pedrohcgs

validate-bib

Validate bibliography entries against citations in all lecture files. Structural checks (missing/unused entries, malformed fields) by default; `--semantic` adds citation-drift detection, DOI verification, and style-consistency checks.

pedrohcgs 1,544 2,983 Updated 3mo ago
GitHub

Install

npx skillscat add pedrohcgs/claude-code-my-workflow/validate-bib

Install via the SkillsCat registry.

About this skill

We need to produce a 2-3 sentence plain-text summary, objective, factual, no marketing, no superlatives, no calls to action. Max 60 words. Should explain what skill does, what problem it solves, when to use. We need to be concise. Let's craft about 45 words. Sentence 1: The skill validates bibliography entries against citations in lecture files, checking for missing or unused entries and malformed fields by default. Sentence 2: With the --semantic flag it also detects citation drift, verifies DOIs via Crossref, and checks style consistency.

SKILL.md

Validate Bibliography

Cross-reference citations in lecture files against bibliography entries. Two modes:

  • Default (structural): missing entries, unused entries, malformed fields, typo candidates.
  • --semantic: adds citation-drift detection (duplicate entries for the same paper), DOI verification via crossref, and citation-style consistency within each file.

Report saved to quality_reports/bib_audit_[structural|semantic].md.

Mode 1: Structural (default)

Steps

  1. Read the bibliography file and extract all citation keys.

  2. Scan lecture files for citation keys:

    • .tex: \cite{, \citet{, \citep{, \citeauthor{, \citeyear{, \textcite{, \parencite{
    • .qmd / .md: @key, [@key], [@key1; @key2]
    • Extract all unique citation keys used.
  3. Cross-reference:

    • Missing entries (CRITICAL): cited in lectures, absent from .bib.
    • Unused entries (informational): in .bib but never cited.
    • Typo candidates: keys within edit-distance 2 of a .bib key (e.g., Smith2020 vs Smth2020).
  4. Check entry quality:

    • Required fields present (author, title, year, journal/booktitle).
    • Author field properly formatted.
    • Year in 1900–current.
    • No malformed characters / encoding issues.
    • doi field normalized (no leading https://doi.org/).
  5. Write report to quality_reports/bib_audit_structural.md.

Files scanned

Slides/*.tex
Quarto/*.qmd
guide/*.qmd
master_supporting_docs/**/*.tex

Bibliography location

Bibliography_base.bib at repo root by default; override via CLAUDE.md.

Mode 2: Semantic (--semantic)

Everything in Mode 1, plus:

2a. Citation drift detection

Multiple .bib entries describing the same paper under different keys. Symptoms:

  • Smith2020 + Smith2020a with identical DOI or title.
  • CallawaySantAnna2021 + CS2021 both pointing to the same paper.
  • Collaborator-merged .bib files.

Detection heuristics (any → FLAG):

Check Signal
Same DOI across keys Hard-duplicate (CRITICAL)
Same title (case-insensitive, punct-stripped) Likely duplicate (CRITICAL)
Same author+year+journal Probable duplicate (MEDIUM)
Title Jaccard > 0.85 on tokens ≥ 4 chars Soft-duplicate (LOW)

For each flagged pair: list both keys, where each is cited, and recommend a canonical key (prefer most-cited, then alphabetically first).

2b. DOI verification (optional; network)

For each entry with a doi, fetch https://api.crossref.org/works/{doi} and compare:

  • First-author last name
  • Year
  • Title (Jaccard > 0.7 on normalized tokens)
  • Container-title / journal (exact or abbreviation)

Severity:

  • Author or title mismatch → CRITICAL (wrong paper)
  • Year mismatch → MEDIUM (preprint vs published, or typo)
  • Journal mismatch → LOW (legitimate preprint variants)

Rate limit: cap 50 lookups per run, 0.5s delay between calls. Cache in quality_reports/.doi_cache.json.

Opt-out: --skip-doi for offline or no-WebFetch environments.

2c. Style consistency within each file

For each file, count citation commands (\citet vs \citep vs \cite; @key vs [@key]). FLAG files with mixed styles without an obvious pattern (e.g., 20× \citep and 3× \cite in the same deck). Low-severity.

2d. Cite-claim sanity (flag-only)

Gated behind --cite-claim. For the top-10 most-cited works per file, WebFetch the crossref abstract and surface it beside the in-text context. No auto-judgment — humans decide if the claim matches.

This is existence/structure, not appropriateness. Deciding whether the cited paper actually says what the in-text claim attributes to it is `/verify-claims`'s job — it reads the source and grounds a supports / partial / contradicts verdict in quotes + pages (with the EXPLAINED escape for a defensible named alternative). --cite-claim only surfaces the abstract; for the verdict, run /verify-claims.

Report structure (quality_reports/bib_audit_semantic.md)

# Bibliography Semantic Audit

**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Bibliography:** Bibliography_base.bib (N entries)
**Files scanned:** [list]

## Summary

| Check | Critical | Medium | Low |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structural | | | |
| Citation drift | | | |
| DOI verification | | | |
| Style consistency | 0 | 0 | |

## Critical Issues

### Duplicate entries
| Keys | Signal | Citations | Recommended canonical |
|---|---|---|---|

### DOI mismatches
| Key | Field | .bib value | crossref value |
|---|---|---|---|

## Medium / Low issues


## Next steps
1. Resolve duplicates — pick canonical key, update citations, remove orphans.
2. Fix DOI mismatches — verify paper in crossref or strip the wrong DOI.
3. Review style-consistency notes.

Exit behavior

  • Structural: exit 0; report enumerates issues.
  • Semantic: exit 0 if only LOW findings; exit 1 on any CRITICAL. Usable as a pre-submission gate.

Cross-references

  • .claude/skills/review-paper/SKILL.md — pair for full pre-submission.
  • .claude/skills/audit-reproducibility/SKILL.md — numeric-claims counterpart.
  • .claude/skills/verify-claims/SKILL.md — citation appropriateness counterpart (does the cited paper support the claim?). This skill checks that a citation exists and is well-formed; /verify-claims checks that it holds.

What this skill does NOT do

  • Judge whether a citation is used in the right context — whether the cited paper actually says what the claim attributes to it. That is /verify-claims's job (see 2d); this skill stays existence-and-structure only.
  • Auto-fix your .bib file — all edits are recommendations.
  • Check non-DOI identifiers (ISBN, arXiv, SSRN) — roadmap.