A reference can be real, correctly formatted and still fail to support the sentence beside it. Claim checking asks a narrower question than whether a paper is relevant: does this particular source justify this particular wording?
Write down the exact assertion
Copy the sentence into a working review record and identify its material, action, context and implied certainty. Words such as “can”, “causes”, “consistently” and “proves” can change the evidential burden substantially.
ICMJE recommends direct references to original research where possible and says authors should be able to attest that their references support the associated statements. It also recommends checking bibliographic details against original or bibliographic sources.ICMJE — Preparing a Manuscript for Submission: References (opens in a new tab)
These are separate checks. Confirming a title and DOI establishes which paper is being cited; reading the relevant evidence establishes whether it supports the claim.
Avoid beginning with a search for any paper that sounds favourable. Start with the precise assertion and ask what observation would be needed to support it, including the context in which that observation was made.
Preserve the qualification inside the passage
| Wording | Editorial assessment |
|---|---|
| The response may reflect receptor involvement in this model. | Original hypothetical sentence |
| The response reflects receptor involvement. | Removes uncertainty and the model boundary |
| The authors proposed receptor involvement as one interpretation. | Paraphrase retaining the provisional status |
| Receptor involvement was confirmed. | Introduces confirmation absent from the original |
The issue here is the transformation of a passage after the source has already been located. A quotation or close paraphrase should not acquire stronger certainty merely because a shorter sentence reads more smoothly.
Watch for omitted negatives, limiting phrases and alternative explanations. An ellipsis may remove unnecessary words, but it should not hide a qualification that changes the scientific meaning.
Check whose view is being quoted. A paper may describe a previous author’s hypothesis before challenging it. Extracting that description without the surrounding discussion can attribute the rejected view to the wrong authors.
Record where the support is located
Record the exact section, page or other stable location of the passage. Where HTML and PDF versions differ in layout, note which version was checked so that another editor can find the same wording.
Compare the quotation character by character where exact wording is required. Then read the surrounding paragraph to check its meaning. A perfect transcription of a fragment can still misrepresent the complete argument.
If wording was translated, identify it as a translation and check that uncertainty and technical terms survive the change of language. Do not present a translated sentence as the source’s original English wording.
If only the abstract is available, do not attribute a quotation to an inaccessible discussion section. A search snippet or another author’s quotation is a lead to verify, not evidence that the original passage was inspected.
Choose a clear editorial outcome
A claim check can end with support as written, support after narrowing, unresolved support or removal. Record the reason so that a later editor does not restore stronger wording without revisiting the evidence.
Choose a paraphrase when exact wording adds little, but keep the attribution and evidence boundary. Quotation marks should mean actual quoted words; they should not be used around a summary assembled from several passages.
Recheck shortened quotations in headings, pull quotes and social previews. These formats are especially likely to lose the qualifying phrase that made the full sentence accurate.
The final passage should preserve both the author’s meaning and the status of the statement. This check complements locating the original study: it prevents meaning from changing during the act of quotation, translation or compression.
Sources and further detail
- ICMJE — Preparing a Manuscript for Submission: References (opens in a new tab)
Current reference guidance inspected for original sources, statement support and bibliographic verification. The quotation and transformations are invented editorial examples, not extracts from a real paper.
Sources checked 20 September 2026. Editorial examples are illustrative unless a supplied document or published study is explicitly identified. This article has not undergone independent scientific peer review.