How do I install the Citation Verify skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add formars0309-cloud/citation-verify in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

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Is Citation Verify free to use?

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Who published Citation Verify?

formars0309-cloud (@formars0309-cloud) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Citation Verify by formars0309-cloud

Name: Citation Verify
Rating: 4.5 (4 reviews)
Author: formars0309-cloud

Citation Verify

Verify that biomedical citations are real, correctly attributed, and not retracted, by resolving DOIs/PMIDs/PMCIDs against PubMed, Crossref and Europe PMC. Use when writing, reviewing, or fact-checking a medical or scientific manuscript, when the user says "인용 검증", "레퍼런스 확인", "이 논문 실제로 있는지", "check citations", "verify references", "is this paper real", "retracted", "PMID 확인", "DOI 확인", or before delivering any text that contains references. Also use to FIND a correct citation to replace an unverified one.

File contents

Citation verification

Language models fabricate citations that look correct: a plausible title, real-sounding authors, and a well-formed PMID or DOI that belongs to a different paper or to nothing at all. Never assert that a reference is genuine from memory. Resolve it.

The rule: any citation that reaches the user must have been resolved by this tool, or be labelled as unverified. This applies to citations you wrote and to citations the user supplied.

Tool

node ~/.claude/skills/citation-verify/scripts/verify.mjs <command>

On Windows PowerShell use the full path: node $env:USERPROFILE\.claude\skills\citation-verify\scripts\verify.mjs <command>

Commands

check <file...> — the main workflow. Extracts every DOI, PMID and PMCID from the file(s) and verifies each one. Run this on any draft containing references.

node .../verify.mjs check manuscript.md references.bib

verify — resolve one citation, comparing claimed metadata against the live record. Pass whatever the citation claims; each field given is checked.

node .../verify.mjs verify --pmid 32109013 \
  --title "Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China" \
  --author "Guan" --year 2020 --journal "N Engl J Med"

Flags: --pmid --doi --pmcid --title --author --year --journal --json

Passing --title alone (no identifier) does a reverse lookup: if no record matches, the citation is likely fabricated.

search "<query>" — find the real paper, to replace a citation that failed.

node .../verify.mjs search "tirzepatide obesity randomized trial" --limit 5

Europe PMC query syntax works: TITLE:"...", AUTH:"Smith J", DOI:"10.xxxx/yyy", PMID:12345678, and boolean AND / OR.

Verdicts

Verdict	Meaning	Action
`OK`	Exists and claimed metadata matches	Safe to cite
`SUSPECT`	Exists, but title/author/year/journal partially disagrees	Inspect; likely wrong ID or sloppy reference
`MISMATCH`	Identifier is real but belongs to a different paper	Fabricated. Remove or replace
`NOT_FOUND`	Identifier does not exist in any registry	Fabricated. Remove or replace
`RETRACTED`	Real paper, but retracted	Do not cite as evidence
`ERROR`	Network/registry failure	Retry; do NOT report as verified

Exit code is 1 if any citation is NOT_FOUND, MISMATCH or RETRACTED, else 0.

Workflow

Run check on the draft.
For every NOT_FOUND / MISMATCH, do not guess a replacement identifier. Run search with the topic to find a real paper, then re-verify the replacement.
For every RETRACTED, tell the user explicitly, name the retraction, and remove the claim it supported unless the user is deliberately discussing the retraction.
For SUSPECT, show the claimed vs. actual metadata side by side and let the user decide.
Report counts honestly. If a lookup errored, say it was not verified — never round an ERROR up to OK.

Reporting

State what was checked and what failed. Do not bury a retraction or a fabricated reference in a summary line. Example:

12 references checked: 9 OK, 1 suspect, 2 failed.

PMID 91234567 (ref 3) — does not exist. Replaced with PMID 34567890 after searching.

DOI 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31180-6 (ref 7) — retracted (Lancet, 2020, Surgisphere).

Notes

All three registries are free and need no API key. NCBI allows ~3 requests/sec anonymously; the script batches PMIDs and paces itself. Set CONTEXT7_API_KEY-style keys are not needed here.
Coverage is biomedical. Non-biomedical DOIs still resolve via Crossref, but PubMed retraction screening only applies to indexed literature.
A year off by one is normal (online-first vs. print) and is reported but not failed.
Preprints (bioRxiv/medRxiv) resolve via Crossref and Europe PMC; flag them to the user as non-peer-reviewed.

---name: citation-verifydescription: Verify that biomedical citations are real, correctly attributed, and not retracted, by resolving DOIs/PMIDs/PMCIDs against PubMed, Crossref and Europe PMC. Use when writing, reviewing, or fact-checking a medical or scientific manuscript, when the user says "인용 검증", "레퍼런스 확인", "이 논문 실제로 있는지", "check citations", "verify references", "is this paper real", "retracted", "PMID 확인", "DOI 확인", or before delivering any text that contains references. Also use to FIND a correct citation to replace an unverified one.---# Citation verificationLanguage models fabricate citations that look correct: a plausible title, real-soundingauthors, and a well-formed PMID or DOI that belongs to a different paper or to nothing atall. Never assert that a reference is genuine from memory. Resolve it.**The rule: any citation that reaches the user must have been resolved by this tool, or belabelled as unverified.** This applies to citations you wrote and to citations the usersupplied.## Tool```bashnode ~/.claude/skills/citation-verify/scripts/verify.mjs <command>```On Windows PowerShell use the full path:`node $env:USERPROFILE\.claude\skills\citation-verify\scripts\verify.mjs <command>`### Commands**`check <file...>`** — the main workflow. Extracts every DOI, PMID and PMCID from thefile(s) and verifies each one. Run this on any draft containing references.```bashnode .../verify.mjs check manuscript.md references.bib```**`verify`** — resolve one citation, comparing claimed metadata against the live record.Pass whatever the citation claims; each field given is checked.```bashnode .../verify.mjs verify --pmid 32109013 \ --title "Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China" \ --author "Guan" --year 2020 --journal "N Engl J Med"```Flags: `--pmid` `--doi` `--pmcid` `--title` `--author` `--year` `--journal` `--json`Passing `--title` alone (no identifier) does a reverse lookup: if no record matches, thecitation is likely fabricated.**`search "<query>"`** — find the real paper, to replace a citation that failed.```bashnode .../verify.mjs search "tirzepatide obesity randomized trial" --limit 5```Europe PMC query syntax works: `TITLE:"..."`, `AUTH:"Smith J"`, `DOI:"10.xxxx/yyy"`,`PMID:12345678`, and boolean `AND` / `OR`.## Verdicts| Verdict | Meaning | Action ||---|---|---|| `OK` | Exists and claimed metadata matches | Safe to cite || `SUSPECT` | Exists, but title/author/year/journal partially disagrees | Inspect; likely wrong ID or sloppy reference || `MISMATCH` | Identifier is real but belongs to a **different paper** | **Fabricated.** Remove or replace || `NOT_FOUND` | Identifier does not exist in any registry | **Fabricated.** Remove or replace || `RETRACTED` | Real paper, but **retracted** | Do not cite as evidence || `ERROR` | Network/registry failure | Retry; do NOT report as verified |Exit code is `1` if any citation is `NOT_FOUND`, `MISMATCH` or `RETRACTED`, else `0`.## Workflow1. Run `check` on the draft.2. For every `NOT_FOUND` / `MISMATCH`, do **not** guess a replacement identifier. Run `search` with the topic to find a real paper, then re-verify the replacement.3. For every `RETRACTED`, tell the user explicitly, name the retraction, and remove the claim it supported unless the user is deliberately discussing the retraction.4. For `SUSPECT`, show the claimed vs. actual metadata side by side and let the user decide.5. Report counts honestly. If a lookup errored, say it was not verified — never round an `ERROR` up to `OK`.## ReportingState what was checked and what failed. Do not bury a retraction or a fabricated referencein a summary line. Example:> 12 references checked: 9 OK, 1 suspect, 2 failed.> - PMID 91234567 (ref 3) — does not exist. Replaced with PMID 34567890 after searching.> - DOI 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31180-6 (ref 7) — **retracted** (Lancet, 2020, Surgisphere).## Notes- All three registries are free and need no API key. NCBI allows ~3 requests/sec anonymously; the script batches PMIDs and paces itself. Set `CONTEXT7_API_KEY`-style keys are **not** needed here.- Coverage is biomedical. Non-biomedical DOIs still resolve via Crossref, but PubMed retraction screening only applies to indexed literature.- A `year` off by one is normal (online-first vs. print) and is reported but not failed.- Preprints (bioRxiv/medRxiv) resolve via Crossref and Europe PMC; flag them to the user as non-peer-reviewed.

Frequently asked questions