What Verify does
AI writing tools invent citations that look real but do not exist. The Verify tab in the Save to Folio extension helps you catch them. Paste a block of text (a paragraph from ChatGPT or Gemini, a draft, a reference list) and Folio pulls out every citation and checks each one against CrossRef, the database that underpins scholarly DOIs.
How to use it
- Open the extension popup and switch to the Verify tab.
- Paste the text you want to check.
- Click Check citations. Folio extracts the citations and checks each one.
- You get a per-citation verdict and a summary at the top, for example "5 real · 1 not found".
What the verdicts mean
- ✓ Real: the citation resolves to a genuine record. Either its DOI checks out, or a paper with that title exists in CrossRef.
- ⚠ To check: a similar paper exists, but the details do not quite match, or the cited DOI points to a different paper than the one described. Worth a closer look: the reference may be misremembered.
- ✗ Not found: CrossRef has no matching record. For a journal article, that is a strong reason to suspect the reference was invented. But CrossRef doesn't cover everything: many books, reports and web pages aren't in it, so check a "not found" by hand before you conclude anything.
Saving the matched record
When a citation matches a record, the result has a Save the verified version button that adds that record to your library. On a Real result, that's the paper you cited, with the correct details. On a To check result, the button saves the record Folio matched, which may be a different paper from the one the text meant (for example, when a cited DOI belongs to another paper), so open it and confirm before you save.
What it checks, and what it does not
- Verify checks that a cited work exists in CrossRef, matching on DOI and title.
- It does not verify that a paper actually says what the text claims, only that the paper is real. Always read the source before relying on a specific claim.
- The AI only structures the text into citations; the verdict comes from CrossRef, deterministically. That means the checker itself cannot hallucinate a result.
- For a fuller check of a reference list, against more indexes than CrossRef alone, use the free reference checker or the Reference list check in the editor.
Plan limits
Verify uses your Scholar AI allowance. The free Scholar plan includes a monthly taste; Fellow and Chair raise the limits substantially. See Plans and billing.