Free web tool
BibTeX Validator
Upload or paste a .bib file to check syntax, missing fields, dead DOIs, and verify your citations actually exist — including author and year correctness. Download a corrected .bib where CrossRef returns a confident match. Useful for catching AI-hallucinated references. Files are never stored.
Drag a .bib file here, or click to choose. Max 2 MB.
Paste up to 2 MB of BibTeX directly. Same checks, no file needed.
Files are never written to disk or logged.
How to validate a BibTeX file online
- Upload your
.bibfile (drag-and-drop or click), or switch to Paste text and drop the BibTeX directly. Up to 2 MB. - Syntax and required-field checks run automatically. Enable DOI resolution and/or CrossRef / Semantic Scholar checks to verify your citations actually exist (and that authors and years match).
- Click Validate .bib. A color-coded table shows each entry. Click any row to see the original BibTeX, plus the corrected version when CrossRef returned a confident match. Use the filter chips to focus on warnings or errors.
- Download the annotated
.bib(your file with status comments) or the corrected.bib(entries rewritten from CrossRef metadata where confidence is high).
About this tool
This tool validates BibTeX files in layers: syntax + completeness (always), DOI resolution (opt-in), and existence checks against CrossRef and Semantic Scholar (opt-in). When you enable the database checks, it also compares authors and publication years and can produce a corrected .bib for high-confidence matches. It's particularly useful for catching AI-hallucinated citations that have plausible-looking metadata but don't correspond to real papers.
Can it detect AI-hallucinated citations?
Are my files stored?
What does the annotated .bib contain?
What is the corrected .bib?
How does the author check work?
What BibTeX entry types are supported?
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