bib-verify

Verify a BibTeX file for hallucinated or fabricated references by cross-checking every entry against CrossRef, arXiv, and DBLP. Reports each reference as verified, suspect, or not found, with field-level mismatch details (title, authors, year, DOI). Use when the user wants to check a .bib file for fake citations, validate references in a paper, or audit bibliography entries for accuracy.

BibTeX Verification Skill

Check every entry in a .bib file against real academic databases using the OpenJudge PaperReviewPipeline in BibTeX-only mode:

1. Parse — extract all entries from the .bib file
2. Lookup — query CrossRef, arXiv, and DBLP for each reference
3. Match — compare title, authors, year, and DOI
4. Report — flag each entry as verified, suspect, or not_found

Prerequisites

pip install py-openjudge litellm

Gather from user before running

Info	Required?	Notes
BibTeX file path	Yes	.bib file to verify
CrossRef email	No	Improves CrossRef API rate limits

Quick start

# Verify a standalone .bib file
python -m cookbooks.paper_review --bib_only references.bib

# With CrossRef email for better rate limits
python -m cookbooks.paper_review --bib_only references.bib --email [e-mail]

# Save report to a custom path
python -m cookbooks.paper_review --bib_only references.bib \
  --email [e-mail] --output bib_report.md

Relevant options

Flag	Default	Description
--bib_only	—	Path to .bib file (required for standalone verification)
--email	—	CrossRef mailto — improves rate limits, recommended
--output	auto	Output .md report path
--language	en	Report language: en or zh

Interpreting results

Each reference entry is assigned one of three statuses:

Status	Meaning
verified	Found in CrossRef / arXiv / DBLP with matching fields
suspect	Title or authors do not match any real paper — likely hallucinated or mis-cited
not_found	No match in any database — treat as fabricated

Field-level details are shown for suspect entries:

• title_match — whether the title matches a real paper
• author_match — whether the author list matches
• year_match — whether the publication year is correct
• doi_match — whether the DOI resolves to the right paper

Additional resources

• Full pipeline options: ../paper-review/reference.md
• Combined PDF review + BibTeX verification: ../paper-review/SKILL.md