Build a Citation Permanence Tool for Researchers

1. 1

   Integrate where citing already happens

   A browser extension and plugins for the dominant reference managers and writing tools, so capturing is a side effect of the citation the user was making anyway. The entire product thesis is zero extra workflow; a separate archive site is the failure mode you exist to fix.

2. 2

   Make captures verifiable and durable

   Store full-fidelity snapshots with timestamps and content hashes so a capture can prove what a page said on a date, and complement rather than compete with public archives by submitting there too where appropriate. Durability commitments and an exit-with-your-archives guarantee address the who-holds-this question institutions will ask.

3. 3

   Respect the copyright boundaries

   Archiving for citation and research sits in well-trodden fair-use-adjacent territory that established archives have mapped, but get counsel on your model: private captures for the citing researcher versus public republication have very different risk profiles. Honor robots and takedown processes with a documented policy.

4. 4

   Generate the citation formats people actually need

   Output archive-inclusive citations in the major academic styles plus legal and journalistic conventions, with the capture link and original URL paired. For law and journalism, add team libraries where a matter or story folder holds every source captured at read time.

5. 5

   Monitor for drift as the retention hook

   Alert users when a cited live page changes materially or dies, with a diff against their capture. For authors mid-project and journals post-publication, this monitoring is the recurring value that turns a one-time capture tool into a subscription.

6. 6

   Sell individual, then institutional

   Researchers and journalists start at a modest personal subscription; the real contracts are university libraries, law firms, and newsrooms buying site licenses. Librarians are your best champions, and conference presence in their world converts into pilots.

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