Free source verification tool

Free AI Citation Checker

An AI citation checker reviews AI-generated references for missing source links, unclear dates, incomplete metadata, placeholder sources, and other red flags that should be verified before publication. Paste citations or an AI answer with sources to get a practical cleanup and verification plan.

Citation red flagsVerification checklistCopyable reportNo signup

Check citations Visit AI Wins

Analyze source hygiene

Paste one citation per line, a bibliography, or an AI answer with references. The checker updates as you type.

Paste citations, bibliography, or answer with sources

This is a citation hygiene check, not live source validation.

Use it to decide what to verify next. A source is not confirmed until you open a trusted database, publisher page, official report, or primary archive and match the citation against the claim.

Verification score

2/100

0/3 clean

Issue types found

Missing URLPlausible-sounding titleVague datePlaceholder source

Citation 1

2 flags

Smith, J. AI in Education. Journal of Future Learning, 2025.

Missing source locatorHigh

No URL, DOI, ISBN, arXiv ID, PMID, or other stable locator was found.

Search the exact title and add a stable locator before relying on this citation.

Plausible-sounding titleMedium

This looks like a generic academic citation pattern, which AI tools often fabricate.

Search the exact title in Google Scholar, Crossref, Semantic Scholar, or the publisher site.

Citation 2

1 flag

OpenAI. Safety practices. https://openai.com/safety

Vague or missing dateMedium

The citation is missing a clear publication year or uses a relative access date.

Replace relative dates with a publication date and, if needed, an exact access date.

Citation 3

4 flags

[3] Research team, Unknown source, accessed last week.

Missing source locatorHigh

No URL, DOI, ISBN, arXiv ID, PMID, or other stable locator was found.

Search the exact title and add a stable locator before relying on this citation.

Vague or missing dateMedium

The citation is missing a clear publication year or uses a relative access date.

Replace relative dates with a publication date and, if needed, an exact access date.

Placeholder sourceHigh

The citation contains placeholder language or an obviously incomplete source.

Treat this as unverified until you can replace it with a real primary or publisher page.

Plausible-sounding titleMedium

This looks like a generic academic citation pattern, which AI tools often fabricate.

Search the exact title in Google Scholar, Crossref, Semantic Scholar, or the publisher site.

Source verification plan

Work through these steps before publishing citations generated by an AI assistant.

Step 1
Search exact quoted titles first. If no exact match appears, assume the citation is unverified.
Step 2
Prefer primary publisher pages, official reports, Crossref DOI records, PubMed, arXiv, court/government archives, or the organization named in the citation.
Step 3
Open the source and confirm the author, title, date, publisher, and whether it supports the claim made in your draft.
Step 4
Replace every high-risk citation before publishing. Do not rely on AI wording for those references.

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Frequently asked questions

What is an AI citation checker?

An AI citation checker reviews citations produced by an AI tool for common warning signs such as missing links, unclear dates, incomplete authors, placeholder sources, and references that need manual verification before publication.

Can this tool prove a source exists?

No. This checker does not browse the web or validate a live database. It helps you find risky citations and creates a practical verification checklist so you can confirm each source in Google Scholar, Crossref, publisher sites, or primary source archives.

Why do AI tools invent citations?

Generative AI models predict likely text patterns. When asked for sources, they may produce citations that look plausible but combine real names, fake titles, incorrect dates, or nonexistent journals unless retrieval and verification are built into the workflow.

What should a complete citation include?

A complete citation should include enough information to find the source: author or organization, title, publisher or journal, publication date, and a stable URL, DOI, ISBN, report number, or archive identifier.