For universities, schools & examination offices

AI invents sources. Your examiners have to find them.

Students now generate work with AI – complete with fabricated, misattributed, or overstated citations. Acurio checks the citation fidelity of whole batches of theses: does every claim actually match the source it cites? Automatically, traceably, in minutes instead of days.

Request a pilot for your institution See the free Quick-Check
EU hosting (Germany)GDPR-compliantYour data is never used for training
app.acurio.ch/run/cognitive-load 12 citations
dissertation_v3.docx · 24,608 words
Chapter 2 — Theoretical Foundations
Supported Partial Unsupported
Page 18 · §2.3

Recent meta-analyses show a marked reduction in cognitive load under guided feedback (Müller & Chen, 2021). The effect is most stable in cohorts above n=120, though long-term effects across language groups remain inconsistent (Vega, 2019). Several authors claim a complete elimination of the test plateau in adults (Hartmann, 2018) — a finding our re-analysis cannot reproduce.

Unsupported Sim 0.18

“No comparable statement found in Hartmann 2018. The closest passage cites a 4% improvement (p. 88) — no plateau elimination.”

Hartmann 2018 · checked pp. 86–94
67%Supported
Supported8
Partial2
Unsupported2

This is how an Acurio report reads: every citation color-coded, with a verdict and the exact source passage — right in the document.

The risk

Plagiarism checking is solved. Fabricated evidence isn’t.

Plagiarism tools find copied text. They do not find whether a source even exists, whether it actually supports the claim, or whether it was attributed correctly. Acurio asks a different question.

Plagiarism software asks

Was this text copied from somewhere?

Finds text similarity.

Compares against the web.

Acurio asks

Does the cited source really say what's claimed here?

Finds fabricated, misattributed, and overstated citations.

Compares each claim against the uploaded source.

Acurio doesn't replace your plagiarism check — it closes the gap that one leaves open.

// The effort

Checking the citation fidelity of a single thesis by hand easily costs several hours. At 30, 100, or 400 theses a semester it isn't feasible — which is precisely why it doesn't get done.

Checking effort per thesis
By hand several hours
With Acurio minutes
How it works

From batch to report — in four steps

Step 01

Upload

Drop in theses (.docx / .tex) and their sources (PDF / RIS / BibTeX), in batches.

Step 02

Match

Acurio extracts every citation and the claim behind it, then locates the relevant passage in the source.

Step 03

Judge

Each claim gets a traceable verdict: supported, partial, unsupported — with the exact passage.

Step 04

Report

One clear report per thesis, flagged passages first. Examiners read minutes instead of hours.

No workflow overhaul. No training. If you can upload a file, you can run Acurio.

For examiners & supervisors · the users

Fewer hours. More certainty.

Flagged first.

The report surfaces the few problematic citations — you don't re-read the whole thesis.

Evidence, not gut feel.

Every verdict carries the exact source passage. Defensible to students and examination boards.

“Not checked” ≠ “wrong”.

Where a source is missing, Acurio says so clearly — instead of falsely marking a claim unsupported.

Fix in view.

Flagged passages can be reviewed in place and the thesis marked as checked.

For the integrity office / dean · the buyers

One standard across the whole unit.

Consistency.

Every thesis is checked to the same standard, regardless of who supervised it.

Seats & departments.

Licenses per chair, institute, or faculty; centrally managed.

Scales with the semester.

Batches from dozens to hundreds of theses during submission waves — without extra headcount.

Privacy that holds up.

EU hosting (Germany), GDPR-compliant, your content is never used for model training.

Outcomes

What your institution gets

Integrity protected

Fabricated and misattributed citations surface before a grade is awarded.

Hours recovered

What took hours per thesis takes minutes.

Defensible decisions

Every verdict backed by a concrete source passage — robust on appeal.

Uniform standard

The same bar across every supervisor.

Proof

Four failure types no plagiarism tool sees

Fabricated source

Doesn't exist. Acurio finds no match.

Misattribution

Source exists but says something else.

Overstatement

Source supports a weaker claim than asserted.

Retracted

Source has been retracted / corrected.

Report · Müller, M. (2024)Page 14 / 88

Early language support has measurable effects on later educational success. Children with targeted support consistently achieve significantly higher completion rates (Weber 2021, p. 213). This association holds even after controlling for socioeconomic factors.

9 supported 1 partial 2 unsupported
Verdict Partially supported
Claim in the text

“…consistently achieve significantly higher completion rates.”

Source passage · Weber 2021, p. 213

“In two of the four cohorts there was a positive but not consistently significant association.”

The source supports a weaker claim than the text asserts — overstatement.

Anonymized example · not a real thesis

Privacy & security

Your theses stay yours.

Acurio is built as a lab instrument, not a data vacuum. Content never leaves the European legal area and never flows into model training.

EU data residency (Germany)

Hosted in the EU, GDPR-compliant.

No training

Uploaded theses and sources are never used to train models.

Controlled access

Content is bound to your institution account.

Pricing / pilot

Start with a pilot.

Run Acurio against a real submission batch from your department — with actual theses and sources — before you commit.

Batch-process whole submission waves.docx / .tex · PDF / RIS / BibTeXOne report per thesis, flagged passages firstEU hosting, no training use
Department · Faculty · Institution-wide
Licenses & pricing on request
Request a pilot
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Does Acurio replace our plagiarism check?
No. It answers a different question – citation fidelity – and complements your existing plagiarism solution.
Which file formats?
Theses as .docx or .tex; sources as PDF, RIS, or BibTeX (e.g. a Zotero export).
Do we need the original sources?
For the full citation-fidelity check, yes – Acurio compares against the uploaded sources. Without a source, a passage is clearly marked “not checked,” never falsely flagged as unsupported.
Where does our data live?
EU (Germany), GDPR-compliant. Never used for model training.
How many theses at once?
Batch processing, built for whole-department submission waves.
How accurate is it?
Acurio gives a traceable verdict with a source passage per claim. It doesn't replace the examiner's academic judgment – it leads them to the passages that need one.

Check a whole batch before you check it by hand.

Book a pilot with a real submission batch from your department.

Request a pilot Try the free Quick-Check