Check your references in three steps

Paste your reference list, start the check, and read the result for each reference in three steps.

Step 1

Paste

Copy your whole reference list from Word, a reference manager, or a web page and paste it into the input box, one reference per line. You can also upload a .docx, .bib, .txt, .ris, or .enw file. PerfectRefs splits the list into separate references, and the top line shows how many it found, for example "10 references · Existence check". The citation style is detected automatically. If your style isn't supported, you can still run an Existence check.

Upload a file (*.docx, *.bib, *.txt, *.ris, *.enw)

Step 2

Start the check

Existence check is the default. To check against a citation style instead, select Style check. The credits shown before you start are an upper limit. The credits actually used will not be higher.

Parsed references

Existence check1 / referenceStyle check1 / reference

3 refs · Existence check

Upload a file (*.docx, *.bib, *.txt, *.ris, *.enw)

Step 3

Read the results

The top line shows how many references passed and the pass rate. Below it, each reference gets its own card with one of three results: Found, Needs checking, or Not found. A Style check has four other results (see Style check and “Accept and replace”). Open a card to see where the matching record came from and a field-by-field comparison. For what each result means and what to do next, see Understanding your results.

01LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y., & Hinton, G. (2015). Deep learning. Nature, 521(7553), 436-444. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539

TitleAuthorsYearDOI

Deep learning

2015LeCun, Yann, Bengio, Yoshua, Hinton, Geoffrey10.1038/nature14539

02Watts, D. J., & Strogatz, S. H. (1998). Collective dynamics of small-world networks. Nature, 393(6684), 440-442. https://doi.org/10.1038/30819

TitleAuthorsYearDOI

Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’ networks

1998Watts, Duncan J., Strogatz, Steven H.10.1038/30918

03Hartley, M., & Okafor, D. (2019). Attention routing in sparse transformer networks. Journal of Machine Intelligence, 12(3), 45-58.

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

Search manually:Google Scholar Semantic Scholar

Tips

The more complete each reference is (authors, title, source, year, DOI), the more accurately it can be matched.
References exported directly from a reference manager have the most complete fields.
Spelling mistakes are a common reason for Not found, most often in author names and titles.
A single check has a limit on the number of references. Paste any that go over the limit after this batch finishes.
If a result looks wrong, select Report an issue on the card.

Check your references before you submit

Start checking

10 basic credits every day, reset at 16:00 UTC

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