Choose a source family

Sources for scientific reference verification

Separate work, author, organisation, repository, journal and trial to cite the right object and version.

Choose the right source

Start with the object’s identifier: DOI or record ID for a work, ORCID for a person, ROR for an organisation, NCT for a trial. Then connect document and editorial status. Inclusion in an index, repository or registry does not independently validate the result.

Compare result types

Crossref and DataCite describe identified objects; PubMed and Europe PMC index literature; HAL, Zenodo and OSF host deposits. ORCID and ROR help resolve identities. Multiple records can repeat the same metadata.

Reading example

A preprint and published article have similar titles. Read the relationship and versions, compare the passage used and check corrections or retractions. Do not count two versions of one work as independent studies.

Sources in this family · 13

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OpenAlex

Explore open metadata for scholarly works, authors, institutions and citation links.

Coverage and record matching vary; inclusion or citation counts do not validate scientific quality.

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Crossref Metadata Search

Search metadata deposited with Crossref by DOI, title, author or citation.

A DOI identifies a record but does not prove peer review or guarantee that all deposited fields are complete.

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ORCID

Find a researcher identifier and the contributions or affiliations made public in their record.

Check each item’s provenance; visibility and completeness vary by record, and an identifier does not certify expertise.

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Research Organization Registry · ROR

Distinguish research organisations through persistent identifiers, names and documented relationships.

An organisation record helps disambiguate affiliations; it does not establish a person’s employment on a particular date.

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HAL

Find published or unpublished research outputs, metadata records and deposited files in a multidisciplinary open archive.

Distinguish metadata-only records, preprints and published versions; deposit alone is not scientific assessment.

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PubMed

Find biomedical and life-sciences citations and abstracts, then follow full-text links where available.

PubMed is not a general full-text archive; indexing alone does not validate a finding or medical recommendation.

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Europe PMC

Search life-sciences literature, preprints and links to full text, data and related resources.

Identify document type and version; records from different platforms may describe the same work.

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DataCite Commons

Explore DOI-identified resources and metadata links to people, organisations and repositories.

Check declared relationships against the resource; citations and downloads alone do not measure quality.

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Zenodo

Find deposited datasets, software, publications and other research objects with metadata and identifiers.

Retain the version and licence of the file used; public deposit does not guarantee reproducibility or content quality.

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Directory of Open Access Journals · DOAJ

Search open-access journals, their records and articles indexed in the directory.

Read journal criteria and records; inclusion does not validate every published finding or every site referring to the journal.

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ClinicalTrials.gov

Search public clinical-study records and examine identifiers, declared protocols, dates and available results.

Registration does not establish efficacy or safety; distinguish planned research, recruitment and published results.

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OpenAIRE EXPLORE

Explore research outputs and relationships to data, software, projects, people and organisations.

Graph relationships are leads to check; multiple records may reuse the same original metadata.

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Open Science Framework · OSF

Find public research projects, files and registrations to document what was planned or deposited.

Distinguish editable projects from dated registrations; a method declaration does not establish execution or assessment of results.

Compare a selection

Frequently asked questions

Does a DOI prove that work was peer reviewed?

No. A DOI identifies an object. Check document type, journal, version and editorial process; datasets, preprints and reports can also have DOIs.

Methods to follow

Official references

Choose a source family

Topic pages to select a service and understand what its result can establish.