| name | paper-search |
| description | Retrieve candidate papers and perform conservative coarse screening using title and abstract evidence. Use when the user needs a candidate paper set, abstract-level screening, or a first-pass shortlist before full-text review. |
paper-search
Name
paper-search
Description
Retrieve candidate papers and perform conservative coarse screening using title and abstract evidence. This skill is for building a candidate set, not for making strong final claims.
Use When
- the user wants candidate papers for a topic
- the workflow needs abstract-level screening
- the agent needs to search online sources or local metadata
- the repository needs a first-pass shortlist before full-text review
Inputs
- topic
- keywords
- inclusion criteria
- exclusion criteria
- year range
- max results
- mode:
online, offline, or auto
- local paths or local metadata files when available
Outputs
- normalized paper metadata
- coarse screening reasons
screening_candidates and need_fulltext flags for uncertain items
- abstract-level evidence snippets where available
- structured JSON-ready paper records
Workflow
- Load the query input.
- Choose channels based on mode.
- Search remote sources if online access is allowed and available.
- Fall back to local metadata, JSON files, DOI/title lists, or folders if online retrieval is unavailable.
- Normalize results into a common paper schema.
- Screen conservatively:
- title can suggest relevance
- abstract can support plausible relevance
- title alone must not justify selection
- Mark items as
need_fulltext when the abstract is missing, vague, or insufficient for inclusion criteria.
- Output plausible matches into a
screening_candidates set for later full-text review.
Guardrails
- Do not overclaim based on title only.
- Do not label a paper as definitively selected during this step.
- If abstract evidence conflicts with inclusion criteria, reject or downgrade the paper.
- If internet access is unavailable, say so and continue with local inputs when possible.
- Record evidence quality explicitly.
Online And Offline Behavior
online: use scholarly APIs defensively and continue on failure
offline: use local metadata or user-supplied paper lists only
auto: attempt online retrieval first, then merge or fall back to offline inputs
Example
Input:
{
"topic": "Driving attention prediction with BDD-100K",
"keywords": ["BDD-100K", "driving attention", "gaze prediction", "attention map"]
}
Output behavior:
- candidate papers returned with metadata
- reasons referencing title and abstract cues
- uncertain papers flagged
need_fulltext: true