Citations and sources
Inline citations, source previews, the SourcePanel, and reliability scoring explained.
Citations and sources
IANews generates inline citations that link every factual claim in your article back to a verifiable source. This guide explains how citations are produced, how the reliability scoring works, and how to manage citations in the editor.
How citations work
When the AI generates an article, it inserts inline references like [1], [2], [3] next to claims backed by source material. These references are rendered as interactive citation badges in both the editor and the published article.
The citation system has three visual components:
- Citation badges -- Small numbered badges placed inline next to the relevant sentence or clause.
- HoverCard -- Hover over any badge to see a popup card with the source title, publisher name, publication date, URL, a text snippet from the original article, and the reliability score.
- SourcePanel -- A panel at the bottom of the article listing every cited source, organized by citation index. Each entry shows the source platform, reliability indicator, and a direct link.
Articles generated in Agent mode typically include 8--15 citations because the full discovery process finds more sources. Gateway mode produces 2--4 citations drawn from the existing content index.
Reliability scoring
Every cited source receives a reliability score from 0 to 1.0, computed from four factors.
The four factors
| Factor | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Domain authority | How established and recognized the source domain is. Wire services (Reuters, AP) and institutional publishers (.gov, .edu) score highest. Unknown blogs score lowest. |
| Cross-referencing | Whether the same factual claim is corroborated by multiple independent sources in the article. A fact confirmed by three sources scores higher than one reported by a single outlet. |
| Content signals | Quality indicators within the source article: word count, presence of named authors, internal citations, structured headings, and absence of excessive advertising. |
| Recency | How recently the source was published. Content less than 24 hours old receives the maximum score; content older than 30 days receives a reduced score. |
These four factors are combined into a single score, with domain authority being the most influential factor.
Score interpretation
The SourcePanel displays a colored indicator next to each score:
| Score range | Label | Color | Guidance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.80 -- 1.00 | Excellent | Green | Highly authoritative and well-corroborated. Safe to cite without further verification. |
| 0.60 -- 0.79 | Good | Blue | Solid source from a recognized publisher. Generally reliable. |
| 0.40 -- 0.59 | Fair | Yellow | Acceptable but consider verifying the claim with an additional source. |
| Below 0.40 | Low | Red | Treat with caution. Consider replacing with a more authoritative source. |
Interacting with citations
Viewing citation details
Click any [N] badge in the editor to scroll the SourcePanel to the corresponding source entry. You can also hover over the badge to display the HoverCard without scrolling.
The HoverCard shows:
- Source title and publisher name
- Publication date
- Direct URL (opens in a new tab)
- A short text snippet from the original article
- The reliability score with a colored indicator
Adding a citation manually
Place your cursor
Position the cursor at the exact point in the text where you want to insert a citation reference.
Open the citation dialog
Click the Add Citation button in the toolbar, or type the /cite slash command on the line.
Enter the source URL
Paste the source URL. IANews fetches the page metadata and auto-fills the title, publisher name, and publication date. You can edit any field manually before inserting.
Insert
Click Insert. A new numbered badge appears at the cursor position, and the source is appended to the SourcePanel. Existing badge numbers are renumbered automatically to maintain a continuous sequence.
Removing a citation
Click a citation badge to select it, then press Backspace or choose Remove from the context menu. The badge is deleted, and remaining citations renumber to fill the gap.
Reordering citations
Citations are numbered in the order they first appear in the article body. If you move a paragraph containing [3] above a paragraph containing [1], the numbering updates automatically when you save.
Citations are preserved when you publish to any target platform -- WordPress, Ghost, NextJS Direct, Medium, LinkedIn, or webhooks. IANews formats them according to each platform's conventions: footnotes for WordPress, inline links for Medium, and structured JSON for webhooks.
Verifying sources
Before publishing, review your article's sources for accuracy:
- Open the SourcePanel at the bottom of the editor.
- Check each source's reliability score. Pay attention to any marked as Fair or Low.
- Click the source URL to visit the original page and verify the cited claim.
- Replace low-reliability citations by removing the badge and inserting a new one from a more authoritative source.
- Ensure no two citations point to the same URL -- duplicates are flagged with a warning icon.
What's next?
- Generation modes -- Learn how Agent mode produces richer citations than Gateway mode
- SEO optimization -- Well-cited articles with structured headings rank better
- Explore trends -- Find trending topics backed by strong source material