Citation Hallucination

Citation hallucination is the tendency of generative AI systems to produce references that look plausible but are wrong: papers that do not exist, real authors attached to invented titles, wrong journals or years, or genuine papers cited for claims they never make. It occurs because language models generate text that resembles citations rather than retrieving records from a bibliographic database, so fluency is no guarantee of existence.

For thesis writers this is a direct integrity hazard. Submitting fabricated references, even unknowingly, can be treated as misconduct and instantly destroys examiner confidence. Verify every reference against an authoritative record: resolve its DOI, locate it in a database, and read enough of the source to confirm it supports your claim. Never transfer a citation from an AI tool into your reference list without this check.