Agent skill
ref-hallucination-arena
Benchmark LLM reference recommendation capabilities by verifying every cited paper against Crossref, PubMed, arXiv, and DBLP. Measures hallucination rate, per-field accuracy (title/author/year/DOI), discipline breakdown, and year constraint compliance. Supports tool-augmented (ReAct + web search) mode. Use when the user asks to evaluate, benchmark, or compare models on academic reference hallucination, literature recommendation quality, or citation accuracy.
Install this agent skill to your Project
npx add-skill https://github.com/agentscope-ai/OpenJudge/tree/main/skills/ref-hallucination-arena
SKILL.md
Reference Hallucination Arena Skill
Evaluate how accurately LLMs recommend real academic references using the
OpenJudge RefArenaPipeline:
- Load queries — from JSON/JSONL dataset
- Collect responses — BibTeX-formatted references from target models
- Extract references — parse BibTeX entries from model output
- Verify references — cross-check against Crossref / PubMed / arXiv / DBLP
- Score & rank — compute verification rate, per-field accuracy, discipline breakdown
- Generate report — Markdown report + visualization charts
Prerequisites
# Install OpenJudge
pip install py-openjudge
# Extra dependency for ref_hallucination_arena (chart generation)
pip install matplotlib
Gather from user before running
| Info | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Config YAML path | Yes | Defines endpoints, dataset, verification settings |
| Dataset path | Yes | JSON/JSONL file with queries (can be set in config) |
| API keys | Yes | Env vars: OPENAI_API_KEY, DASHSCOPE_API_KEY, etc. |
| CrossRef email | No | Improves API rate limits for verification |
| PubMed API key | No | Improves PubMed rate limits |
| Output directory | No | Default: ./evaluation_results/ref_hallucination_arena |
| Report language | No | "en" (default) or "zh" |
| Tavily API key | No | Required only if using tool-augmented mode |
Quick start
CLI
# Run evaluation with config file
python -m cookbooks.ref_hallucination_arena --config config.yaml --save
# Resume from checkpoint (default behavior)
python -m cookbooks.ref_hallucination_arena --config config.yaml --save
# Start fresh, ignore checkpoint
python -m cookbooks.ref_hallucination_arena --config config.yaml --fresh --save
# Override output directory
python -m cookbooks.ref_hallucination_arena --config config.yaml \
--output_dir ./my_results --save
Python API
import asyncio
from cookbooks.ref_hallucination_arena.pipeline import RefArenaPipeline
async def main():
pipeline = RefArenaPipeline.from_config("config.yaml")
result = await pipeline.evaluate()
for rank, (model, score) in enumerate(result.rankings, 1):
print(f"{rank}. {model}: {score:.1%}")
asyncio.run(main())
CLI options
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--config |
— | Path to YAML configuration file (required) |
--output_dir |
config value | Override output directory |
--save |
False |
Save results to file |
--fresh |
False |
Start fresh, ignore checkpoint |
Minimal config file
task:
description: "Evaluate LLM reference recommendation capabilities"
dataset:
path: "./data/queries.json"
target_endpoints:
model_a:
base_url: "https://api.openai.com/v1"
api_key: "${OPENAI_API_KEY}"
model: "gpt-4"
system_prompt: "You are an academic literature recommendation expert. Recommend {num_refs} real papers in BibTeX format. Only recommend papers you are confident actually exist."
model_b:
base_url: "https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1"
api_key: "${DASHSCOPE_API_KEY}"
model: "qwen3-max"
system_prompt: "You are an academic literature recommendation expert. Recommend {num_refs} real papers in BibTeX format. Only recommend papers you are confident actually exist."
Full config reference
task
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
description |
Yes | Evaluation task description |
scenario |
No | Usage scenario |
dataset
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
path |
— | Path to JSON/JSONL dataset file (required) |
shuffle |
false |
Shuffle queries before evaluation |
max_queries |
null |
Max queries to use (null = all) |
target_endpoints.<name>
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
base_url |
— | API base URL (required) |
api_key |
— | API key, supports ${ENV_VAR} (required) |
model |
— | Model name (required) |
system_prompt |
built-in | System prompt; use {num_refs} placeholder |
max_concurrency |
5 |
Max concurrent requests for this endpoint |
extra_params |
— | Extra API request params (e.g. temperature) |
tool_config.enabled |
false |
Enable ReAct agent with Tavily web search |
tool_config.tavily_api_key |
env var | Tavily API key |
tool_config.max_iterations |
10 |
Max ReAct iterations (1–30) |
tool_config.search_depth |
"advanced" |
"basic" or "advanced" |
verification
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
crossref_mailto |
— | Email for Crossref polite pool |
pubmed_api_key |
— | PubMed API key |
max_workers |
10 |
Concurrent verification threads (1–50) |
timeout |
30 |
Per-request timeout in seconds |
verified_threshold |
0.7 |
Min composite score to count as VERIFIED |
evaluation
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
timeout |
120 |
Model API request timeout in seconds |
retry_times |
3 |
Number of retry attempts |
output
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
output_dir |
./evaluation_results/ref_hallucination_arena |
Output directory |
save_queries |
true |
Save loaded queries |
save_responses |
true |
Save model responses |
save_details |
true |
Save verification details |
report
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
enabled |
true |
Enable report generation |
language |
"zh" |
Report language: "zh" or "en" |
include_examples |
3 |
Examples per section (1–10) |
chart.enabled |
true |
Generate charts |
chart.orientation |
"vertical" |
"horizontal" or "vertical" |
chart.show_values |
true |
Show values on bars |
chart.highlight_best |
true |
Highlight best model |
Dataset format
Each query in the JSON/JSONL dataset:
{
"query": "Please recommend papers on Transformer architectures for NLP.",
"discipline": "computer_science",
"num_refs": 5,
"language": "en",
"year_constraint": {"min_year": 2020}
}
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
query |
Yes | Prompt for reference recommendation |
discipline |
No | computer_science, biomedical, physics, chemistry, social_science, interdisciplinary, other |
num_refs |
No | Expected number of references (default: 5) |
language |
No | "zh" or "en" (default: "zh") |
year_constraint |
No | {"exact": 2023}, {"min_year": 2020}, {"max_year": 2015}, or {"min_year": 2020, "max_year": 2024} |
Official dataset: OpenJudge/ref-hallucination-arena
Interpreting results
Overall accuracy (verification rate):
- > 75% — Excellent: model rarely hallucinates references
- 60–75% — Good: most references are real, some fabrication
- 40–60% — Fair: significant hallucination, use with caution
- < 40% — Poor: model frequently fabricates references
Per-field accuracy:
title_accuracy— % of titles matching real papersauthor_accuracy— % of correct author listsyear_accuracy— % of correct publication yearsdoi_accuracy— % of valid DOIs
Verification status:
VERIFIED— title + author + year all exactly match a real paperSUSPECT— partial match (e.g. title matches but authors differ)NOT_FOUND— no match in any databaseERROR— API timeout or network failure
Ranking order: overall accuracy → year compliance rate → avg confidence → completeness
Output files
evaluation_results/ref_hallucination_arena/
├── evaluation_report.md # Detailed Markdown report
├── evaluation_results.json # Rankings, per-field accuracy, scores
├── verification_chart.png # Per-field accuracy bar chart
├── discipline_chart.png # Per-discipline accuracy chart
├── queries.json # Loaded evaluation queries
├── responses.json # Raw model responses
├── extracted_refs.json # Extracted BibTeX references
├── verification_results.json # Per-reference verification details
└── checkpoint.json # Pipeline checkpoint for resume
API key by model
| Model prefix | Environment variable |
|---|---|
gpt-*, o1-*, o3-* |
OPENAI_API_KEY |
claude-* |
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY |
qwen-*, dashscope/* |
DASHSCOPE_API_KEY |
deepseek-* |
DEEPSEEK_API_KEY |
| Custom endpoint | set api_key + base_url in config |
Additional resources
- Full config examples: cookbooks/ref_hallucination_arena/examples/
- Documentation: docs/validating_graders/ref_hallucination_arena.md
- Official dataset: HuggingFace
- Leaderboard: openjudge.me/leaderboard
Recommended Agent Skills
Expand your agent's capabilities with these related and highly-rated skills.
bib-verify
Verify a BibTeX file for hallucinated or fabricated references by cross-checking every entry against CrossRef, arXiv, and DBLP. Reports each reference as verified, suspect, or not found, with field-level mismatch details (title, authors, year, DOI). Use when the user wants to check a .bib file for fake citations, validate references in a paper, or audit bibliography entries for accuracy.
openjudge
Build custom LLM evaluation pipelines using the OpenJudge framework. Covers selecting and configuring graders (LLM-based, function-based, agentic), running batch evaluations with GradingRunner, combining scores with aggregators, applying evaluation strategies (voting, average), auto-generating graders from data, and analyzing results (pairwise win rates, statistics, validation metrics). Use when the user wants to evaluate LLM outputs, compare multiple models, design scoring criteria, or build an automated evaluation system.
auto-arena
Automatically evaluate and compare multiple AI models or agents without pre-existing test data. Generates test queries from a task description, collects responses from all target endpoints, auto-generates evaluation rubrics, runs pairwise comparisons via a judge model, and produces win-rate rankings with reports and charts. Supports checkpoint resume, incremental endpoint addition, and judge model hot-swap. Use when the user asks to compare, benchmark, or rank multiple models or agents on a custom task, or run an arena-style evaluation.
paper-review
Review academic papers for correctness, quality, and novelty using OpenJudge's multi-stage pipeline. Supports PDF files and LaTeX source packages (.tar.gz/.zip). Covers 10 disciplines: cs, medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, psychology, environmental_science, mathematics, social_sciences. Use when the user asks to review, evaluate, critique, or assess a research paper, check references, or verify a BibTeX file.
claude-authenticity
Detect whether an API endpoint is backed by genuine Claude (not a wrapper, proxy, or impersonator) using 9 weighted rule-based checks that mirror the claude-verify project. Also extracts injected system prompts from providers that override Claude's identity. Fully self-contained — copy the code below and run, no extra packages beyond httpx. Use when the user wants to verify a Claude API key or endpoint, check if a third-party Claude service is authentic, audit API providers for Claude authenticity, test multiple models in parallel, or discover what system prompt a provider has injected.
rl-reward
Build RL reward signals using the OpenJudge framework. Covers choosing between pointwise and pairwise reward strategies based on RL algorithm, task type, and cost; aggregating multi-dimensional pointwise scores into a scalar reward; pairwise tournament reward for GRPO on subjective tasks (net win rate across group rollouts); generating preference pairs for DPO/RLAIF; and normalizing scores for training stability. Use when building reward models, scoring rollouts for GRPO/REINFORCE, generating preference data for DPO, or doing Best-of-N selection.
Didn't find tool you were looking for?