Audit a Bibliography in Minutes

Built for Journal Editors.

Avoid hallucinated references. Verify each one against multiple databases. Match citations to references. Fix style errors before submission.

Supports
and 20+ more styles.
Try auditing a manuscriptTry pasting a reference list

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manuscript_final.docx

Recent studies indicate a shift in methodology (Chen, 2019). However, discrepancies remain (Smith A., 2021). Further analysis was proposed (Jones, 2022).

References

Chen, Brian (2020). Advances in methodological frameworks. Journal of Research, 45(2), 112-128.
Smith, A. (2021). Revisiting past discrepancies. Science Review, 12(4), 55-70.
Jones, M. (2022). Data validation techniques. Journal of Quality, 14 14(3), 112-115. https://doi.org/10.1234/jq.2022
Analysis
Unmatched
  • 1 citation
  • 1 reference
Warning
Hallucinated Ref
"Smith, A. (2021)" is likely hallucinated.
APA Warning
Style Error
Use initials instead of full first names (e.g., "Chen, B.").
Enhanced
Metadata Fixed
Added missing DOI and corrected issue/page numbers.

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HarvardSTANFORDMITCambridgeOXFORDPrincetonETH ZürichYaleUC BERKELEYImperial
HarvardSTANFORDMITCambridgeOXFORDPrincetonETH ZürichYaleUC BERKELEYImperial

How It Works?

From draft to done in seconds.

or
CiteOrbit
Drop file here
Choose Citation Style
Citation style…APA
▾
APA
MLA
Chicago
IEEE
Harvard
(Smith, 2020)
DOCX
The problem

Three things go wrong with citations.
We fix all three.

A manuscript's bibliography fails in predictable ways. Here's the taxonomy and what CiteOrbit does about each one.

01

In-text citations don't match the bibliography.

Ghost citations. Orphaned references. Year-letter drift across revisions.

Symptom
  • Ghost citations
    (Doe, 2023)appears in-text but isn't in the bibliography.
  • Orphaned references
    Listed in references, never cited. Often left over from earlier drafts.
  • Year-letter drift
    2019a in the text, 2019b in the bibliography.
  • Author-name disagreement
    Same paper cited as Smith & Lee and Smith et al.
  • Duplicate references
    Two near-identical entries from coauthor merges.
CiteOrbit
Pair every cite ↔ refBidirectional graph across the manuscript
Surface ghosts & orphansCites without refs · refs without cites
Resolve year-letter drift2019a / 2019b across revisions, auto-suggested
Reconcile author namesChoose the canonical form, applied everywhere
Collapse duplicatesMerge near-identical refs from coauthor edits
02

References are incomplete or wrong at the source.

Half-typed authors, missing DOIs, slightly off years. Editors notice.

Symptom
  • Missing DOIs
    Reviewers can't follow the trail. Editors flag it.
  • Truncated author names
    Smith, J instead of Smith, J. M.
  • Off-by-one years
    Pre-print year cited; published year is different.
  • Wrong journal / volume
    Copy-pasted from a citation manager that was out of date.
  • Retracted papers, uncaught
    Cited in good faith, never cross-checked against retraction registries.
CiteOrbit · enriched
AuthorSmith, J Smith, J. M.
Year2019 2020
TitleNeural architectures for protein folding
DOI10.1038/s41586-020-2649
Cross-checked againstCrossrefGoogle ScholarSemantic ScholarOpenAlex
03

Style guides don't agree with each other — or with you.

In-text rules and reference-list formatting both matter — et al., ampersands, journal italics, en-dashes, DOI URLs. Small mistakes, fast desk rejects.

Symptom
In-text citations
(Miller, Ross & Lee, 2021)3+ authors → use et al.
(Doe, 2019, p.24)Missing space after p.
Chen and Wang, 2022APA wants "&" not "and"
Reference list
nature 580, 1-10.Italicize + capitalize journal; en-dash for ranges
doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2649DOI should be a full URL
Smith J, Lee K (2020).Initials need periods; use & for last author
CiteOrbit
In-text citations
(Miller et al., 2021)APA 7
(Doe, 2019, p. 24)APA 7
(Chen & Wang, 2022)APA 7
Reference list
Nature, 580, 1–10.APA 7
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2649APA 7
Smith, J., & Lee, K. (2020).APA 7
APA · MLA · Chicago · Harvard

Simple, credit-based pricing.

Pay only for what you process.

1 reference checked1 credit

Prices exclude VAT.

Free

For starters to test with their manuscripts.

No credit card required
€0/mo

billed monthly

Process up to
50 references / mo
Uses 50 credits
Start free
Most popular

Pro

For editors, researchers, and Academics.

€25/mo

billed monthly

Process up to
500 references / mo
Uses 500 credits

After 500 credits, top up pay-as-you-go anytime.

Get Pro

Institution

For publishers and universities.

Custom price

Process up to
Custom volume
Tailored credit pool
All plans include
  • Export PDF reports
  • Multiple citation styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, …)
  • Reference enrichment via external databases
  • Mismatch, missing, and unused detection
  • Hallucinated reference detection
  • Author, DOI, and metadata correction
What academics say

From PhD candidates to journal editors.

PhD Candidate

“CiteOrbit found 3 missing references in my thesis that I had completely overlooked. Saved me from a very awkward defense.”

Elena R.
Journal Editor

“As an editor, I used to spend hours cross-checking bibliographies manually. This tool cuts that time by 98%.”

Marcus T.
Peer Reviewer

“Beyond matching citations, I have to verify each reference itself: DOIs, publication years, whether the paper even exists on Google Scholar. CiteOrbit checks all of that in one pass.”

David L.
University Professor

“I used to spend hours catching style and formatting mistakes across every student paper. CiteOrbit flags them in seconds.”

Sarah J.
Postdoctoral Researcher

“I caught an AI hallucinated reference in a co-author's draft before submission. CiteOrbit paid for itself the first time I ran it.”

Aisha K.
PhD Candidate

“CiteOrbit found 3 missing references in my thesis that I had completely overlooked. Saved me from a very awkward defense.”

Elena R.
Journal Editor

“As an editor, I used to spend hours cross-checking bibliographies manually. This tool cuts that time by 98%.”

Marcus T.
Peer Reviewer

“Beyond matching citations, I have to verify each reference itself: DOIs, publication years, whether the paper even exists on Google Scholar. CiteOrbit checks all of that in one pass.”

David L.
University Professor

“I used to spend hours catching style and formatting mistakes across every student paper. CiteOrbit flags them in seconds.”

Sarah J.
Postdoctoral Researcher

“I caught an AI hallucinated reference in a co-author's draft before submission. CiteOrbit paid for itself the first time I ran it.”

Aisha K.

What is CiteOrbit?

CiteOrbit is a citation-checking tool for researchers, journal editors, and reviewers. It verifies the references in a manuscript against scholarly databases including Crossref, Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar, and OpenAlex, and it matches every in-text citation to its entry in the bibliography. AI writing tools such as ChatGPT often generate references that look convincing but do not exist, and CiteOrbit is built to catch these hallucinated and fabricated citations before submission. It also corrects citation-style formatting across more than 20 styles, and provides a free citation generator and a developer API for automated reference checks.

Frequently Asked Questions

We support 20+ citation styles across General, Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM & Medicine: APA (6th and 7th), MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, Vancouver, Turabian, ACM, BMJ, and more. New styles are added regularly. If yours isn't listed, let us know.

Privacy by design

Your manuscript never touches an LLM.

We use deterministic, heuristic algorithms, never generative AI. Your unpublished work stays private, and stays yours.

No LLMs in the loop

Every reference is checked by deterministic algorithms, no generative AI involved at any stage.

Delete it and it's gone

Your document lives in your workspace as long as you want. Once you delete it, it's permanently removed from our systems.

Out of training data

Your unpublished work won't end up in any AI training set, so future AI tools can't surface it, misquote it, or hallucinate around it.

Make citation and bibliography checking the easiest step. Save your time.

Run CiteOrbit before submission and share a clean report with confidence.

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