How to Find Papers That Cite a Paper: 6 Free Methods (2026 Guide)

Quick answer

To find papers that cite a paper, run a forward citation search. Look up the paper in Google Scholar and click "Cited by", or open its citations list in Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Europe PMC or PubMed. For a visual view, build a citation map in Ocean of Papers in Derivative works mode: it shows the papers citing your paper, sized by citations and placed in time.

Why find papers that cite a paper?

You have found one good paper. Now you want to know what happened next: who used it, who tested it again, who disagreed, and what the newest work on the topic looks like. The quickest way to answer that is to list the papers that cite it. This is called a forward citation search (or "cited by" search).

Forward citation search is useful when you:

• Need recent work for a literature review, not only the classics you already know
• Want to check whether a result was replicated, extended or criticised
• Are looking for related papers or similar articles on a narrow topic, where keyword search gives too much noise
• Want to see how much influence a paper had, and in which fields

This guide covers six free methods, a comparison table, a worked example with a famous open paper and tips to get cleaner results. Updated October 2026.

Forward vs backward citation search

There are two directions you can follow from any paper:

• Backward citation search looks at the paper's reference list: the older papers it cites. This finds the foundations of an idea.
• Forward citation search looks at the papers that cite it later. This finds follow-up work, applications and recent debate.

Most good literature searches use both, plus a third route: similarity, meaning papers that share many references or are often cited together, even if they never cite each other directly. If you want the full picture of how these links work, read our citation network explainer.

Method 1: Ocean of Papers (citation map in Derivative works mode)

Ocean of Papers searches OpenAlex, PubMed, arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv and Europe PMC in one go, and lets you build a citation map from any search result. The map has three modes:

• Derivative works: papers that cite your paper (forward citation search)
• Prior works: papers your paper cites (backward citation search)
• Similar: closely related papers, linked by shared references, co-citation and shared authors

Steps:

1. Go to oceanofpapers.com and search the paper's title, or paste its DOI to find the exact paper. (Need help with DOIs? See how to download a research paper by DOI.)
2. Click Build map on the result.
3. Switch the map mode to Derivative works. The map now shows papers citing your seed paper.
4. Read the map: bigger circles are more cited, darker circles are newer. Switch to Timeline to see year × citations (log scale), which makes it easy to spot recent, fast-rising papers.
5. Click any link between two papers to see why they are connected: direct citation, shared references, co-citation or a shared author.
6. Click a paper and use the Explore panel. Later work lists newer papers that build on it; Similar work, Earlier work and These authors help you branch out. Use Add to map to grow the map.
7. Open the side list and use the Derivative works tab to see what the whole map is cited by, then export the papers as BibTeX, RIS or CSV, or save the map as a PNG or share link.

Good to know: a map shows a focused set of about 30 papers (you can choose 15, 30 or 50), not every citing paper. That makes it fast to read, but if a paper has thousands of citations and you need the complete list, combine it with Google Scholar or OpenAlex (below). The free plan includes 5 new citation maps per month; switching modes or expanding a map does not count. Search, PDFs and exports are unlimited. See pricing.

For a full walkthrough of the map, see the literature mapping tool guide.

1. Search or paste DOI — Find the exact paper
2. Build map — From the search result
3. Derivative works — Papers that cite it
4. Timeline view — Year × citations
5. Explore → Later work — Add more to the map
6. Export — BibTeX, RIS, CSV, PNG

Method 2: Google Scholar "Cited by"

Google Scholar has the widest coverage of the free tools, including books, theses and many non-English papers.

Steps:

1. Go to Google Scholar and search the exact title in quotes.
2. Under the right result, click Cited by N.
3. You now see the list of documents Google Scholar has found that cite the paper.
4. Tick Search within citing articles under the search box and type a keyword to narrow the list (for example, a method or population).
5. Use the left menu to limit by year (for example, "Since 2025") to find the newest work.
6. Click the quote icon on a result to copy a citation or export to BibTeX or a reference manager.

Limits: Google Scholar does not publish what it indexes, counts can include duplicates and non-scholarly documents, and there is no official export of the whole "Cited by" list. It is excellent for completeness, weaker for clean data. For more options, see Google Scholar alternatives.

Method 3: Semantic Scholar citations list

Semantic Scholar is a free search engine from the Allen Institute for AI, strong in computer science and biomedicine.

Steps:

1. Search the title or DOI on Semantic Scholar and open the paper page.
2. Scroll to the Citations list.
3. Sort the list (options include relevance, citation count and recency) and use the filters to narrow by date or field.
4. Look for citations flagged as highly influential. Semantic Scholar uses a model to mark citations where the cited paper had a significant impact on the citing paper (how it works). This is a helpful way to separate papers that really build on your seed from papers that only mention it once.

Limits: the "influential" label depends on Semantic Scholar having the full text of the citing paper, so some important citations are not flagged.

Method 4: OpenAlex (the "cites:" filter)

OpenAlex is a free, open catalogue of 250M+ scholarly works. It is one of the six sources Ocean of Papers searches. You can use its website, or its free API if you want a clean, machine-readable list.

On the website: search the paper, open it and go to the list of works that cite it. Any list of works on the OpenAlex website can be exported as a CSV (OpenAlex documents a limit of 100,000 works per website export).

With the API (no coding needed, just a browser): every work in OpenAlex has an ID that starts with "W". The cites: filter returns all works that cite that ID. The OpenAlex documentation gives this example, which you can paste into your browser:

https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2741809807

Replace W2741809807 with the ID of your paper. Add &sort=-publication_date to see the newest first. A warning about names: in OpenAlex, cites: gives the papers that cite your paper (forward), while cited_by: gives the papers your paper cites (backward). The OpenAlex API recipes page has more examples.

Limits: results come as JSON, which is easy for scripts but not pretty to read. Use the website export if you just want a spreadsheet.

Method 5: Europe PMC "Citations & impact"

Europe PMC is a free archive of life-science and biomedical literature, and another of Ocean of Papers' sources.

Steps:

1. Search the title, DOI or PMID on Europe PMC and open the article.
2. Open the Citations & impact tab. It lists the articles that cite this one and shows a graph of citations over time.
3. Open citing articles directly; many have free full text in Europe PMC.

Limits: Europe PMC counts are often lower than Scopus or Web of Science because it does not see the same content, and very new papers may show zero citations at first.

Method 6: PubMed "Cited by"

PubMed shows a Cited by section on an article's page when other articles cite it.

Steps:

1. Search the title or PMID on PubMed and open the abstract page.
2. Scroll to Cited by and click to see the full list as a PubMed search, which you can then filter by date, article type and more.

Limits: this list is built from data submitted by publishers and from NCBI resources such as PubMed Central, so it is a subset of all citing papers. It is very useful for clinical topics, where you can filter citing papers to reviews or trials, but it is not complete.

Which method should you use? Comparison table

All six methods are free. They differ in coverage, how easy it is to sort and export, and whether you get a list or a picture.

Worked example: who cites "Attention Is All You Need"?

"Attention Is All You Need" (Vaswani et al., 2017) introduced the Transformer architecture and is free on arXiv (1706.03762). It has a very large number of citing papers, so it is a good test of how to handle a big forward citation search. We describe the steps rather than give counts, because citation numbers change every day and differ between databases.

1. Find the exact paper. Search the title in Ocean of Papers (or paste arXiv:1706.03762). Check that the result is the 2017 paper by Vaswani and colleagues, not a later paper with a similar title.
2. Build a map and switch to Derivative works. You get a focused set of citing papers. The biggest circles are the most cited follow-ups; the darkest are the newest.
3. Switch to Timeline. Highly cited follow-up papers usually stand out at the top, and the most recent ones appear on the right. This shows how research built on the paper over time.
4. Narrow the question. A paper this famous is cited for many reasons. Click a follow-up paper close to your topic (for example, a vision or biology application) and use Explore → Later work or Similar work to move into that sub-area. Add the useful papers to the map.
5. Get a complete list if you need it. In Google Scholar, click Cited by, tick Search within citing articles and add your keyword (for example, "protein"). In OpenAlex, use the cites: filter with the paper's W ID and sort by date.
6. Export and save. Export the papers from the map as BibTeX or RIS for Zotero or Mendeley, or save them to a project in your Ocean of Papers library.

The lesson: for a very highly cited paper, do not try to read the whole "Cited by" list. Use the map to see the main branches, then search within the citing papers for your exact topic.

Tips for better forward citation searches

• Sort two ways. Sort citing papers by citation count to find the important follow-ups, then by date to find the newest. The two lists are usually very different.
• Expect citation lag. A paper published this year may show few or no citations yet. Databases also update at different speeds, so counts differ between tools. Do not compare counts across databases.
• Include preprints. In fast fields such as AI and genomics, much follow-up work appears first on arXiv, bioRxiv or medRxiv. Ocean of Papers, Google Scholar and OpenAlex include preprints; check whether a preprint was later published before you cite it.
• Check versions. The same paper can appear twice (preprint and journal version), each with its own citations. Look at both.
• Do both directions. After forward search, run a backward search (Prior works mode) on the 2–3 best follow-up papers. This often finds papers you missed.
• Look for reviews. Filter citing papers to review articles. A recent review that cites your seed paper can save you hours.
• Keep a record. For a formal review, note which tool you used, the date and how many results you screened. Export to RIS or BibTeX so nothing gets lost.
• Read legally. Most citing papers have a free legal copy somewhere. See how to download research papers for free.

Finding related papers when nothing cites your paper yet

If your paper is new, forward citation search will return little. You can still find related papers and similar articles:

• Use Similar mode in an Ocean of Papers map. Similarity links come from shared references (bibliographic coupling) and co-citation, so they work even before anyone cites the paper.
• Run a backward search (Prior works) and then a forward search on its key references: papers citing the same foundations are often close to your topic.
• Use PubMed's Similar articles list on biomedical papers.
• Select several key papers (up to 10) in Ocean of Papers search results and map them together, so the map reflects your whole topic instead of one paper.

For other tools that do this, compare the best literature mapping tools.

FAQ

How do I find papers that cite another paper?

Search the paper in Google Scholar and click "Cited by", or open the citations list in Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Europe PMC or PubMed. For a visual overview, build a citation map in Ocean of Papers and switch to Derivative works mode. All of these are free.

What is a forward citation search?

A forward citation search finds papers published after a given paper that cite it. It is the opposite of a backward search, which looks at the paper's own reference list. Forward search is the best way to find recent work that builds on a known paper.

Why do Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar and OpenAlex show different citation counts?

Each one indexes different sources, handles duplicates and preprints differently and updates at a different speed. Google Scholar is usually highest because it includes theses, books and other documents. Use one tool consistently when you compare papers.

How do I find related research papers, not just citing papers?

Use a similarity method. Ocean of Papers' Similar mode links papers that share references or are cited together; PubMed shows "Similar articles" for biomedical papers. Combining similar, prior and citing papers gives the fullest picture.

Can I export the list of papers that cite a paper?

Yes. From an Ocean of Papers map you can export BibTeX, RIS or CSV. The OpenAlex website exports citing works as a CSV, and its API returns them as JSON. Google Scholar only exports one citation at a time.

Is there a free tool that shows citing papers as a map?

Yes. Ocean of Papers builds a citation map from any search result; Derivative works mode shows the papers that cite it, as a graph or a timeline. The free plan includes 5 new maps per month, with no account needed.

How do I find who cited a paper in PubMed?

Open the article's abstract page in PubMed and look for the "Cited by" section. It lists citing articles found mainly through PubMed Central, so it may miss some citations; check Google Scholar or OpenAlex for a fuller list.

Next steps

Start with one strong paper, build a map in Derivative works mode and follow the most relevant branches. Then switch to Prior works to fill in the foundations. When you have your set of papers, organise them into themes with our guide on how to write a literature review, and learn how the links work in what is a citation network.

Updated October 2026.

Related guides

• Citation network: what it is and how to make one free
• How to write a literature review (with example PDFs)
• Free literature mapping tool (citation maps)
• Best Google Scholar alternatives
• How to download a research paper by DOI

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