Research Rabbit Setup Guide

Research Rabbit is a citation network discovery tool for the literature review process. This guide covers setup, Zotero integration, and practices for expanding your literature collection through paper recommendations. Research Rabbit offers a free tier sufficient for most individual systematic reviews and an RR+ tier for larger reviews. Because seat limits and tier caps change, check Research Rabbit's pricing page (opens in a new tab) for current terms.

Benefits:

• Visual citation network mapping
• AI-assisted paper recommendations
• Seamless Zotero integration
• Forward/backward citation discovery
• Collection sharing and collaboration

1.1 sign up for Research Rabbit

1. Visit researchrabbit.ai (opens in a new tab)
2. Click "Sign Up"
3. Connect with your Zotero account

2.1 main dashboard

Collections Panel (Left):

• Your collections of papers
• Shared collections from collaborators
• Recently viewed collections

Network Visualization (Center):

• Citation network graph
• Papers as nodes, citations as connections
• Color coding by publication year or other metrics

Paper Details Panel (Right):

• Selected paper metadata
• Abstract and publication details
• Related papers suggestions

2.2 features overview

Citation Maps:

• Visual representation of how papers cite each other
• Identify influential papers (central nodes)
• Discover research clusters and themes

Similar Papers:

• AI recommendations based on content similarity
• "More like this" functionality
• Semantic search capabilities

Discovery Feed:

• Personalized paper recommendations
• Based on your collections and interests
• Weekly digest of new relevant papers

3.1 prerequisites

Before connecting, ensure:

• Zotero desktop app is installed and running
• Zotero web sync is enabled and working
• You have at least 3-5 seed papers in a Zotero collection
• Your Zotero account is active and synced

3.2 connect Research Rabbit to Zotero

Step 1: Initial connection

1. Open Profile → Account Settings → Preferences → Zotero Libraries.
2. Choose "Link Zotero".
3. Sign in with your Zotero credentials when prompted
4. Authorize Research Rabbit to access your Zotero library

Step 2: Import your first collection

1. Open Library → Zotero and choose a collection to import (start with seed papers)
2. Give your Research Rabbit collection a descriptive name
   • Example: "SR2025_AI_Education_Seeds"
3. Click "Import" and wait for processing
4. Verify all papers imported correctly

3.3 import and export, not two-way sync

The official Zotero importer guide (opens in a new tab) says two-way sync is still under development. Import a collection from Zotero, then export discoveries as BibTeX and import that file into Zotero. Check the imported records and resolve duplicates there; do not expect changes in either application to synchronize automatically.

4.1 starting with seed papers

Suggested workflow:

1. Import seed collection: Start with 3-7 high-quality papers
2. Explore citation network: Click on papers to see their connections
3. Identify clusters: Look for dense citation groups
4. Find review papers: Central nodes are often influential reviews
5. Discover recent work: Papers citing your seeds

4.2 citation network analysis

Reading the Network:

• Central nodes: Highly influential papers
• Bridge papers: Connect different research streams
• Isolated clusters: Potentially different approaches
• Color coding: Usually represents publication year

Navigation Tips:

• Double-click papers to center the view
• Use zoom controls for different network perspectives
• Filter by publication year to see evolution
• Hover for quick paper details

4.3 AI-assisted recommendations

"Similar Papers" Feature:

1. Select any paper in your collection
2. Click "Find similar papers" in the right panel
3. Review AI suggestions based on:
   • Content similarity (abstracts, keywords)
   • Citation patterns
   • Author overlap
   • Journal similarity

Discovery Feed:

• Check your personalized feed weekly
• Review papers recommended based on your collections
• Add interesting papers with one click
• Flag papers for later review

5.1 organizing your research

Recommended Collection Structure:

Research Collections:
├── SR2025_Seeds_Original          # Initial seed papers
├── SR2025_Citations_Forward       # Papers citing your seeds
├── SR2025_Citations_Backward      # Papers cited by your seeds
├── SR2025_Similar_AI              # AI recommendations
├── SR2025_Reviews_Found           # Review papers discovered
└── SR2025_Final_Curated          # Papers passing initial screening

Collection Naming Best Practices:

• Use project prefix (SR2025_)
• Include discovery method
• Keep names under 30 characters
• Use consistent abbreviations

5.2 paper management

Adding Papers:

• Click "+" in any collection
• Search by DOI, title, or authors
• Import from BibTeX/RIS files
• Bulk import from databases

Paper Status Tracking:

• Use color coding for review status
• Add personal notes and ratings
• Tag papers by themes or methodology
• Mark papers for team review

6.1 author following

1. Click on author names in papers
2. View their publication history
3. Click "Follow Author" for notifications
4. Get alerts when they publish new work

6.2 journal monitoring

1. Identify the main journals from your collection
2. Set up journal alerts
3. Get notifications for new issues
4. Track special issues and calls for papers

6.3 keyword-based discovery

1. Use the search function with key terms
2. Combine multiple search terms
3. Use boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
4. Save searches for regular updates

7.1 sharing collections

1. Select collection to share
2. Click "Share" button
3. Set permissions:
   • View only
   • Comment and suggest
   • Full edit access
4. Share via email or direct link

7.2 team workflows

For Systematic Review Teams:

• Supervisor creates master collection
• Team members have "suggest" access
• Teams hold weekly review meetings to evaluate suggestions
• Final curation remains with lead reviewer

8.1 export options

To Zotero:

1. Export selected discoveries as BibTeX.
2. Import the file into Zotero and place the records in your target collection.
3. Check metadata and merge duplicates before screening.

Alternative Export Formats:

1. Select papers to export
2. Click "Export" button
3. Choose format:
   • BibTeX (.bib) - for LaTeX users
   • RIS (.ris) - for EndNote, Mendeley
   • CSV - for spreadsheet analysis
   • JSON - for custom processing

8.2 backup strategy

Weekly Backup Routine:

1. Export collections to BibTeX
2. Save search history
3. Document discovery strategies used
4. Note any technical issues or limitations

Daily discovery routine

Build a sustainable literature monitoring workflow:

Recommended Weekly Pattern:

1. Monday: Check discovery feed for new papers
2. Wednesday: Explore citations of newly added papers
3. Friday: Export discoveries and import them into Zotero
4. Weekend: Curate and screen new additions

Pre-research checklist

Before starting your systematic review:

• Create Research Rabbit account
• Connect to Zotero successfully
• Import seed papers collection
• Explore citation network for 30+ minutes
• Find 5-10 related papers as initial corpus
• Export discoveries and import them into Zotero
• Verify imported records and resolve duplicates

Course participants can see these discovery strategies demonstrated in Session 2, including the Research Rabbit integration and Q&A.

Common issues

Zotero import or export not working

There is no automatic two-way sync. If Zotero papers are missing from Research Rabbit, check that Zotero web sync completed and the intended library is linked. To bring discoveries back, export BibTeX and import it into Zotero; verify the imported collection and metadata.

Partial import issues

Symptoms: Only some papers import from Zotero

Solutions:

• Check for duplicate DOIs
• Verify all papers have complete metadata
• Import smaller collections (fewer than 50 papers)
• Import missing papers individually

Citation network not loading

Symptoms: Network visualization fails to display

Solutions:

• Refresh the page
• Check browser compatibility (Chrome recommended)
• Clear browser cache and cookies
• Try with fewer papers in collection

Poor paper recommendations

Symptoms: AI suggestions are not relevant

Solutions:

• Ensure seed papers are high-quality and on-topic
• Add more diverse seed papers
• Use more specific search terms

1. Start small, expand systematically

• Begin with 3-5 high-quality seed papers
• Expand in focused waves rather than bulk discovery
• Maintain quality over quantity

2. Use multiple discovery methods

• Forward citations (who cites your seeds)
• Backward citations (who your seeds cite)
• AI similarity recommendations
• Author following for prolific researchers

3. Document your discovery process

• Keep notes on search strategies
• Record date ranges explored
• Note which methods yielded best results
• Track sources of papers you found

4. Maintain quality control

• Not all recommendations will be relevant
• Apply inclusion criteria consistently
• Use Zotero for final curation decisions
• Research Rabbit is for discovery, not final selection

5. Regular maintenance

• Clean out irrelevant papers from collections
• Review and refine your discovery strategies
• Import new records deliberately and check for duplicates

Essential keyboard shortcuts

• Space: Pan the network view
• +/-: Zoom in/out
• Ctrl+A: Select all papers
• Ctrl+Z: Undo last action
• F: Fit network to screen

Useful URLs

• Main platform: researchrabbit.ai (opens in a new tab)
• Feature requests: Research Rabbit Discord community
• Academic tutorials: YouTube Research Rabbit channel

• Primary integration for bibliography management
• Zotero import plus manual export/import of discoveries
• Use Zotero for final paper curation