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Citation Graph maps how research papers connect through citations. Instead of running a keyword search, you start with papers you already trust (seeds) and discover related work based on how the literature cites itself. Use it to find papers you missed, identify foundational and follow-up research, see how a field evolved, and spot clusters and gaps. It’s included with every Consensus account.

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How to build a graph

1

Open the graph

Click Graph in the left sidebar, or click Citation Graph on any paper’s sidebar to seed the graph with that paper.
2

Add seeds

Add up to 5 seed papers from your recently saved papers or by searching from the Graph page. One seed traces the lineage of an idea in both directions; several seeds find the overlap between literatures.
3

Choose density

Show 20, 40, or 60 papers.
4

Explore

Hover a paper to see its citation connections. Click into a paper for details. Promote a result to a seed to regenerate the graph around it, or Exclude papers you don’t want.
5

Chat with the graph

Click Chat at the bottom of the page. All seeds and results are attached as context, so you can ask how papers connect, how the research built on earlier work, or what patterns emerge.

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How papers are ranked

Citation Graph doesn’t use keyword matching. It combines three citation signals:
  • Direct citations — the paper cites your seed, or your seed cites it.
  • Co-citation — how often the paper and your seed appear together in other papers’ reference lists.
  • Bibliographic coupling — how many references the paper shares with your seeds.
A traditional citation crawl only looks forward or backward from one paper. Combining the three signals surfaces related work a crawl would miss.
A citation graph on coffee brewing methods with three colored seed clusters connected by citation arrows

Three seeds and their clusters. Older papers sit left, newer right; node size is citation count.

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Reading the graph

A legend sits in the top-right corner. You can also sort and filter by citation count, journal rank (SJR), study design, and sample size.

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Questions to ask the graph

Citation Graph is in beta. Graphs aren’t saved yet; closing or refreshing the page clears the graph.

Research Agent

Ask for citation chaining in plain language.

Library

Save graph results into a Collection.