Refcheck FAQs

Question 1

What is Refcheck and what problem does it solve?

Accepted Answer

Refcheck is a tool designed to verify academic references against real publication databases like Crossref, Semantic Scholar, and arXiv. It solves the critical problem of AI models hallucinating citations by ensuring every reference is backed by a legitimate record, thereby maintaining academic credibility.

Question 2

Can Refcheck find papers and generate BibTeX?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Refcheck includes tools to search for real papers on a given topic, returning database-backed results. It can also generate publication-ready BibTeX entries by DOI, title, or Semantic Scholar ID, and automatically corrects fields for partial matches to ensure accuracy.

Question 3

How does Refcheck verify citations?

Accepted Answer

Refcheck uses a robust verification pipeline that includes DOI lookups, parallel title searches across multiple databases, and fuzzy matching algorithms. It scores candidates based on title, author, year, and venue similarity, providing a verdict (verified, partial_match, not_found) and a confidence score.

Question 4

Which academic databases does Refcheck query?

Accepted Answer

Refcheck queries Crossref, Semantic Scholar, and arXiv by default without requiring API keys. With optional API keys, it can also integrate with Scopus and IEEE Xplore for expanded coverage and better rate limits.

Question 5

Is Refcheck compatible with AI assistants or other tools?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Refcheck is built as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, making it highly compatible for integration with AI assistants like Claude Code and Claude Desktop. This allows AI to directly access robust academic verification capabilities.

Refcheck

Refcheck

Key Features

Use Cases

Key Features

Use Cases