Citations are not in the rewrite bill

When you revise after an AI detection report, reference lists and in-text citations should usually stay put. HumanPen aims to leave citation strings, reference entries, and bibliography blocks out of the paid rewrite scope—you are billed for continuous prose that was actually rewritten, not for every token in the file.

Why that matters

1. Citation strings are fragile: changing “Smith, 2021” can break a claim chain or a style guide.
2. Bibliography lines are rarely “AI-flagged continuous prose”; washing them wastes budget and risk.
3. Numbers tied to sources (sample sizes, p-values quoted from papers) belong with the citation, not in a free rewrite pass.

Where HumanPen fits

HumanPen is a document-level polish tool by Charles Li’s product team: import a Turnitin or iThenticate AI report (or select spans), rewrite only flagged continuous prose, and keep layout, references, formulas, and numbers as intact as possible. Billing follows rewritten words. Product pages describe a free re-run path when remaining flagged spans stay above a stated threshold after a check—that is a product workflow, not a guarantee of any score.

Overview: humanpen.net · lnk.bio/humanpen

What this is not

This note describes a document-level rewrite workflow for your own writing. It is not a promise of any detector score, institutional outcome, or policy pass. Follow your school or journal rules.