citation-skill

name	citation_skill
description	Citation network and reference management skill for tracking citations, formatting references, and building citation graphs
version	1.0.0
author	PaperAgent Team

Citation Network Skill

This skill enables you to work with academic citations, including formatting references, tracing citation networks, and analyzing paper relationships. Use this skill for literature review, reference management, and citation analysis.

Available Tools

You have access to the following citation tools (registered in the Toolkit):

1. format_citation

Format a citation in a specified academic style.

Parameters:

• authors (list[str], required): List of author names
• title (str, required): Title of the work
• year (int, optional): Publication year
• journal (str, optional): Journal or venue name
• style (str, optional): Citation style - "apa", "mla", "chicago", "gb", "ieee" (default: "apa")
• volume (str, optional): Volume number
• issue (str, optional): Issue number
• pages (str, optional): Page range
• doi (str, optional): DOI identifier
• url (str, optional): URL to the work

Returns: Formatted citation string.

Example:

format_citation(
    authors=["John Smith", "Jane Doe"],
    title="A Survey on Large Language Models",
    year=2023,
    journal="Nature Machine Intelligence",
    style="apa",
    volume="5",
    pages="1-15",
    doi="10.1038/s42256-023-00001-1"
)

2. format_references_list

Format a list of citations in a consistent style.

Parameters:

• papers (list[dict], required): List of paper metadata dictionaries
• style (str, optional): Citation style (default: "apa")
• sort_by (str, optional): Sort order - "author", "year", "title" (default: "author")

Returns: Formatted reference list with proper numbering.

Example:

format_references_list(papers=paper_list, style="ieee", sort_by="year")

3. get_citations

Get papers that cite a given paper (downstream citations).

Parameters:

• paper_id (str, required): Paper identifier (DOI, Semantic Scholar ID, or arXiv ID)
• max_results (int, optional): Maximum citations to retrieve (default: 20)

Returns: List of citing papers with metadata.

Example:

get_citations(paper_id="10.1038/s41586-023-06747-5", max_results=50)

4. get_references

Get papers that a given paper cites (upstream references).

Parameters:

• paper_id (str, required): Paper identifier
• max_results (int, optional): Maximum references to retrieve (default: 50)

Returns: List of referenced papers with metadata.

Example:

get_references(paper_id="arXiv:2301.12345")

5. snowball_search

Perform snowball search by iteratively following citation chains.

Parameters:

• seed_papers (list[str], required): List of seed paper IDs
• depth (int, optional): How many citation hops to follow (default: 2)
• direction (str, optional): "forward" (citations), "backward" (references), or "both"
• max_per_hop (int, optional): Max papers per hop (default: 10)

Returns: Expanded set of related papers organized by hop distance.

Example:

snowball_search(
    seed_papers=["10.1038/nature14539"],
    depth=2,
    direction="both",
    max_per_hop=20
)

6. find_common_citations

Find papers commonly cited by a set of papers (to identify foundational works).

Parameters:

• paper_ids (list[str], required): List of paper identifiers
• min_occurrence (int, optional): Minimum times a paper must be cited (default: 2)

Returns: List of commonly cited papers ranked by occurrence.

Example:

find_common_citations(paper_ids=["paper1_id", "paper2_id", "paper3_id"], min_occurrence=2)

7. analyze_citation_network

Analyze the citation network structure for a set of papers.

Parameters:

• paper_ids (list[str], required): List of paper identifiers
• include_metrics (bool, optional): Calculate network metrics (default: True)

Returns: Network analysis including:

• Citation graph structure
• Key papers (high centrality)
• Citation clusters
• Temporal patterns

Example:

analyze_citation_network(paper_ids=paper_id_list, include_metrics=True)

Citation Styles Supported

APA (American Psychological Association)

Smith, J., & Doe, J. (2023). Paper title. Journal Name, 5(2), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.xxx

MLA (Modern Language Association)

Smith, John, and Jane Doe. "Paper Title." Journal Name, vol. 5, no. 2, 2023, pp. 1-15.

Chicago

Smith, John, and Jane Doe. "Paper Title." Journal Name 5, no. 2 (2023): 1-15.

GB/T 7714 (Chinese National Standard)

[1] SMITH J, DOE J. Paper title[J]. Journal Name, 2023, 5(2): 1-15.

IEEE

[1] J. Smith and J. Doe, "Paper title," Journal Name, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 1-15, 2023.

Citation Analysis Strategies

Literature Review Building

1. Start with key papers in your topic
2. Use get_references to find foundational works
3. Use get_citations to find recent advances
4. Use snowball_search for comprehensive coverage
5. Use find_common_citations to identify must-cite papers

Tracing Research Evolution

1. Identify seminal papers
2. Follow forward citations chronologically
3. Identify branching research directions

Finding Related Work

1. Start with papers you know
2. Use bidirectional snowball search
3. Filter by relevance and recency

Best Practices

1. Use stable identifiers: DOIs are most reliable, followed by Semantic Scholar IDs
2. Limit depth: Snowball search can explode; use reasonable depth (2-3)
3. Filter results: Not all citations are equally relevant
4. Check coverage: Different databases have different citation coverage
5. Verify formatting: Always double-check formatted citations
6. Track sources: Keep mapping between papers and their sources

Output Format

Citations are formatted according to the selected style. Citation network analysis returns:

• Paper nodes with metadata
• Citation edges with direction
• Aggregated metrics
• Visualization-ready data structures