---
name: inno-reference-audit
source: https://app.decimal.ai/s/inno-reference-audit@1/SKILL.md
source_sha256: 3ef34ab41a02
---

# Citation Verification Reference Guide

A reference guide for citation verification in academic paper writing, providing verification principles and best practices.

**Core Principle**: Proactively verify every citation during the writing process using WebSearch and Google Scholar.

## Core Problems

Citation issues in academic papers seriously impact research integrity:

1. **Fake citations** - Citing non-existent papers (common issue with AI-generated citations)
2. **Incorrect information** - Mismatched authors, titles, years, etc.
3. **Inconsistent formatting** - Mixed citation formats
4. **Missing citations** - Referenced but uncited work

These issues can lead to:
- Paper rejection or retraction
- Damage to academic reputation
- Reviewers questioning research rigor

**Special risk with AI-assisted writing**: AI-generated citations have approximately 40% error rate; every citation must be verified via WebSearch.

## Verification Principles

This skill provides verification principles based on WebSearch and Google Scholar:

### 1. Proactive Verification (Verify During Writing)

**Core idea**: Verify immediately when adding a citation, rather than checking after writing is complete.

- Search for the paper via WebSearch each time a citation is needed
- Confirm the paper exists on Google Scholar
- Add to bibliography only after verification passes

### 2. Google Scholar Verification

**Why Google Scholar**:
- Most comprehensive academic literature coverage
- Provides citation count (credibility indicator)
- Directly provides BibTeX format
- Free and no API required

**Verification steps**:
1. WebSearch query: `"site:scholar.google.com [paper title] [first author]"`
2. Confirm the paper appears in results
3. Check citation count (abnormally low counts may indicate issues)
4. Click "Cite" to get BibTeX

### 3. Information Matching Verification

**Information that must match**:
- Title (minor differences allowed, e.g., capitalization)
- Authors (at least the first author must match)
- Year (±1 year difference allowed, considering preprints)
- Publication venue (conference/journal name)

### 4. Claim Verification

**Key principle**: When citing a specific claim, you must confirm the claim actually appears in the paper.

- Use WebSearch to access the paper PDF
- Search for relevant keywords
- Confirm the accuracy of the claim
- Record the section/page where the claim appears

## Verification Workflow

### Integration into Writing Process

```
Need a citation during writing
    ↓
WebSearch to find the paper
    ↓
Google Scholar to verify existence
    ↓
Confirm paper details
    ↓
Get BibTeX
    ↓
(If citing a specific claim) Verify the claim
    ↓
Add to bibliography
```

**Key point**: Verification is part of the writing process, not a separate post-processing step.

## Usage Guide

### Using with ml-paper-writing

The verification principles of this skill are integrated into the Citation Workflow of the `ml-paper-writing` skill.

**Auto-trigger**: Citation verification is automatically executed when writing papers with the ml-paper-writing skill.

**Manual reference**: Refer to this skill when you need detailed verification principles.

### Verification Step Example

**Scenario**: Need to cite the Transformer paper

```
Step 1: WebSearch lookup
Query: "Attention is All You Need Vaswani 2017"
Result: Found multiple sources for the paper

Step 2: Google Scholar verification
Query: "site:scholar.google.com Attention is All You Need Vaswani"
Result: ✅ Paper exists, 50,000+ citations, NeurIPS 2017

Step 3: Confirm details
- Title: "Attention is All You Need"
- Authors: Vaswani, Ashish; Shazeer, Noam; Parmar, Niki; ...
- Year: 2017
- Venue: NeurIPS (NIPS)

Step 4: Get BibTeX
- Click "Cite" on Google Scholar
- Select BibTeX format
- Copy BibTeX entry

Step 5: Add to bibliography
- Paste into .bib file
- Use \cite{vaswani2017attention} in the paper
```

### Handling Verification Failures

**If the paper cannot be found on Google Scholar**:

1. **Check spelling** - Is the title or author name correct?
2. **Try different queries** - Use different keyword combinations
3. **Find alternative sources** - Try arXiv, DOI
4. **Mark as pending** - Use `[CITATION NEEDED]` marker
5. **Notify the user** - Clearly state the citation cannot be verified

**If information doesn't match**:

1. **Confirm the source** - Did you find the correct paper?
2. **Check versions** - Preprint vs. published version
3. **Update information** - Use the most accurate version
4. **Record discrepancies** - Note the reason for differences

## Best Practices

### Preventing Fake Citations

1. **Never generate citations from memory** - AI-generated citations have 40% error rate
2. **Use WebSearch to find** - Verify every citation through WebSearch
3. **Confirm on Google Scholar** - Verify paper existence on Google Scholar
4. **Verify promptly** - Verify when adding citations, don't wait until finished

### Handling Verification Failures

1. **Don't guess** - If you can't find the paper, don't fabricate information
2. **Mark clearly** - Use `[CITATION NEEDED]` to mark explicitly
3. **Notify the user** - Clearly state which citations cannot be verified
4. **Provide reasons** - Explain why verification failed (not found, info mismatch, etc.)

### Improving Verification Accuracy

1. **Complete queries** - Include title, author, year
2. **Check citation count** - Citation count on Google Scholar is a credibility indicator
3. **Confirm venue** - Verify conference/journal name is correct
4. **Verify claims** - When citing specific claims, confirm they exist in the paper

### Common Pitfalls

❌ **Wrong approach**:
- Generating BibTeX from memory
- Skipping Google Scholar verification
- Assuming a paper exists
- Not marking unverifiable citations

✅ **Correct approach**:
- Search every citation with WebSearch
- Confirm on Google Scholar
- Copy BibTeX from Google Scholar
- Clearly mark unverifiable citations

## Summary

**Core Principle**: Proactively verify every citation during the writing process using WebSearch and Google Scholar.

**Key Steps**:
1. WebSearch to find the paper
2. Google Scholar to verify existence
3. Confirm details
4. Get BibTeX
5. Verify claims (if needed)
6. Add to bibliography

**Failure handling**: When verification fails, mark as `[CITATION NEEDED]` and clearly notify the user.

**Integration**: The principles of this skill are integrated into the ml-paper-writing skill for automatic verification.