# Rseng Citation Hygiene > Covers verifying that every citation is real, correct and current: checking references in manuscripts, READMEs, references files and code metadata against Crossref and OpenAlex, screening cited DOIs against the Retraction Watch database, catching fabricated or mis-attributed citations (a documented AI failure mode), and keeping bibliographies and CITATION.cff files resolvable. Use PROACTIVELY before any bibliography, reference list or citation metadata is finalized or published, whenever the agent itself has produced citations, and when the user asks to check references, mentions broken DOIs, retracted papers or citation verification, or prepares a manuscript, README or software paper with references. (Making your own software citable is rseng-citation-metadata.) - Skill: `fdiblen/rseng-citation-hygiene` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add fdiblen/rseng-citation-hygiene` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/fdiblen/rseng-citation-hygiene/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - License: CC-BY-4.0 - Author: fdiblen (https://skillmd.com/u/fdiblen) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/fdiblen/rseng-citation-hygiene --- # Citation hygiene A citation is a checkable claim: this work exists, says what I say it says, and stands unretracted. All three parts fail routinely - and AI assistance has made the first failure mode systematic: language models fabricate plausible references with confident DOIs. An agent that produces or touches citations therefore has a special duty here, stated plainly: VERIFY EVERY CITATION YOU GENERATE against an authoritative source before handing it to the user, and say which were verified. No unverified reference should survive to a published artifact. rseng-citation-metadata covers making YOUR software citable; this skill covers the references you cite. ## Verify existence and metadata (Crossref, OpenAlex) For each reference with a DOI: - Resolve it: `curl -sI https://doi.org/` - a failing DOI is either a typo or a fabrication; both are findings. - Fetch the registered metadata and compare with the citation as written: `https://api.crossref.org/works/` (or the OpenAlex record at `https://api.openalex.org/works/doi:` - open, keyless APIs). Title, authors, venue and year must match; a DOI that resolves to a DIFFERENT paper than the citation claims is the classic fabrication signature and worse than a dead link. - References without DOIs: search Crossref/OpenAlex by title and authors; if nothing plausible exists, flag it - books and grey literature can be legitimate, but only a human can vouch for them. - Batch the work: extract all references (BibTeX, CSL JSON, CITATION.cff references, markdown bibliographies), verify each, and report a table: verified / metadata-mismatch / unresolvable / no-DOI-needs-human. ## Screen for retractions (Retraction Watch) The Retraction Watch database is public, CC-BY, updated every working day, and Crossref-distributed - screening is one step: - Per DOI: query Crossref and inspect `message.updated-by`, keeping entries whose `type` is retraction, correction or expression_of_concern. Mind the direction: `update-to` points the opposite way, from a notice to the work it corrects, so querying it against a retracted paper returns nothing and the paper reads as clean. Or check against the full CSV (public git repository at gitlab.com/crossref/retraction-watch-data). - Screen at these moments: finalizing a bibliography, submitting a manuscript (rseng-research-integrity runs the fuller pre-submission battery), and citing a paper as the FOUNDATION of a method - building on a retracted result is the costliest citation failure. - A retraction hit is information, not automatic removal: report it with the retraction reason and let the author decide - citing retracted work knowingly (e.g. to discuss the retraction) is legitimate; citing it unknowingly is the failure. ## Where citations hide in code projects Manuscripts are not the only bibliography. Check: - CITATION.cff `references` and `preferred-citation` entries (rseng-citation-metadata), codemeta.json referencePublication. - README "please cite" blocks and papers listed in docs. - Algorithm-source comments ("implements the method of Smith 2019") - a wrong citation here misdirects future maintainers. - Dependency citation duties: software the project builds on that requests citation (rseng-software-reuse's cite-what-you-adopt) - verify those entries like any other. ## Currency and completeness - Prefer the DOI form of a reference; preprint-vs-published drift is common - when a cited preprint has a published version, OpenAlex links the two; offer the update while preserving intent (sometimes the preprint IS the cited artifact - rseng-open-science-practices). - Keep bibliographies regenerable: store references as structured data (BibTeX/CSL/CFF) and render from it (rseng-documentation); hand-maintained duplicated reference lists drift apart. - Wire a lightweight check into CI where the project's references are load-bearing (rseng-ci-cd): DOI resolution plus retraction screen on the reference files - the citation analogue of a link checker. ## Working with this skill This skill is source-independent: its authority is the Crossref, OpenAlex and Retraction Watch services linked below. It is the verification counterpart to rseng-citation-metadata and feeds rseng-research-integrity's pre-submission checks. Learn more (verified): - https://api.crossref.org/swagger-ui/index.html - Crossref REST API - https://help.openalex.org - OpenAlex API (open, keyless) - https://www.crossref.org/documentation/retrieve-metadata/retraction-watch/ - Retraction Watch data via Crossref - https://gitlab.com/crossref/retraction-watch-data - Retraction Watch database, public daily-updated repository ## Related skills Check whether any of these applies before moving on: - rseng-ci-cd - reference resolution checks in CI - rseng-citation-metadata - making own software citable - rseng-discovery - verifying surveyed literature leads - rseng-fact-checking - verifying non-citation claims - rseng-open-science-practices - preprint-to-published version links - rseng-research-integrity - pre-submission verification battery