Help:Cite errors/Cite error group refs without references

This page will help you to fix the cite error message:

• If you have read this help page and find something missing or confusing, please discuss it at the main talk page.
• Please reference this page and the page where you have the problem so we can understand your issues.
• For basic information on the footnotes system, see Referencing for beginners; for advanced help, see Footnotes.

Overview

Further information: HELP:FOOT

When grouped references are defined, then the page must also have markup to show the reference list. The reference list is shown by including either of the following:

{{Reflist|group=groupname}}

or

{{notelist}} or one of the variants listed below.

Issues and resolution

The most obvious and simplest issue is when the reference list markup is missing. Simply add {{reflist|group=groupname}} to the end of the article under the section title "References", usually between "See also" and "External links". The $1 in the message shown above will be replaced with the groupname.

There are predefined group names that use templates for the in-text citation and for the reference list. If one of these group names is used, then the matching reference list template can be used.

Group type	Footnote marker template or markup	Reference list template	Sample labels
none by default, but optionally any	<ref>...</ref>	{{reflist}}	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
	{{r}} (for nested references)
	{{refn}} (for nested references)
lower-alpha	{{efn}} {{efn-la}}	{{notelist}} {{notelist-la}}	a b c d e f g h i j
upper-alpha	{{efn-ua}}	{{notelist-ua}}	A B C D E F G H I J
lower-roman	{{efn-lr}}	{{notelist-lr}}	i ii iii iv v vi vii viii ix x
upper-roman	{{efn-ur}}	{{notelist-ur}}	I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X
lower-greek	{{efn-lg}}	{{notelist-lg}}	α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ
note	{{NoteTag}}	{{NoteFoot}}	note 1 note 2 note 3

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Sometimes the reference list markup exists, but the message is shown because the <ref> tag immediately before the reference list markup does not have a closing </ref> or it is malformed, thus "eating" the rest of the text including the reference list. Find the last <ref> tag and ensure it is properly closed with </ref>.

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This message may also show if there are <ref>...</ref> tags after the reference list markup. Ensure all <ref>...</ref> tags are properly placed. A template such as a navbox may have <ref>...</ref> tags.

Examples

In the following example, the list of references in the group note is missing:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.<ref group="note">Reference 1</ref> Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Technical

Pages with this error message are placed into Pages with missing references list. The system message page is at Cite error group refs without references.

Bugs

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T23798

• Misleading error message for omitted </ref> tag T23798