Free academic integrity tool · Crossref & OpenAlex

Free citation checker for fake & AI references

Paste a student bibliography (up to 25 references) to verify DOIs, titles, authors, and publication years in seconds — before you mark the coursework.

Up to 25 references per run Crossref + OpenAlex lookup Short-lived job · never indexed

1. Paste reference list

Up to 25 references per check. 0 lines

Privacy: pasted text is discarded when the short job TTL expires (~1 hour) and never gets a shareable URL.

Example verification report

Sample output
Found: 1 Details differ: 1 Not found: 1
Found
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 5(1), 7–74.
Closest match: Assessment and classroom learning. DOI: 10.1080/0969595980050102
Details differ
Smith, J. (2019). Feedback that moves learning forward. British Journal of Educational Studies, 67(2), 210–228.
A similar title exists, but the year or page range does not match the catalogue record.
Not found
Doe, A., & ChatGPT. (2024). Quantum pedagogy in unicorn schools: A meta-analysis. Journal of Imaginary Education, 12(4), 1–18.
Not found is not proof the reference is fake — some legitimate sources are missing from Crossref and OpenAlex. Treat it as a prompt to check the library catalogue or publisher site.
Not found is not proof the reference is fake — some legitimate sources are missing from Crossref and OpenAlex. Treat it as a prompt to check the library catalogue or publisher site.
Step-by-step instructions

How to use the free citation checker & interpret every badge

Follow these steps when screening EPQs, NEA coursework, BTEC assignments, or undergraduate essays.

1

Copy the bibliography section

Copy the Reference List or Bibliography from the end of the student's document. Paste up to 25 references — one per line or separated by blank lines. You do not need to remove the "References" heading.

2

Review catalogue status badges

If a reference includes a DOI, we look up the exact DOI record first. Otherwise we extract the likely title, first author surname, and year, then search Crossref and fall back to OpenAlex for books and proceedings.

3

Follow up fairly on flagged entries

Check any Not found or Details differ items before raising a concern. Ask the learner to show the article PDF or library link — genuine readers can locate their sources quickly.

What each result badge means

FoundThe DOI or title/author/year matched a verified record in Crossref or OpenAlex.

Details differA close work exists by title/author, but the publication year disagrees with the catalogue — often a sign of a blended AI citation or a typo.

Possible matchPartial title overlap was found, but confidence is below the strict match threshold; worth a quick manual check.

Not foundNo matching journal article or book was found in Crossref or OpenAlex. Note: websites, government reports, and some textbooks are not in scholarly DOI indexes.

RetractedThe matched DOI has a formal retraction notice recorded in Crossref.

Need in-text citation matching? The full Citation & reference checker checks whether every bracketed citation in the essay body actually appears in the reference list and aligns with the claim made.

FAQ

Citation checker FAQ

It parses each bibliography entry and queries Crossref and OpenAlex for matching DOIs, article titles, authors, and publication years — plus checks reference list sorting and entry quality.

No. While generative AI frequently fabricates plausible-sounding journal articles, legitimate books, websites, grey literature, and older chapters may not appear in Crossref or OpenAlex. Treat "Not found" as a prompt to verify the source or ask the learner where they accessed it.

A publication with a closely matching title and author exists in the catalogue, but the year or metadata in the student’s reference list does not match the official record — a common sign of either careless referencing or an AI-blended citation.

No. Pasted text is held only for the short job TTL (about one hour) so your browser can poll the result. We never publish shareable result URLs.

This free tool checks a standalone bibliography list of up to 25 references. The full Feedback Flows Citation & Reference Checker uploads the complete essay or coursework file, matches every in-text citation to the bibliography, flags uncited entries, and optionally checks semantic claim alignment.

Harvard, APA, MLA, Chicago, and numbered Vancouver/IEEE lists all work. Paste one reference per line or separate entries with blank lines.
Get started

Check in-text citations and full coursework at class scale

Move to the full Citation & reference checker inside Feedback Flows, or read our guide on spotting fake AI references.

Full Citation & Reference Checker Guide: Spotting fake AI references