A computer implemented method for facilitating a search and identification of documents and associated metadata reflecting content of the documents stored in a memory device, the method comprising: receiving a query comprising a set of search terms; calculating baseline query results, wherein the baseline query results comprise one of an initial result set in response to the query, and the initial result set and one or more additional documents; identifying a stored document within the baseline query results; determining a score value, wherein the score value is based on a similarity between one or more of the query search terms and metadata associated with the identified document; locating the identified document in a citation network of the initial result set, the citation network comprising a first set of documents that cite to the identified document and a second set of documents cited to by the identified document; determining a meta rank score of the identified document as a function of the score value and a quantity and a quality of documents within the first and second set of documents (502, 504), wherein the quality of a document is determined on the basis of its relevance to the query as indicated by its score value; locating documents from a subject matter community that refer to the identified document; calculating an activity score value of the identified document based at least in part on a number of times the identified document is referred to in the documents of the subject matter community; weighting the meta rank score with the activity score; ranking the identified document based on the weighted meta rank score; and outputting on a display device, a report reflecting the ranking of the identified document. receiving a query comprising a set of search terms; calculating baseline query results, wherein the baseline query results comprise one of an initial result set in response to the query, and the initial result set and one or more additional documents; identifying a stored document within the baseline query results; determining a score value, wherein the score value is based on a similarity between one or more of the query search terms and metadata associated with the identified document; locating the identified document in a citation network of the initial result set, the citation network comprising a first set of documents that cite to the identified document and a second set of documents cited to by the identified document; determining a meta rank score of the identified document as a function of the score value and a quantity and a quality of documents within the first and second set of documents (502, 504), wherein the quality of a document is determined on the basis of its relevance to the query as indicated by its score value; locating documents from a subject matter community that refer to the identified document; calculating an activity score value of the identified document based at least in part on a number of times the identified document is referred to in the documents of the subject matter community; weighting the meta rank score with the activity score; ranking the identified document based on the weighted meta rank score; and outputting on a display device, a report reflecting the ranking of the identified document.