How to check the citations in an AI answer
An AI answer can cite a paper that was retracted years ago, or one that was never written. Both look exactly like a real citation. This takes about a minute.
Melatonin can help adolescents fall asleep sooner when their body clock runs late, though most findings in small trials are fragile (Ioannidis 2005, doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.00201241 (Citation 1: Corrected)). Some parents still link sleep problems to the MMR vaccine (doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096-02 (Citation 2: Retracted)). A 2021 trial reported that melatonin halves sleep onset (doi:10.5555/jasm.2021.01433 (Citation 3: No record found)).
Check an answer in four steps
Copy the whole answer
Take the text and its reference list together. If the answer only shows links, copy those too. A DOI, a PMID or a PubMed link is the surest way to name a paper.
Paste it into Check citations
We find each citation in what you pasted, look it up, and mark it in place in your text. Nothing you paste is kept.
Read the three groups
Can’t be cited: retracted, withdrawn, or no record of it anywhere we looked. Check by hand: we couldn’t settle it, and the row says what to look at. Holds up: the paper exists and carries no retraction or withdrawal.
Fix the answer, not just the list
Each mark shows which sentence leans on which citation. Where we hold the paper’s full text, press “Does it say that?” under the citation to see the paragraph your sentence depends on and whether it backs it. Drop or rewrite the sentences that rest on a citation you can’t use, and read the papers suggested in its place.
What the check can’t tell you
- Whether a paper we don’t hold says what the answer claims. A real, clean paper can still be cited for something it never found. Where we hold the text, “Does it say that?” compares the sentence with the paper’s own words; read the paragraph it shows before you rely on it.
- A retraction published today. Notices reach Crossref and Retraction Watch with a delay, so each result shows when it was checked.
- Every reference written as prose. Without an identifier we match by title, and say so on the row.
Why AI answers get citations wrong
A language model writes a citation the way it writes any sentence: as the likeliest next words. Author names, a journal and a year that fit together are likely, whether or not the paper exists. Retracted papers keep being cited because the original text stays online and keeps its links.