This is an excellent strategy! Citation chaining (both backward and forward) is one of the most effective ways to build a comprehensive literature review.

Let's break down how to do backward citation chaining using Web of Science and Scopus for your 10 key papers. The goal is to identify all the papers cited by your key papers.

Understanding Backward Citation Chaining

Backward Citation Chaining involves looking at the reference list of a key paper to find earlier, foundational, or related works that influenced it. These are the papers that the authors of your key paper deemed important enough to cite.

Step-by-Step Guide: Web of Science (WoS)

Web of Science is powerful for this because it has comprehensive indexing of cited references.

• Access Web of Science: Go to your institution's Web of Science portal (or directly to webofscience.com if you have a personal subscription). You'll likely need to log in.


• Search for One of Your Key Papers:


• Use the "Documents" search.


• The most precise way is to search by Title (put the full title in quotation marks for an exact phrase search).


• Alternatively, use the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) if you have it – this is often the fastest and most accurate.


• You can also search by Author and Year to narrow it down if the title is common.


• Go to the Paper's Record:


• Once you find your key paper in the search results, click on its title to open the full record page.


• Locate "Cited References":


• On the paper's record page, scroll down. You will see a section titled "Cited References". This lists all the papers that this key paper has cited.


• There will usually be a number indicating how many references there are (e.g., "Cited References (56)").


• View and Export the Cited References:


• Click on the number next to "Cited References" or a button that says "View all X References."


• This will open a new search results page displaying all the papers cited by your key paper as a list of WoS records.


• Review and Refine (Optional but Recommended):


• Scan the titles of these cited papers. Are there any obvious outliers?


• You can use the filters on the left-hand side (e.g., "Publication Year," "Research Area," "Document Type" like "Review Article") to further narrow down this list if it's very large, but for initial chaining, it's good to keep it broad.


• Export:


• Select all the relevant papers (or use the "Select All" option).


• Click the "Export" button (usually near the top right).


• Choose your preferred format (e.g., "Plain Text," "Excel," "RIS file" for citation managers). For simple review, "Excel" or "Plain Text" is often easiest. Make sure to export relevant fields like Author, Title, Year, Journal.


• Save this file, clearly labeling it (e.g., "CitedReferencesKeyPaper1_WoS").


• Repeat for All 10 Key Papers:


• Go back and perform steps 2-5 for each of your other 9 key papers.


• Save each set of cited references separately.

Step-by-Step Guide: Scopus

Scopus offers a similar and equally effective process for backward chaining.

• Access Scopus: Go to your institution's Scopus portal (or directly to scopus.com if you have a personal subscription). Log in if required.


• Search for One of Your Key Papers:


• Use the "Documents" search.


• Again, searching by Title (with quotation marks) or DOI is the most accurate.


• Go to the Paper's Record:


• Click on the title of your key paper in the search results to open its full document details page.


• Locate "References":


• On the paper's document details page, scroll down. You will find a section simply titled "References."


• Like WoS, there will be a number indicating the count (e.g., "50 References").


• View and Export the References:


• Click on the number next to "References."


• This will display all the papers cited by your key paper as a list.


• Review and Refine (Optional): Similar to WoS, you can quickly scan for relevance. Scopus also provides filters on the left-hand side.


• Export:


• Select the papers you want to export (or select all).


• Click the "Export" button (usually at the top of the results list).


• Choose your desired format (e.g., "CSV" for Excel, "RIS" for citation managers). Select the fields you need (Author, Title, Year, Source, DOI, etc.).


• Save this file, clearly labeling it (e.g., "ReferencesKeyPaper1Scopus").


• Repeat for All 10 Key Papers:


• Go back and perform steps 2-5 for each of your other 9 key papers.


• Save each set of references separately.

Post-Processing and Organization

Once you have exported the cited references for all 10 of your key papers from either WoS or Scopus (or both):

• Combine All Lists: Open all your exported files (e.g., in Excel) and copy-paste them into one single master spreadsheet.


• De-duplicate: This is CRUCIAL. Many of your key papers will cite the same foundational works.


• Use Excel's "Remove Duplicates" feature (Data tab > Data Tools group > Remove Duplicates). Select the columns that uniquely identify a paper (e.g., Title, Author, Year, DOI).


• Alternatively, if you exported to an RIS file, you can import them all into a citation manager like Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote, which have built-in de-duplication functions.


• Sort and Filter:


• Sort the remaining unique papers by Citation Count (if available in your export – WoS and Scopus records usually include this). This can highlight highly influential works.


• Sort by Publication Year to see the chronological development of ideas.


• Filter by Document Type (e.g., prioritize "Review Articles" if you find them, as they are often excellent starting points for further reading).


• Review for Relevance: Go through the de-duplicated list. Read the titles and abstracts of the most promising papers. Mark them as "To Read," "Relevant," "Less Relevant," etc.

This detailed process will provide you with a robust list of foundational and related literature that your 10 key papers are built upon. This is an excellent foundation for your literature review!