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:
• Go to the Semantic Scholar API Request Form.
• Fill out the brief form (you can mention you are using it with the open-source CERCA tool for reference verification).

• Semantic Scholar will email your unique API key.

• Step 2: Add the Key to CERCA

• Open CERCA and click on Settings in the top menu bar.

• Select Semantic Scholar API Key...
• 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.
4. 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: ```bash 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.