Corpus expansion
In short: Corpus expansion permanently adds publications you don't have yet. Re-run a search that built your corpus, or run a new one, from Expand corpus in Expert Mode (up to 100 new publications per run, up to 5 searches at once). On citation and co-citation maps, click a publication and use Add N cited publications to corpus or Add N citing publications to corpus to follow what it cites and what cites it. SciNodes records every catalog search that built the corpus, so you can repeat it later.
Before you start
- Expansion uses your weekly AI credits, like other AI features. See Credits and usage.
- Only publications not already in the corpus are added. Nothing is ever duplicated.
- Expansion changes the corpus for good. To narrow what one map uses without changing the corpus, use a corpus slice instead.
Re-run a previous search
- On the Research Maps tab, open Expert Mode. See Expert Mode.
- Open the Expand corpus section ("Optional · adds publications to the corpus permanently").
- Stay on Re-run a previous search. The list shows the catalog searches that fed this corpus.
- Tick up to 5 searches.
- Set How many to add (50 by default, up to 100 new publications per run).
- Click Re-run for N more.
A bar shows "Adding publications… N%". Click Stop to end early. When it's done, a message such as "Added 87 publications to your corpus." confirms it. While an expansion runs in Expert Mode, map creation waits for it to finish.
Run a new search
- In Expert Mode → Expand corpus, click New search.
- Type in Search for.
- Optional: choose Sort by (Relevance, Newest or Most cited), set From year and To year, or tick Open access only.
- Set How many to add.
- Click Search and add up to N.
For a bigger search with include and exclude filters, use Library → Add Publications → Discover instead. See Discover and Suggest.
Add cited or citing publications from a map
On citation and co-citation maps you can follow one publication's citations in either direction, a technique often called snowballing.
- Click a publication node on the map.
- In the panel on the right, scroll to its Cited publications or Cited by list.
- Click Add N cited publications to corpus or Add N citing publications to corpus. If there are a lot, the button reads "Add top N of M …".
- When it's done, regenerate the map to see the new structure.
Messages you may see: "Corpus extended — regenerate the map to see the new structure.", "Map updated with the extended corpus." and "All of those publications are already in your corpus." See Selecting, merging and excluding.
Suggested for your library
Above the Library list, a Suggested for your library card offers top-ranked publications from the search that created the project, one at a time.
- Save to my library files it in My references.
- Dismiss removes it. It "Won't be suggested again".
The card stops once My references holds 10 publications or the suggestions run out. To hide it, turn off the Suggestions switch at the top of the details panel (shown when no publication is selected). Turning it back on picks up where you left off.
Search history
SciNodes records every catalog search that added publications to the corpus (Suggest, Discover and new searches), with its exact query, years and filters. Those searches are the list you see under Re-run a previous search in Expand corpus.
The "Library import" and "Publication suggestions" pages, reached from shortcuts on the upload page, aren't available yet (coming soon). Until then, use Upload Anything and Discover → Suggest Publications.
Limits
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| New publications per expansion run | 100 |
| Searches re-run at once | 5 |
| Expansions running at a time | One, across all your projects |
Troubleshooting
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| "Nothing new to add — everything this search finds is already in your corpus." | The search is exhausted. Try a new search. |
| "No publications could be added — the catalog returned nothing new." | Try different search terms |
| "The catalog could not be reached for these publications — nothing was added. Try again in a moment." | Wait and try again |
| "Publications are being added to another project — wait for that to finish." | Only one expansion runs at a time |
| "No catalog searches are recorded for this corpus, so there is nothing to re-run. Run a new search instead." | Use New search |
| "Tick a search to re-run." | Tick at least one search |
| "Weekly complex compute budget spent." | Your weekly AI credits are used up. Wait for the reset in the message. |
FAQ
What's the difference between expanding the corpus and slicing it?
Expanding adds publications to the corpus permanently, for every map. Slicing narrows which publications one map uses and leaves the corpus as it is.
Can I undo an expansion?
Not in one step. Select the publications you don't want in the Library and use Remove from corpus.
Why does my citation map need reference data after an expansion?
New publications may arrive without reference lists. See Empty maps and reference data.
Is my search history kept for a systematic review?
SciNodes records every catalog search with its exact query and filters, and lists them under Re-run a previous search in Expert Mode. For a systematic review, also keep your own log of queries, dates and screening decisions.