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Retraction checker
Paste DOIs or a reference list, or upload your paper as a PDF. You see which cited works have been retracted or withdrawn, with a link to the notice.
Only the references are looked up, in public databases; the rest of your paper is not sent anywhere. Your text and file are not stored. Privacy Policy · Terms.
Retractions are one part of it. DeskReady checks the whole paper the same way: numbers against tables, claims against results, figures against the text. Your first check is free.
Check your whole paperWhat it checks
Each reference is first matched to a published work (Crossref, PubMed, arXiv, DBLP, NASA ADS, INSPIRE-HEP, OpenAlex, DataCite). For every work with a DOI, Crossref's update notices are checked for a retraction, withdrawal or removal; Crossref includes the Retraction Watch database. A retracted work is listed first, with a link to its notice.
A retracted paper isn't automatically wrong to cite: you may be discussing the retraction itself. But the reader should know, so say that it was retracted. To check that every reference exists at all, use the reference checker.
Questions
Where does the retraction data come from?
From Crossref, which lists the notices that update a DOI, including the retractions, withdrawals and removals recorded by the Retraction Watch database.
Why is a reference marked 'status unknown'?
Retraction notices are attached to DOIs. A reference that has no DOI, or that couldn't be matched to a published work, can't be checked.
Is my paper stored?
No. An uploaded PDF is read only to extract its reference list and deleted right after; references are used to run the lookups and are not stored or logged.