Reference Checker

What is Reference Checker

Reference Checker is an AI-powered tool designed to verify citations against scholarly records. It helps users catch discrepancies such as DOI and field mismatches, and provides evidence-backed corrections to create a defensible bibliography.

How to use Reference Checker

1. Import References: Paste citation text directly into the provided text area, or upload files in various formats (PDF, DOCX, ODT, RTF, TXT, LaTeX, BibTeX, RIS, MEDLINE, CSL-JSON, EndNote, BBL, Markdown, HTML). You can also import directly from arXiv.
2. Verify Citations: The tool parses each reference, searches across multiple scholarly databases (including Crossref, DataCite, OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, PubMed, and others), and compares the submitted citation details (title, authors, year, journal, DOI, etc.) with the matched publication record field by field.
3. Review Results: Examine the verification status for each reference, which can indicate a missing record, a wrong or unrelated DOI, differing citation details, or ambiguous matches. Retraction signals and non-traditional sources are also flagged.
4. Correct and Format: Apply source-backed corrections in one of seven citation styles (APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, IEEE, ABNT). The tool also detects duplicates and can reorder the bibliography automatically or keep the input order.
5. Deliver and Export: Search saved results, revisit checked publications, export the bibliography in five formats (Markdown, CSV, JSON, BibTeX, RIS), or share a public report link.

Features of Reference Checker

• Citation Verification: Compares submitted citations against scholarly records.
• DOI and Field Mismatch Detection: Identifies incorrect DOIs and discrepancies in citation fields.
• Source-Backed Corrections: Provides corrections based on evidence from publication databases.
• Multiple Import Formats: Supports PDF, DOCX, ODT, RTF, TXT, LaTeX, BibTeX, RIS, MEDLINE, CSL-JSON, EndNote, BBL, Markdown, and HTML.
• Direct arXiv Import: Allows importing references directly from arXiv.
• Duplicate Detection: Identifies exact and probable duplicate references.
• Bibliography Reordering: Offers options for automatic reordering by style or maintaining input order.
• Multiple Citation Styles: Supports APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, IEEE, and ABNT for corrections.
• Retraction and Non-Traditional Source Flagging: Warns about retracted publications and recognizes non-traditional sources.
• Export Options: Allows exporting results in Markdown, CSV, JSON, BibTeX, or RIS formats.
• Public Report Sharing: Enables sharing of verification results via a public link.
• Free Daily Allowances: Offers 100 checks daily for guests and 500 credits daily for free accounts.

Use Cases of Reference Checker

• Professors & Graders: To efficiently check student bibliographies for accuracy and completeness.
• Students & Research Teams: To catch citation errors in drafts and group work before submission.
• Authors & Coauthors: To verify all bibliographic details before manuscript submission and peer review.
• Editors & Reviewers: To screen bibliographies for potential issues before formal peer review.

FAQ

• How does the free daily allowance work? Guests can check 100 references per day, shared per network. Each signed-in account gets 500 credits per day, with one credit per reference. Allowances reset automatically at 00:00 UTC, without check-in or rollover. Sign in for free to import files, save history, use the library, and share reports.
• What file formats can I import and export? You can import PDF, DOCX, ODT, RTF, TXT, LaTeX, BibTeX, RIS, MEDLINE, CSL-JSON, EndNote, BBL, Markdown, and HTML files, or extract a bibliography from an arXiv paper. Completed checks and correction suggestions can be exported as Markdown, CSV, JSON, BibTeX, or RIS.
• Can a reference checker detect AI-generated fake citations? It can identify common warning signs, including missing records, conflicting citation details, invented titles, and identifiers that lead to a different paper. The result should be treated as evidence for review, not automatic proof of misconduct.
• Does a valid DOI prove that a citation is correct? No. A DOI may resolve successfully but belong to a different title, author, year, or subject. A strong check compares the returned record with the full submitted citation.
• Is a reference fake when no match is found? Not necessarily. The entry may contain a typo, have incomplete citation details, or refer to a book, dataset, report, regional publication, or other source with limited index coverage. No-match results require manual review.
• Is a reference checker the same as an APA citation checker? No. APA checkers focus mainly on style and formatting. Reference verification focuses on whether the cited source can be found and whether its identifying fields agree with a candidate record.
• Can it verify whether a source supports the claim in my paper? Source existence and claim support are separate checks. Determining support requires the surrounding citation context and access to the source text, so it should be presented as an additional review rather than inferred from a publication record alone.
• Does it identify retracted and non-traditional sources? When a matched publication record contains an explicit retraction signal, Reference Checker shows a warning and links to the supporting source. It also recognizes webpages, datasets, software, and technical reports and marks them for appropriate manual review when publication databases cannot fully verify them.
• What happens after I apply a correction? The corrected citation is immediately checked again against the scholarly sources. The original citation and result remain available, so you can review the new status, inspect changed fields, and undo the decision if needed.