PaperMaps: Using Title Keywords for Visual Exploration of Academic Citation Networks

Abstract

Scientific progress relies on the discovery and synthesis of relevant academic papers. Surveying topics of interest and understanding their development in terms of specific papers is an important part of this process. Yet, few major tools directly address this task in a single interface. Some challenges to this development include the dominance of list-based search interfaces and the difficulty of visualizing extremely dense citation networks. We propose an approach inspired by metro map visualizations and enabled by a novel graph simplification technique to draw "Keyword Lines"—metro lines that connect recurring keywords in paper titles in order to highlight salient threads of research in a citation network. We implemented a proof-of-concept tool called PaperMaps which allows users to browse any paper's immediate citation network using Keyword Lines. Initial user studies provide promising confirmations of their utility as well as clear avenues for improvement.