Public release of CERCA - Citation Extraction & Reference Checking Assistant - 1.3.0-alpha

What's New🎉

This release introduces major optimizations to improve reference verification. We've also added a brand new Settings UI to put user in control of database connections.

✨ Core Verification Engine

• Semantic Scholar Integration: Added support for Semantic Scholar's Academic Graph API.
• Polite Pool Routing: Users can now configure their email to route verification checks through OpenAlex/Crossref's priority servers, reducing timeouts.

🖥️ UI & UX Improvements

• New Settings Dialogs: Added a config menu allowing users to save their Semantic Scholar API Keys and email.
• Menus: Added "Sponsor" and "Contribute" dialogs to make it easier for the community to report bugs, request features, and share the tool.

🔒 Privacy & Performance

• Local-Only Storage: All API keys and emails are stored strictly in a local, .properties file on the user's machine.
• Smart Throttling: Built-in rate limit handling (HTTP 429) ensures the tool gracefully pauses and retries without crashing or getting the user's IP banned.*

🔑 How to Set Up Your Semantic Scholar API Key

Connecting a free Semantic Scholar API key increases your search speed.

• Step 1: Request a Free API Key:

1. Go to the Semantic Scholar API Request Form.
2. Fill out the brief form (you can mention you are using it with the open-source CERCA tool for reference verification).
3. Semantic Scholar will email your unique API key.

• Step 2: Add the Key to CERCA

1. Open CERCA and click on Settings in the top menu bar.
2. Select Semantic Scholar API Key...
3. Paste your key into the text field and click Save.

📦 How to Run

Windows

1. Download Cerca_windows.zip.
2. Unzip the file.
3. Double-click Cerca-1.2.0-alpha.jar

If Windows shows a security warning, choose More info → Run anyway.

macOS

1. Download Cerca_mac.zip.
2. Unzip it.
3. Right-click Cerca-1.2.0-alpha.jar and select Open.
   • Note: Since this is an unverified alpha app, you may need to go to System Settings > Privacy & Security to allow it to run.

Linux

1. Download Cerca_linux.zip.
2. Unzip it.
3. Open a terminal in that folder and run:

   		java -jar Cerca-1.2.0-alpha.jar   
   

🛠Requirements

CERCA is a Java desktop application built with JavaFX.

To run CERCA, you need:

• Java 17 or newer
• A Java Runtime Environment that includes JavaFX
• I recommend installing Azul Zulu JRE with JavaFX

This release provides:

• Local PDF parsing and reference extraction
• Manual Entry: Paste reference lists directly for quick checks.
• Reference verification using Crossref, Zenodo, Semantic Scholar, and OpenAlex
• Explainable diagnostics and match scores
• TXT report, CSV export, and audit log
• Local-only processing (PDFs never leave the machine)
• See README for usage and limitations.

Public release of CERCA - Citation Extraction & Reference Checking Assistant - 1.2.0-alpha

This release provides:

• Local PDF parsing and reference extraction
• Manual Entry: Paste reference lists directly for quick checks.
• Reference verification using Crossref, Zenodo, and OpenAlex
• Explainable diagnostics and match scores
• TXT report, CSV export, and audit log
• Local-only processing (PDFs never leave the machine)
• See README for usage and limitations.

📦 How to Run

Windows

1. Download Cerca_windows.zip.
2. Unzip the file.
3. Double-click Cerca-1.2.0-alpha.jar

If Windows shows a security warning, choose More info → Run anyway.

macOS

1. Download Cerca_mac.zip.
2. Unzip it.
3. Right-click Cerca-1.2.0-alpha.jar and select Open.
   • Note: Since this is an unverified alpha app, you may need to go to System Settings > Privacy & Security to allow it to run.

Linux

1. Download Cerca_linux.zip.
2. Unzip it.
3. Open a terminal in that folder and run:

   		java -jar Cerca-1.2.0-alpha.jar   
   

🛠Requirements

CERCA is a Java desktop application built with JavaFX.

To run CERCA, you need:

• Java 17 or newer
• A Java Runtime Environment that includes JavaFX
• I recommend installing Azul Zulu JRE with JavaFX

Public release of CERCA - Citation Extraction & Reference Checking Assistant - 1.1-alpha

This release provides:

• Local PDF parsing and reference extraction
• Reference verification using Crossref, Zenodo, and OpenAlex
• Explainable diagnostics and match scores
• TXT report, CSV export, and audit log
• Local-only processing (PDFs never leave the machine)
• See README for usage and limitations.

📦 How to Run

Windows

1. Download Cerca_windows.zip.
2. Unzip the file.
3. Double-click Cerca-1.1-alpha.jar.

If Windows shows a security warning, choose More info → Run anyway.

macOS

1. Download Cerca_mac.zip.
2. Unzip it.
3. Right-click Cerca-1.1-alpha.jar and select Open.
   • Note: Since this is an unverified alpha app, you may need to go to System Settings > Privacy & Security to allow it to run.

Linux

1. Download Cerca_linux.zip.
2. Unzip it.
3. Open a terminal in that folder and run:

   		java -jar Cerca-1.1-alpha.jar   
   

🛠Requirements

CERCA is a Java desktop application built with JavaFX.

To run CERCA, you need:

• Java 17 or newer
• A Java Runtime Environment that includes JavaFX
• I recommend installing Azul Zulu JRE with JavaFX

Initial public release of CERCA - Citation Extraction & Reference Checking Assistant.

This release provides:

• Local PDF parsing and reference extraction
• Reference verification using Crossref and Zenodo
• Explainable diagnostics and match scores
• TXT report, CSV export, and audit log
• Local-only processing (PDFs never leave the machine)
• See README for usage and limitations.

📦 How to Run

Windows

1. Download Cerca_windows.zip.
2. Unzip the file.
3. Double-click Cerca-1.0-alpha.jar.

If Windows shows a security warning, choose More info → Run anyway.

macOS

1. Download Cerca_mac.zip.
2. Unzip it.
3. Right-click Cerca-1.0-alpha.jar and select Open.
   • Note: Since this is an unverified alpha app, you may need to go to System Settings > Privacy & Security to allow it to run.

Linux

1. Download Cerca_linux.zip.
2. Unzip it.
3. Open a terminal in that folder and run:

   		java -jar Cerca-1.0-alpha.jar   
   

🛠Requirements

CERCA is a Java desktop application built with JavaFX.

To run CERCA, you need:

• Java 17 or newer
• A Java Runtime Environment that includes JavaFX
• I recommend installing Azul Zulu JRE with JavaFX