Free Online Citation Checker

DOI resolution

Checks whether the DOI resolves to a real record, then confirms it belongs to the citation you pasted.

Title, author, and year match

Compares the visible citation fields against database records so a real paper with the wrong year is not treated as clean.

Journal or publisher consistency

Looks for venue, publisher, volume, issue, and page mismatches that often survive formatting-only checks.

Database match confidence

Matches against scholarly indexes including CrossRef, OpenAlex, PubMed, Semantic Scholar, and Google Books.

Hallucination risk

Flags citations that look plausible but cannot be confirmed as a real source in the academic record.

Example input

Harris, C. R., Millman, K. J., van der Walt, S. J., et al. (2020). Array programming with NumPy. Nature, 585, 357-362. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2

Checker output

The DOI resolves and the title, author set, journal, year, and pages line up with the source record.

Example input

Harris, C. R., Millman, K. J., van der Walt, S. J., et al. (2019). Array programming with NumPy. Nature, 585, 357-362. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2

Checker output

The source exists, but the year disagrees with the database record, so the citation needs correction.

Example input

Smith, J. (2024). Neural pathways in classroom memory. Journal of Applied Learning, 18(2), 44-61. https://doi.org/10.5555/fake.2024.118

Checker output

The DOI does not resolve and no matching title-author record appears in the checked databases.