Free Tool · Runs in Your Browser

Reference Health
Report

Paste your reference list and get one verdict per citation: does it exist, has it been retracted, can readers actually access it, and is its journal legitimately indexed.

  • No AI
  • 4 checks per reference
  • 6 databases
  • Nothing stored

Reference audit tool

One reference per line. Bare DOIs work too.
0 references detected

How it works

Four checks, six databases, one verdict

  1. Existence

    Each entry is resolved by DOI or fuzzy title matching across CrossRef, OpenAlex, PubMed, and Semantic Scholar. Uncertain matches are flagged, never guessed.

  2. Integrity

    The record’s update history reveals retractions, withdrawals, expressions of concern, and routine corrections from publishers and Retraction Watch.

  3. Access

    Unpaywall reports whether readers can legally reach an open version — useful when your bibliography feeds public-facing documents.

  4. Indexing

    Journals found in DOAJ get a positive legitimacy signal. Absence is not damning, but presence builds confidence.

Good to know

Reading the grades

What do Good, Caution, and Critical mean?

Good: the paper exists and carries no integrity flags. Caution: something deserves a manual look — uncertain match, expression of concern, or nothing found. Critical: the cited paper was retracted or withdrawn. Grades are triage, not judgment; always read the linked notices before acting.

Does it catch citations hallucinated by ChatGPT?

That is one of its main jobs. A reference that looks plausible but exists in none of the four scholarly databases gets flagged as uncertain or not found — the classic signature of an AI-fabricated citation. The checking itself uses no AI.

Why is a corrected paper still graded Good?

Corrections and errata are normal scientific practice. They appear as informational chips so you can read what changed — they only become concerning when the underlying notice says otherwise.

Does absence from DOAJ mean predatory?

No. Most established journals are not in DOAJ because DOAJ focuses on open access titles. A DOAJ listing is treated here purely as a positive signal; it is never used to downgrade a grade.

Where does my text go?

Everything runs in your browser. Entries are sent only as queries to public scholarly APIs (CrossRef, Unpaywall, DOAJ). Nothing is stored, logged, or sent to this website’s server.

Focused checks

Need a deeper look
at one dimension?

Both focused tools run the same engines with more detail: fabricated-reference forensics in the Citation Checker, full notice trails in the Retraction Checker.

Citation checker Retraction checker