Retraction checker: find retracted papers in your references
Paste a reference list, a .bib file or DOIs, one a line. Each work is matched to its record, and any retraction, correction or expression of concern on it is shown with its year.
Up to 25 references a check, 3 checks a day.
How it works
Paste or upload
A reference list, a .bib or .ris file, or the whole draft as Word or PDF.
Each work looked up
In Crossref, where publishers register their papers, then OpenAlex for books and the rest, by DOI or by title, author and year.
See what to fix
Found, found with a different year or authors, or not found, and any retraction flagged.
Records from Crossref and OpenAlex; retractions from Retraction Watch, through Crossref. Nothing you paste or upload is kept.
Keep your library in Zotero?
Right-click items or a whole collection and choose Check references with hedwigai. The check opens here and starts at once. Free, for Zotero 7 and 8; nothing in your library changes.
Where do the retractions come from?
From Crossref, where publishers register their papers and the notices that change them. Since 2023 Crossref has also held the Retraction Watch database, so a retraction a publisher never filed against the DOI is still found. Each flag names the kind of notice and its year.
How do I check whether one paper has been retracted?
Paste its DOI, or the reference as you would cite it, and run the check. A retracted paper comes back flagged with the year of the notice and a link to the record; a correction or expression of concern is noted the same way.
What if my paper cites a retracted one?
Citing it is not wrong in itself: a paper about the retraction has to. Citing it as if it still stood is what reviewers object to. Either remove it, replace it with work that holds, or say in the sentence that it was retracted.
What else does the check find?
The rest of what goes wrong in a reference list: works no registry knows, a DOI registered to a different paper, a year or first author that differs from the record, and the same work listed twice. Sign in and hedwigai also reads each sentence that cites a work against that work.
What does it cost?
This page is free: 3 checks a day, up to 25 references each, no account. Nothing you paste is kept.