bioRxiv vs Litmaps

bioRxiv is a free online archive and distribution service for unpublished life-sciences preprints. Researchers can post findings for immediate availability and receive feedback before journal submission. It accepts research across areas such as genetics, neuroscience, ecology, and bioinformatics. Before posting, submissions receive completeness and scope checks, automated analyses for possible plagiarism or prior online posting, and review by volunteer Affiliates for biological relevance and potential public harm. Screening usually takes 24–48 hours, with longer waits possible during weekends, holidays, or further discussion. Articles are not peer-reviewed, edited, or typeset before posting, and publication does not endorse scientific quality. Research articles must contain data; narrative reviews, commentaries, opinion pieces, and step-by-step protocols are not accepted. Authors may revise until formal journal acceptance, but posted articles cannot be removed. The service provides public comments, B2J journal transfer, APIs, RSS metadata, and bulk full text for text and data mining.

Litmaps is a web-based research tool that uses citation networks and advanced search to help researchers find papers and conduct literature reviews. Its search catalogue contains more than 270 million papers. A Litmap visualizes connections among articles through citations and references; users can annotate papers and change how the map is arranged. Topic monitoring sends automatic emails when new articles appear, and maps can be shared as images, public links, or with selected email addresses. The free plan costs nothing and includes basic search, up to 20 inputs and 100 articles, one Litmap, and a monthly summary, but no collaboration. Pro (Education) costs $10 a month, billed $120 / year - save 20%; it adds advanced search, unlimited inputs, articles, and Litmaps, plus daily or configurable alerts, and requires an academic email address. Litmaps Pro syncs Zotero collections with Litmaps Tags in both directions. Articles can also be imported from BibTeX, RIS, or PubMed files and exported in BibTeX, RIS, or CSV formats. Open Access PDFs are available to all users; other PDF access requires institutional access through LibKey.