Forward pointers are regular pointers that initiate any researched application’s files. That point from the researched application’s files to another file. According to the VA FileMan Advanced User Manual, a Pointer to a file is a “field data type that contains an explicit reference to an entry in a file. Pointers to file-type fields are used to relate files to each other.” (3RBX)
In the VA FileMan Technical Manual, pointer relationships are described as “links between files that are created by the use of the POINTER TO A FILE or VARIABLE-POINTER data types.” (3RBY)