How SVRIS Citation Verification Works

SVRIS (SourceVerify Reference Identity Standard) verifies citations through a deterministic, step-by-step process. Unlike AI systems that provide opaque verdicts, SVRIS makes every decision transparent and auditable.

Step 1: Extract Metadata Fields

The first step is parsing the citation to extract its component fields:

• Title — The name of the work
• Authors — List of author names
• Year — Publication year
• Venue — Journal, conference, publisher, or organization
• Identifier — DOI, URL, ISBN, or other unique ID

Step 2: Normalize Strings

Before any comparison, all strings are normalized:

1. Convert to lowercase
2. Remove punctuation (periods, commas, colons, etc.)
3. Collapse multiple spaces to one
4. Trim leading and trailing whitespace

This ensures that minor formatting differences don't cause false negatives.

Step 3: Search for Candidate Documents

SVRIS queries multiple authoritative sources to find documents that might match the citation:

• CrossRef (DOI registry)
• Google Scholar
• Google Search
• Direct URL verification
• Publisher databases

Step 4: Assign Field Labels

For each candidate document, SVRIS compares every field and assigns exactly one label:

• MATCH — Fields are identical after normalization
• CONTAINS — One is a substring of the other, or the citation uses a valid abbreviation (e.g., "PNAS" for "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences")
• ABSENT — The citation doesn't include this field
• UNCONFIRMED — Citation claims a value but evidence neither confirms nor contradicts it
• CONTRADICTION — Evidence shows a different value (e.g., year off by 2+ years, no overlapping authors)

Step 5: Determine Classification

The final classification follows strict rules based on the field labels. Key requirements:

VERIFIED

• Title or DOI must MATCH
• No CONTRADICTION
• Strong corroboration: 3+ MATCHes OR 2 MATCHes + 2 CONTAINS

VERIFIED WITH ERRORS

• Document found with minor issues
• Examples: weak corroboration, single contradiction with strong support, title CONTAINS with a MATCH

NEEDS HUMAN REVIEW

• Ambiguous evidence requiring expert judgment
• Examples: title MATCH alone, borderline with contradiction

UNVERIFIED

• No matching document found
• Or: multiple contradictions, no title/DOI match

Why This Matters

Every SVRIS classification can be audited. If the system says "VERIFIED," you can see exactly which fields matched and which sources provided evidence. This transparency is critical for academic integrity, publishing, and any workflow involving AI-generated citations.

SourceVerify implements the SVRIS standard to provide verification you can trust. Read the full specification for complete technical details.