Trace any paper
back to its roots

Roots of Understanding

Trace any paper back to its roots.

Every paper stands on earlier papers and textbooks. ROUresearch maps them as a tree, so you can see what to read first before diving into new research.

Free to use · Data from OpenAlex, an open index of the world's research

How it works

  1. 1

    Search

    Look up a school, a professor, or a topic.

  2. 2

    Grow the branches

    Click any circle to open it up: schools show subjects, subjects show researchers, researchers show their papers.

  3. 3

    Find the roots

    Click a paper to see the papers, books, and textbooks it builds on — your reading list.

Start with a search

Pick School, Professor or Topic, search, then choose a result. Click any circle to open it up. Click a step in the trail to go back. Click a paper to see the papers and books it builds on.

Try:

School Subject Professor Topic Paper Book (cited) Recommended textbook Click to expand