Verify your first paper in under five minutes

Before you begin

VerifyScience uses Claude AI (by Anthropic) to assess research papers. To run verifications, you need two things:

1 · Sign in

1. Go to verifyscience.co.uk

   The sign-in button is in the top-right corner of the page.

2. Click "Sign in with Google"

   A Google authentication window opens. Select the Google account you want to use.

3. Your account is created automatically

   First-time users are placed on the Free tier (3 verifications per month). The navigation bar now shows your verification count and account menu.

2 · Add your Claude API key

This step is required before you can run your first verification. You only need to do it once.

1. Get an Anthropic API key

   Go to console.anthropic.com, sign up or log in, navigate to API Keys, and create a new key. It begins with sk-ant-. Copy it — you will not be able to see it again.

2. Add a payment method to Anthropic

   Anthropic requires a payment method before API calls will succeed. Go to Billing in the Anthropic console and add a card. You will only be charged for actual usage.

3. Paste your key into VerifyScience

   In VerifyScience, click Account in the navigation bar, then Claude API Key. Paste your key and click Save. The key is encrypted immediately — it will not be visible again after saving.

3 · Submit a paper

Three input methods are available. Choose whichever suits the paper you are assessing.

1. Choose your input method

   Select URL, Text, or File using the tabs above the input area.

2. Paste the URL, text, or upload the file

   For URL submissions, use the full article page URL. Minimum 50 characters.

3. Click "Verify Paper"

   A loading indicator appears. Your verification is queued and processed in the background. You do not need to keep the page open — you will receive an email when the analysis is complete.

4. Wait for results

   Typical times: Free / Starter — 30–90 seconds. Professional — 2–4 minutes. Enterprise — 3–5 minutes. Professional and Enterprise analyses evaluate more criteria in greater depth, which takes longer.

4 · Read your results

Overall confidence score

The confidence score (0–100%) is a holistic assessment of the paper's credibility — constrained to within ±20 points of the per-criterion scores below it. It reflects methodology, publication context, post-publication record, and the weight of subsequent evidence.

Per-criterion analysis

Each criterion receives an individual score and a detailed explanation. The number of criteria assessed depends on your subscription tier: 4 (Free), 8 (Starter), 12 (Professional), 16 (Enterprise). Higher tiers assess more dimensions and provide longer explanations.

Flags

Flags are specific concerns identified within a criterion — for example, "no formal power analysis reported" or "high self-citation rate." They are not disqualifying by default; they are signals that warrant attention when interpreting the paper. A paper with flags may still be methodologically sound overall.

Summary

An executive summary synthesising the paper's key strengths, main concerns, and overall credibility assessment. Professional and Enterprise summaries are substantially longer and more detailed.

Domain calibration Professional+

On Professional and Enterprise plans, a domain indicator appears below the paper title in your results: Assessment calibrated for: [domain] — for example, Assessment calibrated for: Clinical trial methodology or Assessment calibrated for: Qualitative research.

This indicator tells you that VerifyScience detected your paper's research domain and adjusted the assessment criteria accordingly. A qualitative interview study is not evaluated by the same criteria as a randomised controlled trial. The specific frameworks applied are proprietary and not named — this is intentional, to protect the integrity of the assessment and prevent results from being gamed. Free and Starter accounts do not see this indicator.

5 · Compare two papers Professional+

Comparative verification analyses two papers side by side in a single operation. It is useful for comparing a preprint against its published version, evaluating two competing methodologies, or triaging which of two papers warrants deeper expert review.

1. Navigate to the Compare tab

   The Compare tab appears in the main verification interface, to the right of the single-paper submission area.

2. Enter Paper A and Paper B

   Paste the URL or text for each paper in the respective fields. Both papers are analysed in parallel — neither waits for the other to complete.

3. Click "Compare Papers"

   Both analyses are queued simultaneously. Allow 2–4 minutes for Professional tier. You will receive an email when both are complete.

4. Read the side-by-side results

   Results appear with both confidence scores, a delta showing which paper scores higher overall, and a per-criterion comparison across all assessed dimensions.

6 · Scan a reference list

Reference list verification scans an entire bibliography for retraction flags, citation metrics, and methodological concerns. Navigate to the Ref Scan tab in the main navigation.

Three tiers

1. Paste your references

   Paste one reference per line — URLs, DOIs, or formatted citations. The system extracts identifiers automatically.

2. Run the signal scan

   Click "Scan References" to run the Tier 1 signal scan across all citations. Results appear in seconds.

3. Upgrade individual references

   Select specific references and click "Quick Check" (Tier 2) or "Deep Verify" (Tier 3) for AI-powered analysis on those citations.

7 · Export results

Ten export options are available from the results view — one PDF report, two machine-readable formats for reference managers, six citation style formats, and a share link.

8 · Manage your quota

Your monthly verification quota is shown in the navigation bar as X / Y — verifications remaining out of your monthly total. It resets on your billing anniversary date, not the first of the calendar month.

Chrome extension

The VerifyScience Chrome extension lets you verify papers directly from PubMed without leaving the page.

Install

1. Install from the Chrome Web Store

   Search for "VerifyScience" in the Chrome Web Store, or use the direct link from verifyscience.co.uk. Click "Add to Chrome".

2. Pin the extension

   Click the puzzle piece icon in Chrome's toolbar and pin VerifyScience for easy access.

Connect your account

1. Click the VerifyScience icon

   You will see a "Connect to VerifyScience" button. Click it.

2. Authenticate

   A new tab opens at verifyscience.co.uk. If you are already signed in, the connection completes automatically. If not, sign in with Google first. The tab closes on its own after 3 seconds.

Verify a paper

1. Navigate to a PubMed article

   Go to any paper on pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

2. Click the extension icon

   The popup shows the paper's title, DOI, and PMID extracted automatically. Your quota and subscription tier are displayed.

3. Click "Verify This Paper"

   The extension submits the paper's abstract and metadata for analysis. Results typically appear within 60 seconds — directly in the popup.

4. View the full report

   Click "View Full Report" to open the complete results on verifyscience.co.uk, including external signals, domain calibration, and all per-criterion details.

Common questions