Check an AI citation before you use it

In short

• Match the citation's title, author, year and journal in Crossref, then compare them with the publisher's page.
• Check for corrections or retractions and read the passage that should support your sentence.
• A working DOI doesn't prove the claim is true. If you cannot find a passage that supports your claim, leave the claim out.

Keep the AI's original citation and the sentence it is supposed to support in your notes. These steps are for scholarly references. The public example below needs no account or payment.

For a quotation attributed to a book, use the book-quote walkthrough to check its wording and page against a scanned edition.

1. Find the matching reference

1. Open Crossref Metadata Search (opens in a new tab). Paste the article title into the search box and press Enter.
2. Compare the result's title, author, publication year and journal with your reference. Check the DOI too, if your reference includes one. A DOI is the document identifier, usually shown in a link beginning with doi.org.
3. Keep looking if a field disagrees. The first result can be a different work with a similar title.

Try this reference, chosen for practice: Marco Pautasso, 2013, Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review (opens in a new tab), PLOS Computational Biology, DOI 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149.

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Crossref result with Pautasso as author, the 2013 publication year and DOI 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149.

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Compare the title, author, year and DOI with your reference. Crossref (opens in a new tab), CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab), cropped.

Crossref records sometimes have wrong or missing details (opens in a new tab). Check any disagreement on the publisher's page before correcting your saved reference.

2. Open the publisher's page

1. Click the matching result's DOI link. In this example, it opens the PLOS article.
2. Compare the title, author, year and DOI again. Check the specific article type beside the title.

PLOS labels this item Editorial. Crossref uses the broader category Journal Article. When describing this source, call it an editorial. Its recommendations don't become experimental findings because it has a DOI.

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Designed panel of selected PLOS header crops showing Editorial, Marco Pautasso, Published: July 18, 2013, and DOI 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149.

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PLOS identifies the matching source as an editorial. Marco Pautasso / PLOS Computational Biology (opens in a new tab), CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab); selected crops, rearranged.

3. Check for updates

1. On the PLOS article, click Check for updates. This opens Crossmark.
2. Confirm the title or DOI in the window belongs to your article. Read the status and open any linked editorial note, correction, expression of concern or retraction.
3. If there is a notice, read it before relying on the article. If you are unsure how it affects your claim, ask a librarian or tutor.

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Crossmark status window showing Document is current for DOI 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149.

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Read the status and confirm that the DOI belongs to your article. Crossref Crossmark (opens in a new tab), CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab), cropped.

The status shown here is Document is current. Check it again when you use the source. Crossmark relies on publishers reporting updates (opens in a new tab); the message doesn't guarantee that every problem is known or that a claim is sound.

If another article has no Crossmark button, check its publisher page for notices. At PLOS, most corrections are separate linked notices (opens in a new tab), so a saved copy of the article may miss information you need.

4. Read the passage before using the claim

1. Close Crossmark. In the PLOS article's contents, select Rule 2: Search and Re-search the Literature. You can also open that section directly (opens in a new tab).
2. Read the first numbered item and the surrounding text. It advises readers to record their search terms so the search can be repeated.
3. Write a summary that stays within that advice: Pautasso recommends recording the search terms used for a literature review.

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Designed panel with separate PLOS crops of Rule 2: Search and Re-search the Literature, and the first clause, keep track of the search items you use.

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Rule 2 advises readers to keep track of their search terms. Marco Pautasso / PLOS Computational Biology (opens in a new tab), CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab); selected crops, rearranged; heading reduced to fit.

Keep the word "recommends". This passage gives the author's advice; it reports no test of how well that advice works.

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Pautasso’s 2013 DOI leads to a PLOS Editorial. Rule 2’s advice to track search items maps to a summary that Pautasso recommends recording literature-review search terms.

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Source: Marco Pautasso, Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review, PLOS Computational Biology (opens in a new tab), CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab). Emphasis added.

For your own citation, read enough of the source to check the claim's scope. If it reports a study, check who or what was studied and what the researchers measured. Keep those limits in your sentence.

Save the DOI or source link, the supporting section or page, and your checked wording together. For this example, the location is Rule 2, first numbered item. Use your assignment's required citation style and AI-disclosure rules.

If you can't finish a check

• No Crossref match: try the title on the publisher's site or in a library catalogue. Some DOIs belong to other registration agencies (opens in a new tab), so a missing result alone doesn't show that a reference is invented.
• A broken DOI or conflicting details: search the title and author separately. Keep the reference unresolved until you can identify the intended work.
• Full text unavailable: check your library's access or ask a librarian. An abstract or another AI answer can't replace a passage you haven't read.
• The source doesn't support the sentence: remove or narrow the claim, or find and read a different source. Don't attach a genuine citation to unsupported wording.

Sources: Pautasso, 2013, PLOS Computational Biology 9, issue 7, e1003149 (opens in a new tab); Crossref metadata (opens in a new tab); Crossmark (opens in a new tab); PLOS correction policy (opens in a new tab).