Check a reference list for fake or retracted papers
A developer had Claude check a 20-reference list with their own connector; they say in about a minute it flagged 5 fake papers, 1 wrong citation and 1 retraction.
Done with Claude
What they did
The author made a list of 20 references on intermittent fasting and type 2 diabetes, mixing real and invented papers. They connected Claude to their free, open-source add-on, Phở Research Tools, and asked it to check the list. The add-on looks up each reference in research databases such as Crossref, PubMed and OpenAlex, and in retraction notices.
How it went
They say it took about a minute. It flagged 5 papers that don't exist: two used ID numbers belonging to unrelated papers, and three weren't registered anywhere. It also fixed 1 paper's wrong year and journal, and caught the retracted 2013 PREDIMED paper.
Worth knowing
The tool is the author's own project. It allows 30 checks a day without an account and 300 a month with a free one, and its code is free to reuse.
Try it yourself with Claude
Check this reference list before I use it: [paste reference list]. For each entry, look it up in scholarly databases such as Crossref, PubMed and OpenAlex using my connected tools. Tell me which references do not exist, which have wrong details (and give the correct ones), which DOIs point to a different paper, and which have been retracted. Present the results as a table and do not edit my document until I confirm.Swap the highlighted [parts] for your own details.
Source: X · @tranvu129 · Oct 15, 2026
Written with AI assistance from the original post and checked against our editorial guidelines. Results are as reported by the source, not independently verified.
