Check one DOI or PMID against PubMed and Crossref metadata. Use Full Verify for complete, complex, or batch citations.
DOI or PMID
The free checker accepts one DOI or PMID at a time. Use Full Verify for complete, complex, or batch citations.
1 DOI or PMID per checkNo credits usedNo saved history
Included free
PubMed, PMID, and DOI metadata checks
Title, year, and journal matching
Retraction metadata signals
Note: this tool is for research and pre-submission metadata checks, not medical advice. Retraction results indicate signals found or not found in checked sources, not a complete legal or submission guarantee.
Need smarter verification?
Use Full Verify for complex or incomplete references, batch checks, broader scholarly database matching, saved history, and exports.
To verify a biomedical citation, resolve its PMID or DOI, compare the title, authors, journal and year with the original record, and read the source before retaining it. LitSource helps compare submitted references with available PubMed and DOI metadata and flags conflicts for review. Record matching does not establish claim support, and a missing record is not proof of fabrication.
What this check is for
PubMed, PMID, and DOI are related but different signals. A PMID identifies a PubMed record, while a DOI identifies a digital object registered by a publisher or registration agency. A citation can contain either, both, or neither. Comparing all available fields catches common copy-and-paste errors that a DOI-only lookup can miss, including a genuine DOI attached to the wrong article.
To verify a biomedical citation, resolve its PMID or DOI, compare the title, authors, journal and year with the original record, and read the source before retaining it. LitSource helps compare submitted references with available PubMed and DOI metadata and flags conflicts for review. Record matching does not establish claim support, and a missing record is not proof of fabrication.
A repeatable verification workflow
Paste the citation exactly as it appears in your draft. Start with any PMID or DOI, then compare the returned title, journal, and publication year to the submitted text. When a field differs, do not overwrite the reference immediately: open the PubMed record and identify whether your entry has a typo, uses a valid alternate publication date, or points to a different article. Preserve the source URL in your working notes for reviewer questions.
Paste the reference exactly as it appears in your draft.
Compare identifiers and returned bibliographic fields.
Open the original source for every flagged or high-impact citation.
Example input and safe interpretation
Expected record review: the DOI may resolve to a real publication, while the submitted title, journal, and year conflict with that record.
A real DOI paired with the wrong bibliographic details is a likely mismatch, not a verified citation.
Common citation risks to catch
Frequent PubMed citation mismatches include transposed PMID digits, abbreviated journals that resemble another title, online-first and print-year conflicts, and a DOI copied from a neighboring reference. A PubMed record may also be absent for legitimate reasons: the work can be outside PubMed coverage, older, a book chapter, a guideline, or indexed elsewhere. Absence from PubMed does not automatically mean a citation is fabricated.
What metadata matching cannot prove
A valid PubMed match confirms that a bibliographic record is consistent with the fields checked. It does not establish claim support, prove that a study is methodologically sound, or decide whether it belongs in a review. It also cannot guarantee that no later correction, expression of concern, or retraction exists beyond the checked sources. Use PubMed matching as the start of evidence review, not the finish.
Before-submission reference control
The safest pre-submission routine is to prioritize high-impact citations: primary clinical trials, safety claims, guideline statements, and references added late in revision. Confirm the PMID or DOI, then read the abstract and source context for the claim you make. This is faster than waiting for a reviewer to discover that a real paper was cited with the wrong metadata or for a conclusion it did not support.
Intentionally mismatched DOI demonstration
Brown A. A fictional cure for every malignancy. International Journal of Imaginary Medicine. 2021. doi:10.1000/synthetic-medical-reference
Expected record review: the DOI may resolve to a real publication, while the submitted title, journal, and year conflict with that record.
A real DOI paired with the wrong bibliographic details is a likely mismatch, not a verified citation.
Next step: Replace the entry only after checking the resolved record and confirming the paper is appropriate for the claim.
A PMID identifies a PubMed record. A DOI identifies a published digital object. Both can help resolve a citation, but they are not interchangeable.
What if a citation has no PubMed record?
Review the source manually. Some legitimate works are not indexed in PubMed, and absence from PubMed is not proof of fabrication.
Can a real PMID still be cited incorrectly?
Yes. A real PMID can be paired with the wrong title, year, DOI, journal, or unsupported claim.
Does PubMed matching prove claim support?
No. It only compares bibliographic identity and does not establish claim support. Use the original abstract or full text to assess the exact statement, study population, design and limitations.
How do PubMed, PMC and Crossref differ for citation verification?
PubMed provides biomedical citation records and abstracts. PMC is a full-text archive. Crossref provides deposited DOI metadata. Resolve available identifiers across the relevant records, compare the fields, then read the original paper; no single record match establishes claim support.
How can I check whether an AI-generated reference is real?
Keep the original reference, resolve its PMID or DOI, and compare title, authors, journal and year. In LitSource, inspect mismatches and unresolved records, then open the source. If it still cannot be located, check coverage and alternate spellings before concluding that it was fabricated.
