Are These References Real?

A reference that does not exist is now a normal thing to find in a submitted manuscript. Software invents them, and they read perfectly well. Finding one after publication means a correction, or a retraction.

We check every reference in the list against Crossref, PubMed and OpenAlex and tell you which ones: do not exist at all; exist but do not match what the author wrote (wrong year, wrong journal, wrong authors, changed title); have been retracted or corrected since publication; or sit in journals with no DOI and no ISSN. We also tell you how much of the list is the authors citing themselves, and whether one source is doing too much work.

You get two files: a summary for you, and a numbered correction list you can send straight to the author.

One working day, whatever the length of the reference list.