To use bracket or footnote in the academic writing?
To draw the most attention to human attention map, use the following, because the phrase appears in the main flow of text.


  I'd like to introduce the saliency map. It is also referred as human attention map in [1] and [2].

To draw less attention, use the following, because the phrase appears inside parenthesises in the main flow of text.


  I'd like to introduce the saliency map (also referred as human attention map in [1] and [2]).

To draw the least attention to human attention map, use the following, because the phrase appears outside the main flow of text.


  I'd like to introduce the saliency map.1
  
  1: Saliency map is also referred as human attention map in [1] and [2].



The style you should use depends on what you want to achieve