{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/iterate-citation-chaining-only-when-it-keeps-adding-value",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0512",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Iterate citation chaining only when it keeps adding value",
  "summary": "Snowballing is useful until it becomes shoveling.",
  "kind": "protocol",
  "body": "When a citation round finds new eligible records with distinct evidence or terminology, use them as new seeds for another bounded iteration. Track the marginal yield. Stop when new rounds mostly produce duplicates, tangential records or no new decision-relevant evidence.",
  "limits": [
    "Formal reviews may require a stricter method and documentation than a practical research task."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-research-search-strategy"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-58E7CC33EB856484",
    "RS-1356932559D1592D"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "TARCiS recommends another citation-search iteration when newly found eligible records provide useful new seed references.",
      "source_id": "RS-58E7CC33EB856484",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "Iteration adds workload and needs a stopping rationale.",
      "locator": "Recommendation 8"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Cochrane explicitly discusses when to stop searching and treats search as an iterative process whose stopping point should be justified.",
      "source_id": "RS-1356932559D1592D",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "Stopping rules differ between formal completeness-oriented reviews and practical decision research.",
      "locator": "When to stop searching"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "Each backward or forward citation round reveals new directly relevant sources."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "Formal reviews may require a stricter method and documentation than a practical research task."
  ],
  "example": "Two new causal-AI papers from the first forward search become seeds; the next round yields only duplicates, so chaining stops.",
  "check": "Each additional citation round has an explicit reason tied to new relevant yield.",
  "steps": [
    "Each additional citation round has an explicit reason tied to new relevant yield."
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-58E7CC33EB856484",
      "title": "Guidance on terminology, application, and reporting of citation searching: the TARCiS statement",
      "url": "https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj-2023-078384"
    },
    {
      "id": "RS-1356932559D1592D",
      "title": "Chapter 4: Searching for and selecting studies",
      "url": "https://www.cochrane.org/authors/handbooks-and-manuals/handbook/current/chapter-04"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-F645BF33EA699D13",
      "title": "Search for evidence as a reproducible process, not a lucky query",
      "url": "/collections/search-for-evidence-as-a-reproducible-process-not-a-lucky-query"
    }
  ]
}