citation-chaining

name	citation-chaining
description	Forward and backward citation tracing tactic — expand paper coverage by tracing citation networks in both directions from seed/key papers. Alternates forward (who cited this) and backward (what this cited) passes until saturation.
execution	tactic
used-by	systematic-survey, snowball

Citation Chaining

Expand paper coverage by tracing citation networks in both directions.

Operations

• Backward chaining: ss_references — what does this paper cite?
• Forward chaining: ss_citations — what cites this paper?

Available SOPs

• paper-overview (import) — quick scan of discovered papers
• paper-search (import) — AI summary of promising papers
• paper-research (import) — deep reading of key papers
• saturation-detection (subagent) — determine when to stop

Execution Guidance

• Start from seed/key papers
• Alternate forward and backward passes
• After each pass: filter by relevance, add to reading queue
• Use saturation-detection to stop when new papers aren't adding information
• Track the chain: paper A → cites B → cites C (provenance)
• Deduplicate across passes — same paper may appear in multiple chains