Reference and Citation Checking

Reference lists are where careful papers quietly lose credibility. A DOI that resolves to a different article, a year that changed between preprint and publication, an in-text citation with no entry in the list — reviewers notice, and it colours how they read everything else.

Checking references by hand is slow and unreliable at the end of a long project, which is exactly when it gets done. So we built systems to do the mechanical part, and let our editors spend their attention on the judgement calls.

What gets checked

• Every in-text citation has a matching entry in the reference list, and the reverse
• Author names, years, titles, volumes and page ranges against the actual source
• DOIs resolve, and resolve to the work you cited
• Formatting against your target journal's style, not a generic standard
• Retracted or withdrawn works flagged before submission
• Consistency of names and titles across the whole list

Why this is worth doing before submission

Reference problems are the easiest thing for a reviewer to find and the least defensible when found. They also take editorial staff time, which is why some journals return manuscripts over them without review.

How it fits with editing

Reference checking can run as part of an editing job or on its own — useful if your English is already strong but the reference list has grown through several drafts and co-authors.

Not sure this is what you need?

Tell us what you are facing — the paper, the journal, the deadline — and we will say honestly what would help. Sometimes that is less than you expected. Much of what we do now started as a question from a researcher who could not find it on the page.