Synapse.
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For students choosing a research topic
Find the open corner of your research field.Research. Mapped. Simplified.Know your field before you commit.Choose a topic that's actually open.Every topic has a gap. Find yours.
See which parts of your topic are crowded and which are still open, mapped from real papers.
See a sample map- Real papers from OpenAlex
- Every paper links to its source
- Free during early access
01The problem
Most students pick a topic blind.
The usual check on a topic comes from a supervisor, weeks in. Compare the two timelines.
- Week 1Pick a topic that sounds interesting.
- Week 4Read everything you can find on it.
- Week 10Your supervisor says that corner is already crowded.
- Week 11Start again, with less time.
The usual way: weeks of reading before anyone checks the space.
02From papers to a map
Watch 60 papers become a map.
- 0160 real papersThe most relevant matches for “CRISPR gene editing”, from OpenAlex.
- 02Linked and groupedPapers that cite each other or share distinctive words end up together.
- 03Five subtopics, ratedEach is rated by its share of the papers. Here all five are Active; five papers stand alone.
- Papers mapped
- 60
- Subtopics
- 5
- Free to read
- 53
03How it works
Three steps. A few minutes.
Type a topic in plain words. Synapse fetches the papers, links them and groups them, then you choose.
See how a map is builtPlain words are fine. No keywords or search tricks.
04What you get
Everything you need to choose well.
The map, how crowded each part is, and the real papers behind every read.
Open a real map05Why you can trust it
Grounded in real papers. Not guesses.
Ask a chatbot for a research gap, then look at what Synapse shows instead.
- No papers you can checkNothing to open, read or cite.
- No idea how crowded it is“Unexplored” with no numbers behind it.
- Ask again, get another answerThe wording changes, and so can the claim.
06Who it’s for
Built for the moment before you commit.
Genome engineering using the CRISPR-Cas9 system
12,013 citationsActive
Programmable editing of a target base in genomic DNA without double-stranded DNA cleavage
5,703 citationsOpen
One-Step Generation of Mice Carrying Mutations in Multiple Genes by CRISPR/Cas-Mediated Genome Engineering
3,598 citationsActive
Double Nicking by RNA-Guided CRISPR Cas9 for Enhanced Genome Editing Specificity
3,411 citationsOpen
07FAQ
Questions, answered.
Yes, during early access.
From OpenAlex, an open catalogue of research papers. We use each paper’s title, abstract and reference list, and every paper on your map links back to its source.
By its share of the papers we mapped for your topic: over 30% is Saturated, 10–30% is Active, under 10% is Open. It’s an early, uncalibrated read: a starting point for your own judgement, not a verdict.
No. The grouping is computed from citation links and shared words between papers. AI only writes the readable names and summaries, and those are always labelled.
It shows how crowded each corner of a topic looks in the literature. Whether a topic suits you is still a conversation with your supervisor.
Any field OpenAlex covers. New or niche topics give sparse maps, and that’s a real signal, not an error.
Every paper links to its source. Papers marked Free have an open-access version, and we show that link first.
Usually one to three minutes. Keep the tab open while it builds.
Those help you find and read papers. Synapse shows how crowded each corner of your topic is, and the papers behind that read.
The maps you save stay in your account until you delete them or the account. A map you don’t save is gone when you close the tab. Your topic is sent to OpenAlex to find papers. When AI summaries are switched on, paper titles and abstracts go to our AI provider to write them.