Systematic Retrieval of Scientific Literature based on Citation Relations: Introducing the CitNetExplorer Tool

We consider the problem of scientific literature search, and we suggest that citation relations between publications can be very helpful in the systematic retrieval of scientific literature. We introduce a new software tool called CitNetExplorer that can be used for citation-based scientific literature retrieval. To demonstrate the use of CitNetExplorer, we employ the tool to identify publications dealing with the topic of community detection in networks. Citationbased scientific literature retrieval can be especially helpful in situations in which one needs to obtain a comprehensive overview of the literature on a certain research topic, for instance in the preparation of a review article.