Citation panel (sources panel)

The citation panel is the visible surface where an answer engine shows its sources. Every grounded engine renders it differently: Perplexity uses a horizontal carousel above the answer plus inline numbered chips; ChatGPT Search uses inline footnotes plus a sidebar "Sources" list; Claude uses side-panel source cards; Google AI Overviews uses inline chips beneath claims. The engine profiles document each one.

The panel matters because it is where a citation turns into a click, and where position within the panel affects how many clicks. A source cited inline in the first sentence of the answer gets more attention than one buried in an "additional sources" list at the bottom. This is the attribution-quality dimension: being cited is necessary, but where in the panel you appear, and whether the engine quotes you accurately, determines the actual value of the citation.

For measurement, the citation panel is what citation-tracking tools parse to compute citation share and share of voice. Because each engine renders the panel differently and changes it without notice, parsing it reliably is the hard engineering problem underneath every measurement vendor, and the reason cross-vendor numbers are not directly comparable.