---
name: reference-identity-verification
description: Verify whether references identify real scholarly works and reconcile bibliographic metadata across authoritative records.
---

# Reference identity verification

Use to check a bibliography, a suspected fabricated citation, or conflicting publication details. Preserve the supplied citation exactly and assign each item a stable local identifier before checking it.

## Verification

Look up a DOI or other persistent identifier in an appropriate registration agency, publisher, repository, or scholarly index. Compare title, authors, year, venue, volume, pages or article number, and identifier; use multiple independent sources when a single record is incomplete or inconsistent. Search title and author variants when the identifier is missing, but verify the resulting match before changing a reference. Beware DOI links that resolve to a different work despite looking plausible.

Record a source URL and access date for each material correction. Treat preprint and published versions, conference and journal versions, corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions as distinct records with related identities. Check status against authoritative notices where relevant and report uncertainty when records conflict or sources are inaccessible.

Classify each item as verified, partially verified, conflicting, or unresolved with an explanation. Offer corrected metadata only when supported and keep unsupported fields blank. Existence of a work does not verify the claim citing it; inspect the relevant text separately when the user also needs claim support.

## Deliverable and dependencies

Provide a per-reference audit and a corrected bibliography in the requested style, with a provenance trail and unresolved issues. Search and registry access, current records, and availability of the original work are external dependencies. Do not fabricate identifiers, source access, retraction status, or confirmation from an index.