Connected Papers turns one origin paper into a similarity graph of related research drawn from the Semantic Scholar corpus, helping researchers and students survey a field, trace prior and derivative works, and fill gaps in a thesis bibliography.
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Connected Papers is a web-based literature mapping tool: you give it one academic paper, and it draws a graph of related papers so a research area can be scanned at a glance. The company describes it as a visual tool that helps researchers and applied scientists find and explore papers relevant to their field of work.
The paper data comes from outside the company. Connected Papers says its database is connected to the Semantic Scholar Paper Corpus, which is licensed under ODC-BY. What a graph can show is therefore bounded by what that corpus contains.
The product started small. According to the company, four friends built it as a weekend side project to solve their own literature-search problems, and it grew to hundreds of thousands of users. An independent 2021 science-press feature dates the founding to 2019, when Eddie Smolyansky co-founded what it called one of a new generation of visual literature-mapping and recommendation tools.
Graph building is metered rather than paywalled by feature: every plan, including the free one, has the same features, and paid plans mainly lift the monthly graph limit.
The metric judges two papers as related when their citations and references overlap heavily, which the company presents as a sign that they likely treat related subject matter. The result is a neighborhood of similar work around one paper, not a map of who cited whom.
The Prior Works view surfaces important ancestor works in the area of interest, while the Derivative Works view points to literature reviews of the field and recently published state-of-the-art papers that followed the input paper. Together they turn one graph into a short reading list in both directions of time.
Any paper in a graph can be added as a second origin from the right-side panel. Connected Papers then builds a new graph whose papers are selected by similarity to both origins, and a third or fourth origin can be added the same way. The company's July 2022 launch post said multi-origin graphs would be available on both Free and Premium plans.
Besides the graph itself, a graph page offers Prior works, Derivative works and List view tabs, plus filters for PDF availability, open access, code availability and publication year.
All plans include the similarity graphs, prior and derivative works, multi-origin graphs, saved papers and graph history. Saving needs an account: a logged-out visitor sees a "Log in to save" prompt in the paper panel.
To find related papers, the whole workflow hangs on one choice: the origin paper.
Each of the company's suggested uses depends on having a representative paper to start from.
The thesis case is where the prior and derivative views help most directly, since a student can check both the foundations and the newer work around each key reference.
It is less of a fit for people who mainly want new papers pushed to them automatically, since graphs are built by hand from chosen papers, and for staff of for-profit companies hoping to use the cheaper Academic plan, which the terms rule out.
Prices below are those displayed in USD with annual billing, as captured on October 6, 2026.
| Plan | Price with annual billing | Graphs | Intended for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 5 per month | Not specified; all features included |
| Academic | $6/month, billed $72 annually | Unlimited | Academics, non-profits and personal use |
| Business | $20/month, billed $240 annually | Unlimited | Business and industry |
| Academic Group | $6 per seat per month | Unlimited | Academics and non-profits |
| Business Group | $20 per seat per month | Unlimited | Business and industry |
| Academic Library | Quote on request | Unlimited | All students and staff of an institution |
The free tier includes all of the features, and the company says its five monthly graphs are enough for most users; researchers who need more than five graphs a month can upgrade.
Billing periods and renewal. Quarterly billing is also offered, but the quarterly prices were not displayed in the annual view captured. Under the terms, the initial subscription period is one year for annual plans and three months for quarterly plans, premium subscriptions renew automatically, and automatic renewal can be cancelled at any time from the account or subscription settings page.
Refunds. The terms allow no returns and no refunds, with the sole exception of double coverage: a user who bought an individual premium plan and then received premium access through a group or institution can be refunded for the overlapping period, minus processing fees of 10% of the initial order.
Payment. Payments are processed by PayPro Global, which hosts the checkout page; card statements show PayPro Global rather than Connected Papers, and Connected Papers does not store or manage credit card information. Supported methods include credit and debit cards, PayPal, Alipay and wire transfers, among others. Group buyers can also choose a Purchase Order at the PayPro Global checkout, which carries an additional manual processing fee.
Group seats. Group plans are run by administrator accounts that assign premium access to members according to purchased seats; administrators do not occupy a seat by default. Adding seats mid-cycle costs a prorated sum covering only the days left in the cycle. After a group subscription is cancelled, automatic charging stops at the end of the cycle, the paid seats stay active until then, and all group members then revert to the free plan.
Scholarships. For researchers who truly cannot afford a subscription, Connected Papers runs a scholarship program: a request sent to its scholarships address may lead to a discounted or free Premium plan, which the company says it will do its best to arrange.
Literature-mapping tools overlap, but they differ in what they map and how new papers reach you.
The practical split is between similarity maps built from chosen origin papers, citation-tree navigation, and services that push new papers to you.
Yes, with a cap. The free tier includes every feature but allows five graphs a month; the Academic and Business plans remove the limit.
From the Semantic Scholar Paper Corpus, licensed under ODC-BY. Papers missing from that corpus cannot appear in a graph.
No. Papers are arranged by similarity based on co-citation and bibliographic coupling, so two papers can sit close together without citing each other.
Generally not. The terms exclude refunds except for double coverage, where a 10% processing fee is deducted, and cancelling only stops future renewals.
No. Academic subscriptions are limited to academic and educational purposes and may not be used by a for-profit company; commercial users need the Business plan.
