Traversing Citation Networks

Traversing Citation Networks

Overview

Intelligently follow citations backward (references) and forward (citing papers) using Semantic Scholar API.

Core principle: Only follow citations relevant to user's query. Avoid exponential explosion by filtering before traversing.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Found a highly relevant paper (score ≥ 7)
• Need to find related work
• User asks "what papers cite this?"
• Building comprehensive understanding of a topic

When NOT to use:

• Paper scored < 7 (not relevant enough to follow)
• Already at 50 papers (check with user first)
• Citations look off-topic from abstract

Citation Traversal Strategy

1. Get Paper ID from Semantic Scholar

Lookup by DOI:

curl "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/DOI:10.1234/example.2023?fields=paperId,title,year"

Response:

{
  "paperId": "abc123def456",
  "title": "Paper Title",
  "year": 2023
}

Save paperId - needed for citations/references queries

2. Backward Traversal (References)

Get references from paper:

curl "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/abc123def456/references?fields=contexts,intents,title,year,abstract,externalIds&limit=100"

Response format:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "citedPaper": {
        "paperId": "xyz789",
        "title": "Referenced Paper Title",
        "year": 2020,
        "abstract": "...",
        "externalIds": {
          "DOI": "10.5678/referenced.2020",
          "PubMed": "87654321"
        }
      },
      "contexts": [
        "...as described in previous work [15]...",
        "...we used the method from [15] to..."
      ],
      "intents": ["methodology", "background"]
    }
  ]
}

Filter for relevance:

For each reference, check:

1. Context keywords: Do citation contexts mention user's query terms?
   • Example: If user asks about "IC50 values", look for contexts mentioning "IC50", "activity", "potency"
2. Title match: Does title contain relevant keywords?
3. Intent: Is intent "methodology" or "result" (more relevant) vs "background" (less relevant)?