# Reference Audit Guide

> Use when the user asks for citation-verification principles, reference-audit best practices, or guidance on preventing fake or inaccurate citations in academic writing.

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-boom5426-nature-paper-skills-reference-audit-guide`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [Boom5426](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/boom5426)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [Boom5426](https://github.com/Boom5426)
- **Source:** https://github.com/Boom5426/Nature-Paper-Skills/tree/main/skills/optional/reference-audit-guide

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-boom5426-nature-paper-skills-reference-audit-guide
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Citation Verification Reference Guide

A reference guide for citation verification in academic paper writing, providing verification principles and best practices.

**Core Principle**: Proactively verify every citation during the writing process using trusted scholarly sources rather than memory.

## Core Problems

Citation issues in academic papers seriously impact research integrity:

1. **Fake citations** - Citing non-existent papers
2. **Incorrect information** - Mismatched authors, titles, years, etc.
3. **Inconsistent formatting** - Mixed citation formats
4. **Missing citations** - Referenced but uncited work

These issues can lead to:
- Paper rejection or retraction
- Damage to academic reputation
- Reviewers questioning research rigor

## Verification Principles

This skill provides verification principles based on trusted scholarly sources:

### 1. Proactive Verification

**Core idea**: Verify immediately when adding a citation, rather than checking after writing is complete.

- Search for the paper each time a citation is needed
- Confirm the paper exists in a trusted source
- Add to bibliography only after verification passes

### 2. Source Hierarchy

Prefer these sources:
- publisher page or DOI resolver
- PubMed for biomedical papers
- arXiv for preprints
- Crossref or Semantic Scholar for metadata cross-checking
- Google Scholar as a fallback discovery aid

### 3. Information Matching Verification

**Information that must match**:
- Title
- Authors
- Year
- Publication venue

### 4. Claim Verification

**Key principle**: When citing a specific claim, confirm the claim actually appears in the paper.

- Access the paper PDF
- Search for relevant keywords
- Confirm the accuracy of the claim
- Record the section or page where the claim appears

## Best Practices

1. **Never generate citations from memory**
2. **Do not guess when verification fails**
3. **Mark unverifiable references clearly**
4. **Differentiate preprints from published versions**
5. **Verify the claim, not just the metadata**

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [Boom5426](https://github.com/Boom5426)
- **Source:** [Boom5426/Nature-Paper-Skills](https://github.com/Boom5426/Nature-Paper-Skills)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-boom5426-nature-paper-skills-reference-audit-guide
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/boom5426
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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