Connected Papers takes a single paper you already know and builds a graph of related work. It doesn't rely on direct citations alone — it uses similarity measures based on shared references to find papers that explore the same ideas, even if they don't cite each other. The result is an interactive map where nodes are papers and the connections between them show how closely they relate. You can see prior work and derivative work with one click.

It's particularly helpful when you're starting a literature review and need to understand the shape of a field rather than just a list of titles. The visual overview makes it easier to spot clusters of research and identify influential papers you might have missed. Free to use, with a paid plan for saving graphs and exporting data.