rseng-fact-checking

# Fact-checking and source verification A reference can exist, resolve and be unretracted - and still not say what it is cited for. That last mile is where fabrication actually lives: real papers attached to claims they do not support, secondary sources laundered as primary, numbers that drifted in retelling. rseng-citation-hygiene verifies that references EXIST and are current; this skill verifies that they SUPPORT their claims and deserve trust. The duty is self-referential and stated plainly: an agent that asserts a fact or attaches a source must be prepared to show where in the source the support lives - and must say "I could not verify this" when it cannot. Confidence is not evidence. ## Claim-source alignment: the core check For each claim-citation pair: 1. Extract what the claim actually asserts: the specific finding, number, method or position attributed to the source - not the general topic. Most misattribution hides in specificity ("X causes Y" cited to a paper showing correlation; "widely used" cited to a paper that merely mentions). 2. Open the source and FIND the support: the abstract often suffices for existence of a finding (OpenAlex serves abstracts); exact numbers, conditions and caveats need the relevant section. Record WHERE the support is (section, table) - unfindable support is the finding. 3. Grade the alignment honestly: supports as stated / supports with caveats the text drops / related but does not support / contradic...