TL;DR. Citation Map, Connected Papers, and Web of Science solve three different problems. Citation Map plots a researcher's global citation footprint on a world map — ideal for visa petitions, tenure files, and grant impact sections. Connected Papers builds a 2-D force-directed network of papers related to a seed paper — ideal for literature review and finding related work. Web of Science is a paid bibliometric database — ideal for institutions that need validated journal impact factors. Citation Map is free and uses Google Scholar data. Connected Papers is free up to 5 graphs per month. Web of Science costs roughly $10–25k/year for institutional access. Pick Citation Map when you need geography, Connected Papers when you need a paper network, and Web of Science when you need impact factors.
What is the difference between a citation map and a citation network?
A citation map is geographic — it plots the places your work has reached. A citation network is topological — it plots the papers connected to a seed paper by shared references or citers. Both start from citation data, but they answer different questions. "Who cites me, and where?" is answered by a map. "What else should I read?" is answered by a network. Neither replaces the other.
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | Citation Map | Connected Papers | Web of Science |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Geographic citation footprint | Paper-similarity network | Bibliometric database |
| Data source | Google Scholar | Semantic Scholar | Clarivate (curated, ~90M) |
| Cost | Free, unlimited | Free (5 graphs/mo), $6/mo unlimited | ~$10k–25k/year institutional |
| Geographic world-map view | Yes (primary feature) | No | Limited (country facet only) |
| Embed on personal site | Yes (<iframe>) | No | No |
| Export high-res PNG | Yes (2048×1024) | Yes (screenshot) | Yes (chart export) |
| Works with ORCID | Yes | No (paper-level, not author-level) | Yes |
| CSV data export | Yes | No | Yes |
| Best for | Visa petitions, tenure, grant impact | Literature review, related work | Institutional bibliometrics |
When should you use Citation Map?
Citation Map is the right tool when your question is geographic: "Does my work reach researchers outside my home country?" Immigration attorneys use the PNG export as direct evidence for the "sustained international acclaim" prong of O-1A and EB-1A petitions. Tenure committees use it to visualize reach beyond the home institution. Research office communications teams use the embed for a lab's public-facing impact page. See the showcase for real examples.
When should you use Connected Papers?
Connected Papers is the right tool for literature review of a specific paper. You paste a seed paper and get a force-directed graph of topologically similar work — not necessarily papers that cite your seed, but papers that share references and co-citations. It's excellent for discovering related work in an unfamiliar subfield. It does not plot geography and does not produce an author-level view.
When should you use Web of Science?
Web of Science is the right tool when your institution requires curated data and validated Journal Impact Factors (JIF). Many promotion committees, especially in biomedicine, still mandate WoS-sourced metrics. It is expensive, gated behind institutional login, and has a steep learning curve, but the data lineage is defensible in formal reviews.
What about the Python citation-map package?
The open-source danielnsilva/citation-map Python package produces similar output but requires a local Python environment, a Google Scholar scraping setup (fragile, often rate-limited), and manual geocoding. Citation Map replaces that entire workflow with a web interface backed by Google Scholar — no installation, no API keys, no scraper breakage. For most non-developers, the web tool is strictly dominant.
Conclusion: which one should you pick?
If you need a geographic view of citations for a visa petition, tenure file, grant, or personal website, use Citation Map. If you need a topological view of a single paper's neighborhood for literature review, use Connected Papers. If you need validated bibliometrics with Journal Impact Factors for a formal institutional review, use Web of Science. These tools are complementary, not competitors. You can start with Citation Map right now, free, or read the step-by-step how-to tutorial.