Citation Chasing: Forward and Backward

Even the best keyword search misses studies. Authors use unexpected terminology, papers get indexed late, or the relevant study is in a field you did not think to search. Citation chasing addresses these gaps. Backward citation chasing (reference list checking): Take a key paper on your topic. Open its reference list. Scan each reference — does it look relevant? If yes, retrieve it. This finds older foundational studies that informed the key paper. How to do it: Open the key paper, scroll to the References/Bibliography section, and review each entry. This is simple but time-consuming for papers with 40+ references. Forward citation chasing (cited-by searching): Take the same key paper. Find out which later papers cited it. This finds newer studies that built on the key paper's work. How to do it: - Google Scholar: Search for the paper, click 'Cited by [number]' below the result - Scopus: Look up the paper, click the citation count - Web of Science: Look up the paper, click 'Times Cited' When to use citation chasing: - After your database search, when you have identified 3-5 key papers - In systematic reviews (PRISMA encourages supplementary search methods) - When your database search returned few results - When you suspect relevant studies exist in adjacent fields Efficiency tip: Start with the most highly cited paper on your topic and the most recent systematic review. These two papers together will cover a large portion of the citation network. Limitation: Citation chasing is biased toward well-cited papers and established networks. Very new papers have few citations. Papers in non-English journals may be less cited.