Check References and Citations

Name: check-refs
Rating: 92
Author: nmotlagh

Systematically validate every cross-reference in the paper.

Step 1: Collect all definitions

Scan all .tex files in the paper directory:

bash

# All \label{} definitions
grep -rn '\\label{' paper/*.tex paper/**/*.tex 2>/dev/null

# All bibliography keys from .bib files
grep -n '^@' paper/*.bib 2>/dev/null | sed 's/@.*{//' | sed 's/,$//'

Step 2: Collect all references

bash

# All \ref{}, \cref{}, \autoref{}, \eqref{}
grep -rnoE '\\(ref|cref|autoref|eqref|Cref)\{[^}]+\}' paper/*.tex

# All \cite{}, \citet{}, \citep{}, \citeauthor{}, \citeyear{}
grep -rnoE '\\cite[tp]?\{[^}]+\}' paper/*.tex

Step 3: Cross-reference validation

Check for:

CRITICAL:

•\ref{} or \cite{} pointing to nonexistent label/key → "Reference X undefined"
•\label{} defined more than once → "Multiply defined label"

WARNING:

•\label{} defined but never referenced → "Orphaned label"
•Bibliography entry never cited → "Orphaned bib entry"
•\cite{} with multiple keys where one is invalid → "Partially broken citation"

STYLE:

•Inconsistent label prefixes: all tables should be tab:, figures fig:, sections sec:, equations eq:
•Using \ref where \cref would auto-format (if cleveref is loaded)
•\cite{} used where \citet{} or \citep{} would be more appropriate for ACL style
•Citations in parenthetical context using \citet instead of \citep

Step 4: Report

code

CROSS-REFERENCE REPORT
======================
Labels defined: N | Labels referenced: N | Orphaned: N
Bib entries: N | Cited: N | Uncited: N

CRITICAL (N):
- main.tex:42 — \ref{tab:nonexistent} — label not defined
- refs.bib — key "smith2023" cited but not in bibliography

WARNING (N):
- main.tex:15 — \label{fig:old_diagram} defined but never referenced

STYLE (N):
- main.tex:88 — \cite{jones2024} in running text, use \citet{} instead
- main.tex:92 — \label{results_table} should be \label{tab:results_table}