# OUT-04 Citation and provenance

Domain: OUT Output Integrity & Supply Chain · HI-AAF v1.3 · Public review · https://humanintel.net/standard/out/out-04

Citation and provenance are provided where outputs are sourced from retrieval. Any factual claim drawn from retrieved content is traceable to its source.

Outputs that reference external information carry citations to their source. Any factual claim drawn from retrieved content is traceable to the specific source document, enabling the recipient to verify the claim independently. Citation quality is measured as part of groundedness checks under OUT-01.

## Maturity

- L1 Ad hoc: Controls exist informally; documentation is incomplete; no consistent review.
- L2 Documented: Controls are written down; ownership is assigned; review cadence is defined.
- L3 Operated: Controls are followed in practice; evidence is collected; deviations are tracked. Published criterion for OUT-04: Citations are provided for retrieval-sourced outputs; citation accuracy is measured; source traceability has been verified through sampling; citation quality trends are tracked.
- L4 Measured: Control effectiveness is measured against documented thresholds; trends are reported.
- L5 Continuously Improved: Controls evolve based on incident learning; maturity gains are evidenced over time.

## Evidence an assessor asks for

- Citations are provided for retrieval-sourced outputs.
- Citation accuracy is measured.
- Source traceability has been verified through sampling.
- Citation quality trends are tracked.

## Framework mappings

- NIST AI RMF: MEASURE 2.9
- OWASP LLM Top 10: LLM09
- SOC 2 (TSC): PI1.3
- EU AI Act: Art. 13(1), Art. 15(1)
- Singapore: MAIGF Content Provenance, AI Verify Transparency

Mappings are directional: meeting this control evidences but does not by itself satisfy the external requirement.

## Related

- Cites OUT-01 Groundedness and hallucination checks: https://humanintel.net/standard/out/out-01

## Cite this control

Human Intelligence. HI-AAF v1.3, OUT-04 Citation and provenance. Public review edition, July 2026. https://humanintel.net/standard/out/out-04