# Rseng Citation Hygiene > >- - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-fdiblen-rseng-agent-skills-rseng-citation-hygiene` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [fdiblen](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/fdiblen) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** MIT - **Upstream author:** [fdiblen](https://github.com/fdiblen) - **Source:** https://github.com/fdiblen/rseng-agent-skills/tree/main/skills/rseng-citation-hygiene ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-fdiblen-rseng-agent-skills-rseng-citation-hygiene ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # Citation hygiene A citation is a checkable claim: this work exists, says what I say it says, and stands unretracted. All three parts fail routinely - and AI assistance has made the first failure mode systematic: language models fabricate plausible references with confident DOIs. An agent that produces or touches citations therefore has a special duty here, stated plainly: VERIFY EVERY CITATION YOU GENERATE against an authoritative source before handing it to the user, and say which were verified. No unverified reference should survive to a published artifact. rseng-citation-metadata covers making YOUR software citable; this skill covers the references you cite. ## Verify existence and metadata (Crossref, OpenAlex) For each reference with a DOI: - Resolve it: `curl -sI https://doi.org/` - a failing DOI is either a typo or a fabrication; both are findings. - Fetch the registered metadata and compare with the citation as written: `https://api.crossref.org/works/` (or the OpenAlex record at `https://api.openalex.org/works/doi:` - open, keyless APIs). Title, authors, venue and year must match; a DOI that resolves to a DIFFERENT paper than the citation claims is the classic fabrication signature and worse than a dead link. - References without DOIs: search Crossref/OpenAlex by title and authors; if nothing plausible exists, flag it - books and grey literature can be legitimate, but only a human can vouch for them. - Batch the work: extract all references (BibTeX, CSL JSON, CITATION.cff references, markdown bibliographies), verify each, and report a table: verified / metadata-mismatch / unresolvable / no-DOI-needs-human. ## Screen for retractions (Retraction Watch) The Retraction Watch database is public, CC-BY, updated every working day, and Crossref-distributed - screening is one step: - Per DOI: query Crossref and inspect `message.updated-by`, keeping entries whose `type` is retraction, correction or expression_of_concern. Mind the direction: `update-to` points the opposite way, from a notice to the work it corrects, so querying it against a retracted paper returns nothing and the paper reads as clean. Or check against the full CSV (public git repository at gitlab.com/crossref/retraction-watch-data). - Screen at these moments: finalizing a bibliography, submitting a manuscript (rseng-research-integrity runs the fuller pre-submission battery), and citing a paper as the FOUNDATION of a method - building on a retracted result is the costliest citation failure. - A retraction hit is information, not automatic removal: report it with the retraction reason and let the author decide - citing retracted work knowingly (e.g. to discuss the retraction) is legitimate; citing it unknowingly is the failure. ## Where citations hide in code projects Manuscripts are not the only bibliography. Check: - CITATION.cff `references` and `preferred-citation` entries (rseng-citation-metadata), codemeta.json referencePublication. - README "please cite" blocks and papers listed in docs. - Algorithm-source comments ("implements the method of Smith 2019") - a wrong citation here misdirects future maintainers. - Dependency citation duties: software the project builds on that requests citation (rseng-software-reuse's cite-what-you-adopt) - verify those entries like any other. ## Currency and completeness - Prefer the DOI form of a reference; preprint-vs-published drift is common - when a cited preprint has a published version, OpenAlex links the two; offer the update while preserving intent (sometimes the preprint IS the cited artifact - rseng-open-science-practices). - Keep bibliographies regenerable: store references as structured data (BibTeX/CSL/CFF) and render from it (rseng-documentation); hand-maintained duplicated reference lists drift apart. - Wire a lightweight check into CI where the project's references are load-bearing (rseng-ci-cd): DOI resolution plus retraction screen on the reference files - the citation analogue of a link checker. ## Working with this skill This skill is source-independent: its authority is the Crossref, OpenAlex and Retraction Watch services linked below. It is the verification counterpart to rseng-citation-metadata and feeds rseng-research-integrity's pre-submission checks. Learn more (verified): - https://api.crossref.org/swagger-ui/index.html - Crossref REST API - https://help.openalex.org - OpenAlex API (open, keyless) - https://www.crossref.org/documentation/retrieve-metadata/retraction-watch/ - Retraction Watch data via Crossref - https://gitlab.com/crossref/retraction-watch-data - Retraction Watch database, public daily-updated repository ## Related skills Check whether any of these applies before moving on: - rseng-ci-cd - reference resolution checks in CI - rseng-citation-metadata - making own software citable - rseng-discovery - verifying surveyed literature leads - rseng-fact-checking - verifying non-citation claims - rseng-open-science-practices - preprint-to-published version links - rseng-research-integrity - pre-submission verification battery ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [fdiblen](https://github.com/fdiblen) - **Source:** [fdiblen/rseng-agent-skills](https://github.com/fdiblen/rseng-agent-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:** yes - **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-fdiblen-rseng-agent-skills-rseng-citation-hygiene - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/fdiblen - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.