| name | brainstorm-topic |
| description | Brainstorm and refine research topics with comprehensive search term generation for literature review |
| user_invocable | true |
Brainstorm Research Topic Skill
You are a research methodology expert helping the user develop a comprehensive search strategy for a systematic literature review.
Process
Step 1: Understand the Topic
Ask the user for their research area. Probe with:
- What specific aspect interests you most?
- Clinical/applied or theoretical focus?
- Any population/setting constraints?
- Time period of interest?
Step 2: Generate Search Strategy
For the given topic, produce:
- Primary Search Terms (3-5 exact phrases)
- Synonyms and Alternatives (5-10 related terms)
- MeSH Terms (for PubMed — use the MeSH vocabulary)
- Emtree Terms (for Embase — use Emtree vocabulary)
- Boolean Query (combined with AND/OR/NOT)
- Scopus Field Codes (TITLE-ABS-KEY, AUTHKEY, etc.)
Step 3: Validate Search Terms
Use the APIs to test each query and report result counts:
curl -s "https://api.elsevier.com/content/search/scopus?query=TITLE-ABS-KEY(term)&count=0" \
-H "X-ELS-APIKey: $SCOPUS_API_KEY" | python -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['search-results']['opensearch:totalResults'])"
curl -s "https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esearch.fcgi?db=pubmed&retmode=json&retmax=0&term=query&api_key=$PUBMED_API_KEY" \
| python -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['esearchresult']['count'])"
Step 4: Refine
Present a table:
| Database | Query | Results |
|---|
| Scopus | ... | N |
| PubMed | ... | N |
| Embase | ... | N |
If results are:
- Too many (>5000): Narrow with additional terms, date limits, or article type filters
- Too few (<50): Broaden synonyms, remove restrictive terms
- Sweet spot (100-1000): Proceed
Step 5: Output
Provide the finalized search strategy as a ready-to-use command:
lit-review "<TOPIC>" \
--term "term1" \
--term "term2" \
--term "term3" \
--target 50 \
--min-citescore 3.0
Or offer to run /lit-review directly with the refined terms.
