Free tool

Check your references

Paste your reference list in any style: Vancouver, AMA, APA, or just DOIs and PMIDs. Every reference that carries a DOI or PMID is looked up in PubMed and Crossref, 10 at a time, and you see the record it matches and any retraction, correction or expression of concern linked to it. The rest are counted, so you know what was not checked.

Code does the checking, not AI. Your list is not saved. The public records PubMed and Crossref return are kept for up to 7 days, linked to no one.

Any style, one reference per line. Only references with a DOI (10.xxxx/...) or a PMID can be looked up here; the others are counted, not checked. Links to doi.org and PubMed work too. Up to 12,000 characters, about 25 references.

Our server sends the lookups to PubMed (NCBI) and Crossref, so they never see who you are. Up to 10 checks a day from each network, and 10 DOIs or PMIDs a check. See the Privacy policy.

Get every reference checked

AskDimitri members paste up to 50 references in any style (Vancouver, AMA, APA, Harvard). Every one is checked, with or without a DOI or PMID. They see what differs from each record and get a corrected Vancouver list and a dated report to send to co-authors.

Access is free: confirm your email and you are in. It comes with Dimitri's Letters, one letter a week on publishing and research careers. Request access

What this checks, and what it does not

Verified means the DOI or PMID matches a PubMed or Crossref record. It does not tell you whether the paper supports the sentence that cites it.

Not matched automatically means no record could be matched with confidence. Check the identifier for a typo, or look the paper up by hand.

References without a DOI or PMID, and identifiers past the tenth, are counted but not looked up. The line under the results says how many. Members get every reference checked.

Retractions, corrections and expressions of concern come from the notices linked to each record in PubMed and Crossref. Notices can appear later, so every result carries the date it was checked.

Built by Dr. Dimitrios Magouliotis, Research Associate Professor, for the doctors who read Dimitri's Letters.