sciatlas-trend-report

name	sciatlas-trend-report
description	Use only SciAtlas search-papers to take a novice user from zero setup to a final timeline-oriented research trend report, including setup, registration guidance, configuration, retrieval, artifact reading, and synthesis. Trigger when the user asks for topic history, field evolution, recent trends, representative papers over time, or emerging directions.

SciAtlas Trend Report

Use this skill to build a trend report from search-papers evidence only.

Operating Contract

• Do not call any SciAtlas downstream command. The only SciAtlas retrieval command allowed is search-papers.
• Own the end-to-end novice flow: install or locate the CLI, guide registration, configure environment variables, run retrieval, inspect artifacts, and write the trend report.
• Ask the user only for email, verification code, token, or the desired time range if it is essential.
• Do not ask the user to run shell commands when tool access is available.
• Do not reveal the full token.

Zero-Start Bootstrap

1. Check whether the sciatlas executable exists without invoking a SciAtlas command: use Get-Command sciatlas -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue on Windows PowerShell or command -v sciatlas on macOS/Linux. Install if needed with python -m pip install -e ./sciatlas or python -m pip install "git+https://github.com/zjunlp/SciAtlas.git#subdirectory=sciatlas".
2. If there is no SCIATLAS_API_KEY, guide registration at http://sciatlas.openkg.cn/register, asking for email/code/token only when needed.
3. Configure:

$env:SCIATLAS_API_BASE_URL = "http://sciatlas.openkg.cn"
$env:SCIATLAS_API_KEY = "<token>"
setx SCIATLAS_API_BASE_URL "http://sciatlas.openkg.cn"
setx SCIATLAS_API_KEY "<token>"

export SCIATLAS_API_BASE_URL="http://sciatlas.openkg.cn"
export SCIATLAS_API_KEY="<token>"

4. Use search-papers --top-k 1 as the only token smoke test if needed.

Search Plan

Run only search-papers. Use a time range whenever possible:

sciatlas search-papers --retrieval-mode hybrid --query "<topic>" --time-range "<start-end>" --keyword "high:<core topic>" --top-k 12 --top-keywords 0 --max-titles 0 --max-refs 0 --bias-citation high --bias-exploration middle --ranking-profile impact --report-max-items 12

If the user asks for "recent trends", default to the last five complete years unless the current year matters.

If the field has older foundations, run one foundation search without the recent time range:

sciatlas search-papers --retrieval-mode hybrid --query "<topic> foundational work" --keyword "high:<core topic>" --top-k 6 --top-keywords 0 --max-titles 0 --max-refs 0 --bias-citation high --ranking-profile impact --report-max-items 6

Reading Artifacts

Read report.md and response.json. Build a timeline ledger:

• Paper title.
• Year.
• Main contribution.
• Theme.
• Whether it is foundation, transition, consolidation, or emerging direction.
• Evidence phrase.

Trend Analysis Method

1. Sort papers by year.
2. Bucket years into phases. Use natural breaks in the result set, not arbitrary equal chunks.
3. For each phase, identify the dominant problem, method, and evaluation pattern.
4. Track what changed: data scale, model architecture, retrieval strategy, benchmark, deployment setting, or theoretical framing.
5. Identify representative papers for each phase and explain why they represent that phase.
6. Separate "well-supported trend" from "possible emerging signal." Emerging signals need at least 2 papers or a clear recent change in framing.
7. End with open questions and next searches.

Deliverable

Return:

• Search command(s), with token omitted.
• Timeline table.
• 3-5 trend phases.
• Representative papers per phase.
• Emerging directions and weak signals.
• Next search-papers queries.