diff --git a/plugins/kyberforge/skills/skill-author/SKILL.md b/plugins/kyberforge/skills/skill-author/SKILL.md
index 5cb76e6..5a3c7b3 100644
--- a/plugins/kyberforge/skills/skill-author/SKILL.md
+++ b/plugins/kyberforge/skills/skill-author/SKILL.md
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ If a research `sources.md` is present in the conversation context:
 
 1. Read it and filter to entries with `` `extracted` `` status only.
 2. For each entry, determine which skill files it contributed to (SKILL.md and any files in references/ that drew from it). Update `Contributing files` accordingly — list skill files, not research topic files.
-3. Write the updated content to `references/sources.md`.
+3. Write the updated content to `references/sources.md`. For each entry, include `- **Research doc:** <path>` where `<path>` is the relative path from the repo root to the plugin-level research sources file this entry was drawn from (e.g. `plugins/myplugin/docs/research/docs/<topic>/sources.md`). This field is required on every entry — it makes the provenance chain explicit and is validated by `/skill-audit`.
 4. Add `source_keys` to the frontmatter of `SKILL.md` (under `metadata`) listing the slugs of sources that informed it.
 5. For each file in `references/` that was informed by research sources, add `source_keys` frontmatter (same format as research topic files) listing the relevant slugs.
 
diff --git a/plugins/kyberforge/skills/skill-author/assets/templates/references/sources.md b/plugins/kyberforge/skills/skill-author/assets/templates/references/sources.md
index f0237f5..2a582c3 100644
--- a/plugins/kyberforge/skills/skill-author/assets/templates/references/sources.md
+++ b/plugins/kyberforge/skills/skill-author/assets/templates/references/sources.md
@@ -9,5 +9,6 @@
 
 - **URL:** FILL IN
 - **Description:** FILL IN
-- **Contributing files:** FILL IN: list skill files this source informed (e.g. SKILL.md, references/foo.md)
+- **Research doc:** FILL IN: path to the plugin-level research sources file this entry came from (e.g. plugins/myplugin/docs/research/docs/<topic>/sources.md), relative to repo root
+- **Contributing files:** FILL IN: comma-separated list of skill files this source informed (e.g. SKILL.md, references/foo.md). Use `(none)` if the source was consulted but contributed no file content directly.
 - **Status:** `extracted`