Boundary-First Literature Synthesis (BFLS) Subtitle: A structure-guided control layer for retrieval-augmented scientific synthesis

Abstract Automated literature synthesis using large language models has advanced rapidly through retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), improving coverage and citation grounding. However, existing approaches remain predominantly search-first and content-driven, leaving them vulnerable to topic drift, citation instability, and spurious coherence when synthesizing across large or heterogeneous scientific corpora. We introduce Boundary-First Literature Synthesis (BFLS), a lightweight methodological control framework that constrains retrieval and synthesis using structural boundaries prior to citation aggregation. BFLS operates by (i) identifying invariant constraints, symmetry breaks, and failure modes relevant to…