Originally written in French. Translated by AI — the meaning has been preserved, not the prose.
Short definition
Literature search technique that starts from one relevant source, works back through the references it cites, then moves forward to the publications that cite it — and starts again from each new source retained.
Usage in the field
Used when looking for the prior art of a method or a mechanism, in particular after finding that a keyword search brings back nothing because the vocabulary is not shared.
Synonyms and variants
"snowball search", "snowball sampling of literature". A distinction is sometimes drawn between the backward sense (references cited) and the forward sense (citations received).
Not to be confused with
- keyword search — querying a database with terms chosen in advance. It assumes you know the field's vocabulary; snowballing is precisely for when you do not.
- RAG — retrieval of relevant passages from an indexed corpus, by semantic proximity, to feed an answer. It exploits a corpus that has already been gathered; snowballing is what gathers it.
- systematic review — a complete protocol for selecting and appraising a literature. Snowballing is one technique within it, not its equivalent.
Examples
A relevant source on the collaborative construction of knowledge opens up, through its bibliography and through the work citing it, a whole tradition whose vocabulary you did not know — and that vocabulary in turn makes possible keyword searches that were impossible before.
Ambiguities / debates
The term is common in literature-review methodology and much less so outside academia, where the practice nonetheless exists without a name. Using it in front of a non-academic audience requires defining it; not using it loses the fact that this is a documented technique, not an improvisation.