Check if your references are real

Every verdict from database records. No AI deciding results. Not found means check it yourself.

Paste your reference list or upload a file. PerfectRefs searches Crossref, OpenAlex, and DataCite for each reference and shows which works it found and which need a closer look.

Existence check on 10 references free every day, reset at 16:00 UTC

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4 refs · APA 7・
LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y., & Hinton, G. (2015). Deep learning. Nature, 521(7553), 436-444. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539
Watts, D. J., & Strogatz, S. H. (1998). Collective dynamics of small-world networks. Nature, 393(6684), 440-442. https://doi.org/10.1038/30819
Mnih, V., Kavukcuoglu, K., Silver, D., Graves, A., Antonoglou, I., Wierstra, D., & Riedmiller, M. (2013). Playing Atari with deep reinforcement learning. In NIPS Deep Learning Workshop.
Hartley, M., & Okafor, D. (2019). Attention routing in sparse transformer networks. Journal of Machine Intelligence, 12(3), 45-58.
Reformat
Verified · matches the record, all fields present
Needs fixing · record found, some fields differ
Unconfirmed · some fields could not be confirmed
Not found · not found in public databases
LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y., & Hinton, G. (2015). Deep learning. Nature, 521(7553), 436-444. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539
Hinton, G. E., & Salakhutdinov, R. R. (2006). Reducing the dimensionality of data with neural networks. Science, 313(5786), 504–509.
Mnih, V., Kavukcuoglu, K., Silver, D., Graves, A., Antonoglou, I., Wierstra, D., & Riedmiller, M. (2013). Playing Atari with deep reinforcement learning. In NIPS Deep Learning Workshop.
Graduate School Office. (2016). Academic integrity workshop report [Unpublished internal report].
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01LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y., & Hinton, G. (2015). Deep learning. Nature, 521(7553), 436–444. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539

Verified
Deep learning

02Hinton, G. E., & Salakhutdinov, R. R. (2006). Reducing the dimensionality of data with neural networks. Science, 313(5786), 504–509.

Volume/issue/pages differDOI missing
Best match
Pages
− 504–509
+ 504-507
DOI
+ https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1127647

03Mnih, V., Kavukcuoglu, K., Silver, D., Graves, A., Antonoglou, I., Wierstra, D., & Riedmiller, M. (2013). Playing Atari with deep reinforcement learning. In NIPS Deep Learning Workshop.

Conference unconfirmed

Conference appears only in the preprint's author Comments note.

Playing Atari with Deep Reinforcement Learning

04Graduate School Office. (2016). Academic integrity workshop report [Unpublished internal report].

Not found

Not found in public databases. This entry may be fabricated or not indexed. We recommend checking it manually.

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When to check

A chatbot gave you references

A reference can look complete (authors, year, journal, DOI) and still describe a paper that doesn't exist. Or the DOI is real but belongs to another paper. An Existence check shows which references match a real record.

Hallucinated Citations: Why AI References Can't Be Found

Before you submit to a journal

Run a Style check against APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 (author-date), IEEE, or Vancouver. Wrong or missing authors, years, pages, or DOIs appear next to the record's value; click Accept and replace to fix each one. Nothing else in your list changes.

Desk Rejection: Can Your Reference List Cause It?

Editorial Manager says "Not validated"

The journal system couldn't match the reference to an online record. That's normal for books, theses and reports. For a journal article, it's worth a check, not proof of an error. PerfectRefs shows whether a matching record exists and links to it.

Reference "Not Validated" in Editorial Manager: What to Do

Every verdict has a source.

Each field is compared with public scholarly databases: authors, title, year, volume, issue, pages, DOI and more. Open the source behind any verdict to check it yourself.

CrossrefOpenAlexPubMedarXivSemantic ScholarDataCitedoi.org
+ 2 Chinese-language databases

Who checks their references with PerfectRefs

Four roles, one question: is each reference real?

Graduate student
Do

Check AI-suggested references before your supervisor does

Don't

Trust a reference just because it looks complete

Hallucinated Citations: Why AI References Can't Be Found
Researcher
Do

Fix wrong fields before you submit

Don't

Submit a DOI that points to another paper

Desk Rejection: Can Your Reference List Cause It?
Supervisor
Do

Check the thesis reference list before signing off

Don't

Read "Not found" as proof of fabrication

Hallucinated Citations: Why AI References Can't Be Found
Journal editor
Do

Screen submissions for references that don't exist

Don't

Treat unindexed books or theses as fake

Reference "Not Validated" in Editorial Manager: What to Do
PerfectRefs

Find out which of your references are real

Paste your list or upload .docx, .bib, .ris, .enw, or .txt.

New accounts also get 10 premium credits, enough for a Style check on 5 references

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if my references are real?
By hand: paste the DOI after https://doi.org/ and confirm it opens a work with the same title, authors, and year. If there's no DOI, search the exact title in quotation marks in Crossref or your library's search. For a book, look it up in a library catalog. To check a whole list at once, paste or upload it into PerfectRefs and run an Existence check. Each reference is marked Found, Needs checking, or Not found, and Found results link to the matching record. For anything marked Needs checking or Not found, look it up yourself before you cite it.
How can I check if ChatGPT references are real?
Copy the references from the chat into PerfectRefs and run an Existence check. The tool doesn't trust how a reference looks. It looks for a matching record in the databases. Any reference marked Not found may be fabricated or may simply not be indexed, so check it manually before you use it. On daily free credits, a reference with no match is shown as Needs checking instead; treat it the same way.
Is PerfectRefs an AI reference checker?
Yes, in the sense that it checks references produced by AI tools, such as ChatGPT, as well as any other references. But the result itself is not decided by generative AI. AI helps with one step: splitting and parsing complex references into fields like author, title, and year. The result comes from comparing those fields against database records, and found or matched results link to the record so you can verify it.
Can it check my reference list against APA 7?
Yes. Run a Style check and choose APA 7. You can also choose MLA 9, Chicago 18 (author-date), IEEE, Vancouver, or GB/T 7714 (Chinese national standard). Every field is compared against the database record, and when a field differs or one that APA 7 requires is missing, you'll see the database's value and can click Accept to apply it. Capitalization, italics, and punctuation aren't marked as errors; the exported list is rendered in APA 7.
Is there a DOI checker that uses Crossref?
Both checks resolve the DOI you cite and search Crossref and DataCite, among others. In a Style check, a DOI that differs from the record marks the reference Needs fixing, and the record's DOI is shown when the record has one. In an Existence check, a reference whose DOI resolves to a different work than the one you cited is marked Needs checking.
Does Not found mean a reference is fake?
No. Not found means the reference wasn't found in public databases. It may be fabricated, or it may be a real work that isn't indexed, such as some books, theses, reports, or regional journals. Check it manually, for example in your library catalog or on the publisher's website.
Does it check in-text citations or plagiarism?
No. PerfectRefs checks the reference list itself. It doesn't check whether in-text citations match the list, doesn't detect AI-written text, and doesn't check for plagiarism.