Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about verifying references with EvalCite.
Is EvalCite free?
Yes — completely free, with no signup and no character or reference-count limits. Paste an entire bibliography or upload a full PDF.
Is it safe to upload an unpublished manuscript?
Yes. Your PDF is processed to extract the references section and deleted immediately afterwards; it is never stored permanently, never shared, and never used for training. Only the extracted reference text is sent to the scholarly databases for lookup. Verification logs are kept at most 30 days for debugging, then deleted.
How does EvalCite detect hallucinated citations?
Each reference is parsed into structured fields (title, authors, year, venue, DOI) and looked up concurrently in 8 scholarly databases — CrossRef, OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, DBLP, arXiv, OpenLibrary, Google Books, and optionally IEEE Xplore and Scopus. AI-hallucinated references typically match nothing, because the paper simply does not exist. See the methodology & accuracy report.
What's the difference between Verified, Mismatch, and Not Found?
Verified: a database record matches the reference. Mismatch: a similar paper was found but at least one field disagrees — often a wrong year or a real paper cited with wrong metadata. Not Found: no database holds anything close — for AI-generated text, the classic sign of a fabricated citation.
Can EvalCite check ChatGPT/Claude-generated references?
Yes — that is the primary use case. Paste the AI-generated bibliography and each entry is checked against the scholarly record. Fabricated references are flagged Not Found; real papers cited with invented details show as Mismatch.
Which databases does EvalCite query?
CrossRef, OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, DBLP, arXiv, OpenLibrary, and Google Books on every check — plus IEEE Xplore and Scopus when API keys are configured.
Can I use EvalCite as a reviewer or journal editor?
Yes. The PDF reader renders the manuscript in your browser and lets you click any in-text citation — numbered or author-year — to instantly see whether the cited work exists and read its abstract.
Does EvalCite fix wrong references?
Yes. After verification you can download a corrected .bib file: verified and mismatched entries are rebuilt from the authoritative database record, and unverifiable entries are kept as parsed with a comment noting they could not be verified.