Citation Verification

Cross-check all citations in a manuscript against the user's Zotero library and external sources (Crossref) to catch errors before submission.

When to Use This Skill

Trigger when user:

• •Says "check citations", "verify references", "bibliography check"
• •Asks to "audit my citations" or "check my bibliography"
• •Wants to verify "all references are correct" before submission
• •Says "find missing citations" or "check for orphaned references"

Prerequisites

• •Zotero MCP: Must be configured for library matching
• •WebFetch: For Crossref API DOI verification (https://api.crossref.org/)
• •Manuscript file (markdown, .tex, or .docx) accessible in working directory

Workflow

Phase 1: Parse Manuscript

1. •Read the manuscript file
2. •Detect citation style from context:
   • •APA: (Author, Year) or Author (Year)
   • •Chicago: Footnote/endnote style
   • •BibTeX/natbib: \cite{key}, \citep{key}, \citet{key}
3. •Extract all in-text citations and bibliography entries
4. •Report: "Found N in-text citations and M bibliography entries"

Phase 2: Match Against Zotero

For each bibliography entry:

1. •Search Zotero library by title, author, year (using zotero_search_items)
2. •Compare fields:
   • •Author names (first/last, ordering, et al. usage)
   • •Publication year
   • •Article/chapter title
   • •Journal/book title
   • •Volume, issue, pages
3. •Score match confidence: HIGH (exact match), MEDIUM (minor differences), LOW (significant mismatch), NONE (not in Zotero)

Phase 3: Verify DOIs

For entries with DOIs:

1. •Query Crossref API: https://api.crossref.org/works/{doi}
2. •Compare returned metadata against manuscript bibliography
3. •Flag discrepancies (wrong year, different title, retracted status)

Phase 4: Cross-Reference Check

1. •Orphaned references: In bibliography but never cited in text
2. •Missing references: Cited in text but not in bibliography
3. •Duplicate entries: Same work listed multiple times with different keys
4. •Inconsistent formatting: Mixed citation styles within the document

Phase 5: Generate Report

# Citation Audit Report

## Summary
- In-text citations: N
- Bibliography entries: M
- Verified against Zotero: X matches
- DOI-verified: Y entries
- Issues found: Z

## Issues

### Critical (must fix)
- [ ] Missing reference: "Smith (2023)" cited on p.5 but not in bibliography
- [ ] Wrong year: Bibliography says 2022, Crossref confirms 2023 for DOI:xxx

### Warning (review recommended)
- [ ] Author name mismatch: "J. Smith" in text vs "John Smith" in bibliography
- [ ] Orphaned reference: "Jones et al. (2021)" in bibliography but never cited

### Info (style consistency)
- [ ] Mixed "et al." threshold: some citations use et al. at 3+ authors, others at 6+

## Verified Entries (no issues)
[List of clean citations]

Key Principles

• •Report false positives with LOW confidence rather than suppressing them
• •Distinguish critical errors (missing/wrong citations) from style issues
• •Always check both directions: text→bibliography and bibliography→text
• •For DOI verification, respect Crossref rate limits (polite pool: 50 req/sec with mailto header)
• •Do not modify the manuscript — only report findings