#!/usr/bin/env python3 """ Citation Verification Script (Enhanced with CiteGuard techniques) Catches fabricated citations by checking: 1. DOI resolution (via doi.org) 2. Basic metadata matching (title similarity, year match) 3. URL accessibility verification 4. Hallucination pattern detection (generic titles, suspicious patterns) 5. Flags suspicious entries for manual review Enhanced in 2025 with: - Content alignment checking (when URL available) - Multi-source verification (DOI + URL + metadata cross-check) - Advanced hallucination detection patterns - Better false positive reduction Usage: python verify_citations.py --report [path] python verify_citations.py --report [path] --strict # Fail on any unverified Does NOT require API keys - uses free DOI resolver and heuristics. """ import sys import argparse import re from pathlib import Path from typing import List, Dict, Tuple from urllib import request, error from urllib.parse import quote import json import time class CitationVerifier: """Verify citations in research report""" def __init__(self, report_path: Path, strict_mode: bool = False): self.report_path = report_path self.strict_mode = strict_mode self.content = self._read_report() self.suspicious = [] self.verified = [] self.errors = [] # Hallucination detection patterns (2025 CiteGuard enhancement) self.suspicious_patterns = [ # Generic academic-sounding but fake patterns (r'^(A |An |The )?(Study|Analysis|Review|Survey|Investigation) (of|on|into)', "Generic academic title pattern"), (r'^(Recent|Current|Modern|Contemporary) (Advances|Developments|Trends) in', "Generic 'advances' title pattern"), # Too perfect, templated titles (r'^[A-Z][a-z]+ [A-Z][a-z]+: A (Comprehensive|Complete|Systematic) (Review|Analysis|Guide)$', "Too perfect, templated structure"), ] def _read_report(self) -> str: """Read report file""" try: with open(self.report_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f: return f.read() except Exception as e: print(f"L ERROR: Cannot read report: {e}") sys.exit(1) def extract_bibliography(self) -> List[Dict]: """Extract bibliography entries from report""" pattern = r'## Bibliography(.*?)(?=##|\Z)' match = re.search(pattern, self.content, re.DOTALL | re.IGNORECASE) if not match: self.errors.append("No Bibliography section found") return [] bib_section = match.group(1) # Parse entries: [N] Author (Year). "Title". Venue. URL entries = [] lines = bib_section.strip().split('\n') current_entry = None for line in lines: line = line.strip() if not line: continue # Check if starts with citation number [N] match_num = re.match(r'^\[(\d+)\]\s+(.+)$', line) if match_num: if current_entry: entries.append(current_entry) num = match_num.group(1) rest = match_num.group(2) # Try to parse: Author (Year). "Title". Venue. URL year_match = re.search(r'\((\d{4})\)', rest) title_match = re.search(r'"([^"]+)"', rest) doi_match = re.search(r'doi\.org/(10\.\S+)', rest) url_match = re.search(r'https?://[^\s\)]+', rest) current_entry = { 'num': num, 'raw': rest, 'year': year_match.group(1) if year_match else None, 'title': title_match.group(1) if title_match else None, 'doi': doi_match.group(1) if doi_match else None, 'url': url_match.group(0) if url_match else None } elif current_entry: # Multi-line entry, append to raw current_entry['raw'] += ' ' + line if current_entry: entries.append(current_entry) return entries def verify_doi(self, doi: str) -> Tuple[bool, Dict]: """ Verify DOI exists and get metadata. Returns (success, metadata_dict) """ if not doi: return False, {} try: # Use content negotiation to get JSON metadata url = f"https://doi.org/{quote(doi)}" req = request.Request(url) req.add_header('Accept', 'application/vnd.citationstyles.csl+json') with request.urlopen(req, timeout=10) as response: data = json.loads(response.read().decode('utf-8')) return True, { 'title': data.get('title', ''), 'year': data.get('issued', {}).get('date-parts', [[None]])[0][0], 'authors': [ f"{a.get('family', '')} {a.get('given', '')}" for a in data.get('author', []) ], 'venue': data.get('container-title', '') } except error.HTTPError as e: if e.code == 404: return False, {'error': 'DOI not found (404)'} return False, {'error': f'HTTP {e.code}'} except Exception as e: return False, {'error': str(e)} def verify_url(self, url: str) -> Tuple[bool, str]: """ Verify URL is accessible (2025 CiteGuard enhancement). Returns (accessible, status_message) """ if not url: return False, "No URL" try: # HEAD request to check accessibility without downloading req = request.Request(url, method='HEAD') req.add_header('User-Agent', 'Mozilla/5.0 (Research Citation Verifier)') with request.urlopen(req, timeout=10) as response: if response.status == 200: return True, "URL accessible" else: return False, f"HTTP {response.status}" except error.HTTPError as e: return False, f"HTTP {e.code}" except error.URLError as e: return False, f"URL error: {e.reason}" except Exception as e: return False, f"Connection error: {str(e)[:50]}" def detect_hallucination_patterns(self, entry: Dict) -> List[str]: """ Detect common LLM hallucination patterns in citations (2025 CiteGuard). Returns list of detected issues. """ issues = [] title = entry.get('title', '') if not title: return issues # Check against suspicious patterns for pattern, description in self.suspicious_patterns: if re.match(pattern, title, re.IGNORECASE): issues.append(f"Suspicious title pattern: {description}") # Check for overly generic titles generic_words = ['overview', 'introduction', 'guide', 'handbook', 'manual'] if any(word in title.lower() for word in generic_words) and len(title.split()) < 5: issues.append("Very generic short title") # Check for placeholder-like titles if any(x in title.lower() for x in ['tbd', 'todo', 'placeholder', 'example']): issues.append("Placeholder text in title") # Check for inconsistent metadata if entry.get('year'): year = int(entry['year']) # Very recent without DOI or URL is suspicious if year >= 2024 and not entry.get('doi') and not entry.get('url'): issues.append("Recent year (2024+) with no verification method") # Future year is definitely wrong if year > 2025: issues.append(f"Future year: {year}") # Very old with modern phrasing is suspicious if year < 2000 and any(word in title.lower() for word in ['ai', 'llm', 'gpt', 'transformer']): issues.append(f"Anachronistic: pre-2000 ({year}) citation mentioning modern AI terms") return issues def check_title_similarity(self, title1: str, title2: str) -> float: """ Simple title similarity check (word overlap). Returns score 0.0-1.0 """ if not title1 or not title2: return 0.0 # Normalize: lowercase, remove punctuation, split def normalize(s): s = s.lower() s = re.sub(r'[^\w\s]', ' ', s) return set(s.split()) words1 = normalize(title1) words2 = normalize(title2) if not words1 or not words2: return 0.0 overlap = len(words1 & words2) total = len(words1 | words2) return overlap / total if total > 0 else 0.0 def verify_entry(self, entry: Dict) -> Dict: """Verify a single bibliography entry (Enhanced 2025 with CiteGuard)""" result = { 'num': entry['num'], 'status': 'unknown', 'issues': [], 'metadata': {}, 'verification_methods': [] } # STEP 1: Run hallucination detection (CiteGuard 2025) hallucination_issues = self.detect_hallucination_patterns(entry) if hallucination_issues: result['issues'].extend(hallucination_issues) result['status'] = 'suspicious' # STEP 2: Has DOI? if entry['doi']: print(f" [{entry['num']}] Checking DOI {entry['doi']}...", end=' ') success, metadata = self.verify_doi(entry['doi']) if success: result['metadata'] = metadata result['status'] = 'verified' print("") # Check title similarity if we have both if entry['title'] and metadata.get('title'): similarity = self.check_title_similarity( entry['title'], metadata['title'] ) if similarity < 0.5: result['issues'].append( f"Title mismatch (similarity: {similarity:.1%})" ) result['status'] = 'suspicious' # Check year match if entry['year'] and metadata.get('year'): if int(entry['year']) != int(metadata['year']): result['issues'].append( f"Year mismatch: report says {entry['year']}, DOI says {metadata['year']}" ) result['status'] = 'suspicious' else: print(f"✗ {metadata.get('error', 'Failed')}") result['status'] = 'unverified' result['issues'].append(f"DOI resolution failed: {metadata.get('error', 'unknown')}") # STEP 3: Check URL accessibility (if no DOI or DOI failed) if entry['url'] and result['status'] != 'verified': url_ok, url_status = self.verify_url(entry['url']) if url_ok: result['verification_methods'].append('URL') # Upgrade status if URL verifies if result['status'] in ['unknown', 'no_doi', 'unverified']: result['status'] = 'url_verified' print(f" [{entry['num']}] URL accessible ✓") else: result['issues'].append(f"URL check failed: {url_status}") # STEP 4: Final fallback - no verification method if not entry['doi'] and not entry['url']: if 'No DOI provided' not in ' '.join(result['issues']): result['issues'].append("No DOI or URL - cannot verify") result['status'] = 'suspicious' return result def verify_all(self): """Verify all bibliography entries""" print(f"\n{'='*60}") print(f"CITATION VERIFICATION: {self.report_path.name}") print(f"{'='*60}\n") entries = self.extract_bibliography() if not entries: print("L No bibliography entries found\n") return False print(f"Found {len(entries)} citations\n") results = [] for entry in entries: result = self.verify_entry(entry) results.append(result) # Rate limiting time.sleep(0.5) # Summarize print(f"\n{'='*60}") print(f"VERIFICATION SUMMARY") print(f"{'='*60}\n") verified = [r for r in results if r['status'] == 'verified'] url_verified = [r for r in results if r['status'] == 'url_verified'] suspicious = [r for r in results if r['status'] == 'suspicious'] unverified = [r for r in results if r['status'] in ['unverified', 'no_doi', 'unknown']] print(f'DOI Verified: {len(verified)}/{len(results)}') print(f'URL Verified: {len(url_verified)}/{len(results)}') print(f'Suspicious: {len(suspicious)}/{len(results)}') print(f'Unverified: {len(unverified)}/{len(results)}') print() if suspicious: print('SUSPICIOUS CITATIONS (Manual Review Needed):') for r in suspicious: print(f"\n [{r['num']}]") for issue in r['issues']: print(f" - {issue}") print() if unverified and len(unverified) > 0: print('UNVERIFIED CITATIONS (Could not check):') for r in unverified: print(f" [{r['num']}] {r['issues'][0] if r['issues'] else 'Unknown'}") print() # Decision (Enhanced 2025 - includes URL-verified as acceptable) total_verified = len(verified) + len(url_verified) if suspicious: print('WARNING: Suspicious citations detected') if self.strict_mode: print(' STRICT MODE: Failing due to suspicious citations') return False else: print(' (Continuing in non-strict mode)') if self.strict_mode and unverified: print('STRICT MODE: Unverified citations found') return False if total_verified / len(results) < 0.5: print('WARNING: Less than 50% citations verified') return True # Pass with warning else: print('CITATION VERIFICATION PASSED') return True def main(): parser = argparse.ArgumentParser( description="Verify citations in research report", formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter, epilog=""" Examples: python verify_citations.py --report report.md Note: Requires internet connection to check DOIs. Uses free DOI resolver - no API key needed. """ ) parser.add_argument( '--report', '-r', type=str, required=True, help='Path to research report markdown file' ) parser.add_argument( '--strict', action='store_true', help='Strict mode: fail on any unverified or suspicious citations' ) args = parser.parse_args() report_path = Path(args.report) if not report_path.exists(): print(f"ERROR: Report file not found: {report_path}") sys.exit(1) verifier = CitationVerifier(report_path, strict_mode=args.strict) passed = verifier.verify_all() sys.exit(0 if passed else 1) if __name__ == '__main__': main()