FHJCIS Reference Finder: Free Related-Work & Reference Verifier
Paste your research title, abstract and keywords. Get related journal papers from IEEE, Springer Nature, Elsevier, Nature Portfolio and SAGE, each checked against its Crossref DOI record, with a ready BibTeX file. Or paste your own reference list and see which references are real.
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Limits (please read)
Crossref verifies a DOI-deposited journal article, its metadata and its deposited publisher. It does not verify journal impact factor, SCIE indexing, article quality, or the factual correctness of your manuscript claims. Official impact factors need licensed Clarivate JCR data.
Relevance scoring is lexical with thematic expansion, not semantic proof. The number of papers returned can be lower than requested, and none are invented. OpenAlex can be rate-limited or ask for a registered API key; the tool then continues with Crossref only. A failed API call is never treated as verification.
Read every paper before you cite it, and check your target journal on the official indexing lists.
From title to verified references in minutes.
The same logic as the FHJCIS Reference Agent for Windows, ported to run in any modern browser.
Describe your paper
Enter your title, and optionally the abstract and keywords. Each keyword becomes its own search theme.
Search and score
The tool queries Crossref (and OpenAlex if you paste a free API key), scores every candidate against your themes, and keeps only relevant journal articles from the five publishers.
Verify the DOI
Each selected paper is re-fetched from Crossref. Type, journal, publisher, ISSN, authors and year must all check out.
Download
Get references.bib, PAPER_COMPARISON.csv and DIAGNOSIS.txt, ready for Overleaf, Zotero or Word.
Need a refresher on reference styles? Read IEEE vs APA referencing and how to choose a journal and avoid predatory journals.
FHJCIS Reference Agent v2.2 for Windows
The original desktop app: related-paper search, Crossref DOI verification and a reference verifier, with all output saved on your own PC.
Install in four steps
- Extract the ZIP into a new folder. Do not run it from the Windows ZIP preview.
- Install Python 3.10 or newer from python.org and tick “Add Python to PATH”.
- Double-click
START_AGENT.bat. It installs two free libraries (requests, python-docx) in a local folder and opens the app. Internet is required. - Enter your title, abstract and keywords, keep the strict citedness box unticked, and click Search Related Papers. Results appear in
Documents\FHJCIS_References.
Provided free as is. It talks only to the public Crossref and OpenAlex APIs and writes files on your PC. The same limits apply as in the browser version.
Browser or desktop?
| Browser version | Windows desktop | |
|---|---|---|
| Install | None | Python 3.10+, one double-click |
| Search, scoring, DOI checks | Same logic | Original |
| Outputs | Downloaded files | Saved to Documents\FHJCIS_References |
| Optional local AI title helper (Ollama) | Not included | Included, optional |
| JCR CSV import | Not included | Code included, not exposed in the main window |
About the Reference Finder.
Is the FHJCIS Reference Finder really free?
Yes. It is a free tool from FHJCIS and there is no payment. You can use it without an account. If you create a free account, you can optionally save a result and the .bib file to your dashboard.
Does it check impact factor or SCIE indexing?
No. It verifies the DOI, that the record is a journal article, the journal and the publisher deposited at Crossref. It does not verify journal impact factor, SCIE or Web of Science indexing, article quality, or whether a paper supports your claim. Official impact factors need licensed Clarivate JCR data. Check the journal on the official lists before you submit.
Does it invent references?
Never. Every paper in the results was returned by Crossref or OpenAlex and then re-checked against its Crossref DOI record before it enters references.bib. If fewer papers pass than you asked for, you get fewer papers, not made-up ones.
Which publishers does it include?
Journal articles from IEEE, Springer Nature (including BMC and Palgrave), Elsevier (including Cell Press), Nature Portfolio and SAGE. Preprints, conference papers and repositories such as arXiv or SSRN are excluded. In the verification tab you can optionally accept any Crossref journal article.
Is my research title or manuscript uploaded to FHJCIS?
The search itself runs in your browser. The title, keywords and references you enter are sent to Crossref, and to OpenAlex only if you paste an optional API key. FHJCIS does not receive them unless you click Save to my account, which stores that result in your confidential client account. An optional OpenAlex API key stays in your browser memory for that tab only and is never saved.
Why did I get fewer papers than I asked for?
The tool only keeps papers that pass the relevance check, the publisher and DOI checks, and (optionally) the one-paper-per-author rule. Broaden your keywords, widen the year range, or reduce the number requested. Download DIAGNOSIS.txt and the candidate list to see exactly why papers were rejected.
What does the OpenAlex citedness option do?
It is a strict mode that keeps only papers whose journal has an OpenAlex 2-year mean citedness of at least 5. That is a citation statistic, not a Journal Impact Factor. It is off by default because missing data would otherwise discard good papers.
Which files can I verify in the second tab?
Paste references or upload .bib, .txt, .ris, .csv, .tex or .docx files (up to 250 references and 5 MB). Each reference is checked against Crossref and marked verified, mismatch, not found, or found but not accepted.
Is there a Windows desktop version?
Yes. The original FHJCIS Reference Agent v2.2 is available as a free Windows download on this page. It needs Python 3.10 or newer. The browser version needs nothing installed.
Can FHJCIS help me write the related-work section or the full paper?
Yes. FHJCIS offers guidance and support for research papers and theses. Message us on WhatsApp on +92 331 2663342 or +92 312 6243342. You remain the author and responsible for originality.
Watch and learn on our YouTube channel
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Talk to the FHJCIS research team in Bahawalpur.
Message us on WhatsApp with your subject, service needed and deadline, and we will reply with a custom quote. We give guidance that strengthens your own work, with no guarantees of results.
Guidance that strengthens your own work
These guides give general information, not legal or institutional advice. Your university and target journal set the rules that apply to you. FHJCIS provides research support, editing, formatting and analysis assistance; clients remain responsible for originality, accuracy, authorship and institutional compliance.