citations over time?
- Citation Map does not currently send automated alerts when new citations appear. The recommended workflow is to re-run the map for each seed author once a month and diff the CSV exports — enough cadence for most literature review revisions. Real-time alerts are on the roadmap.
- Is the map accessible to screen-reader users?
- The map is a visual artifact, but the underlying data is exported as a structured CSV with country, institution name, latitude/longitude, and citation count — fully readable by screen readers. Every profile page also includes a textual summary of the top 10 citing countries, so the core insight is available without the visualization.
- How should I cite a literature review map in my paper?
- Use a methods-style citation: "Geographic citation data for [author name(s)] were retrieved from Google Scholar via citationmap.com on [date]. The literature review map was generated using the geographic citation visualization technique implemented at citationmap.com." Include a footnote with the export date so readers can audit reproducibility.
Next steps
Once you have mapped your literature, decide how to use the output. For PhD chapters and systematic reviews, export the PNG and CSV to include as supplementary figures. For visa petitions (O-1A, EB-1A, EB-2 NIW), a literature review map that shows your work adopted across dozens of countries is strong evidence of international reach — see our guide on using citation maps as visa evidence. To build your first map right now, go to the Citation Map homepage or revisit the full guides index.