How to check a reference list for retracted papers.
The Checker on sanecite.com looks up the references in a paper, or in a list you paste, in the Retraction Watch database. Here is what to enter, what comes back and what it can’t tell you.
Enter a paper, or paste a list.
- 01
Check a published paper
On The Checker, under “Check a paper’s references”, enter the paper’s DOI, PubMed ID or PMCID and press Check. A doi.org or PubMed link works too. The page address then carries the paper, so you can share the check.
- 02
Or paste a reference list
Open Or paste a reference list, paste the list and press Check the list. We pick out each DOI, and each PubMed ID written as “PMID: 12345678”. Your text stays in your browser; we keep only a count of how many were checked. Use this for a draft, or a paper whose list we can’t find.
Every flag links to its notice.
- A count. How many references were checked, how many had no DOI or PubMed ID, and how many are retracted or under an expression of concern.
- Each flagged reference, linked, marked “Retracted”, “Retracted, later reinstated” or “Expression of concern”, with the notice’s date, a link to the notice and the reasons Retraction Watch records.
- Before or after. When you check a paper, each retraction is marked as coming before or after the paper came out, or in the same month when the dates can’t settle it. A pasted list has no date of its own, so it shows no timing.
- The paper itself, at the top, if it was retracted or has an expression of concern.
- Our census reading, where the Phase 2 census read that paper: a line on how it uses the retracted work, such as “cites it as support”. These are AI readings (method and accuracy).
- The data date of the Retraction Watch snapshot, on the last line.
Retraction Watch, through Crossref.
Retraction data is the Retraction Watch database, published openly by Crossref, refreshed every working day. Reference lists come from Crossref and Europe PMC. A paper we have checked before may use our saved copy of its reference list, and the result says so; the retraction status is looked up again on every check.
To check many papers, use the same lookup through the free live API on Use our data. It takes up to 300 DOIs or PubMed IDs per call, and each address may make 20 calls a minute.
A lookup, not a verdict.
- References need an ID.A reference without a DOI or PubMed ID is not checked. In a pasted list, write “PMID:” before a PubMed number, or it is not picked up. PMCIDs work only in the single-paper box.
- A flag shows what the database records.Read the notice before you rely on it. Some retractions are paperwork that finds no fault in the science, such as a temporary removal or a paper replaced at the same DOI.
- Retractions and concerns only.It flags retractions, including ones later reinstated, and expressions of concern. It does not flag corrections. A clean result means none on record, not that every source is sound.
- It does not read your sentences.Testing whether a citation says what its source says is a separate tool, described on The Checker page. This check looks up notices only.
Something wrong? Write to SaneCite at letters@sanecite.com.
Short answers.
- Is the Checker free?Yes. It is free and needs no account.
- Does a flag mean a reference must go?No. A flag shows what the Retraction Watch database records, not a verdict on your paper. Read the notice before you rely on it; some notices find no fault in the science.
- What about references with no DOI?Only references with a DOI or a PubMed ID are checked. The count says how many had neither, so you know how many were left out.