• MATCHED
  • MISMATCH
  • MISSING
  • HUMAN

How to verify academic citations with your AI

Connect CrossRef to your AI client to cross-reference DOIs against live scholarly metadata. It turns a manual check into a direct data lookup.

Ask AI about this page

Short answer

How can I use AI to check my citations?

Your AI uses DOIs to pull official metadata from CrossRef, ensuring authors, titles, and publication dates match the record. You'll get a breakdown of what's correct and what needs fixing.

Where every issue lands.

Citation outcomes

The AI categorizes your sources based on the data it pulls.

MATCHED

Verified sources

The AI finds a perfect metadata match for the DOI. You can trust these citations are accurate.

MISMATCH

Data discrepancies

The AI identifies where your text differs from the official CrossRef record. It flags wrong dates or misspelled names.

MISSING

Invalid DOIs

The AI detects DOIs that don't exist in the database. These require you to find a new source or fix the link.

HUMAN

Manual review needed

The AI flags ambiguous matches that require your judgment. You decide if the source is actually what you intended.

The workflow

What your AI does when the DOI list arrives.

The AI moves from raw identifiers to a verified list of scholarly records.

  1. Identify DOIs

    The AI scans your text or list to extract specific Digital Object Identifiers.

    get_works_by_doi_list

  2. Fetch metadata

    The AI pulls the official title, author, and journal info for each identifier.

    get_work

  3. Compare records

    The AI checks your provided citation against the retrieved metadata to find errors.

    get_work

  4. Report errors

    The AI organizes the findings into a clear list of what matches and what fails.

    get_works_by_doi_list

Try it

Copy these to start.

Use these prompts to begin your verification task.

Starting points

Replace the bracketed text with your actual research data or DOI strings.

CrossRef Connector

You're all set. Choose your MCP client and follow the setup instructions.

Connector linkhttps://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_7En7HkI3TaUnNOjPwedGkhoVim2MwFUFc9BHK8QJ/mcp

Claude Desktop

Follow the steps below to connect in seconds.

  1. 1In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors.
  2. 2Click “Add custom connector” and paste the connector link above as the remote MCP server URL.
  3. 3Click Add and start a new chat — CrossRef capabilities are ready to use.
Configuration · claude_desktop_config.jsonCopy
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crossref-alternative-mcp": {
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_7En7HkI3TaUnNOjPwedGkhoVim2MwFUFc9BHK8QJ/mcp"
    }
  }
}
Copy into chat04

  • Verify these DOIs from my bibliography: [paste DOI list]

  • Check if the citation for DOI [paste DOI] matches the official CrossRef metadata.

  • I have a list of research papers in this document; use CrossRef to check if all the titles are correct.

  • Cross-reference these DOIs and tell me which ones have mismatched publication years: [paste DOI list]

  • Claude
  • ChatGPT
  • Cursor
  • VS Code
  • Windsurf
  • Claude Code
  • JetBrains
  • Cline

Start here

Connect CrossRef once, then ask.

One connection gives your AI access to the CrossRef database. Your credentials stay encrypted and secure.

Connect CrossRef to your AI

FAQ

How this task behaves

  • 01

    Can the AI fix my citations automatically?

    No. The AI identifies errors and provides the correct metadata, but you must manually update your document.

  • 02

    Does the AI work with URLs instead of DOIs?

    No. The tools require specific DOIs to pull accurate metadata from CrossRef.

  • 03

    Can the AI delete my research files?

    No. The AI only reads data from CrossRef to perform comparisons; it has no permission to modify your local files.

  • 04

    What happens if a DOI is not found?

    The AI will report that the DOI does not exist in the CrossRef database.

  • 05

    Can the AI verify citations that don't have a DOI?

    No. The current capabilities rely on DOI-based lookups to ensure accuracy.

  • More questions about CrossRef? See everything the CrossRef Connector can do

Connect CrossRef to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT & more