diff --git a/journals/forms.py b/journals/forms.py
index d173a344773c53a27ea61e613631c63cdf7b8edc..eb54e4deb587df7ccbc6bbb533d2eb6450988883 100644
--- a/journals/forms.py
+++ b/journals/forms.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import re
+
 from django import forms
 from django.utils import timezone
 
@@ -45,6 +47,20 @@ class CitationListBibitemsForm(forms.Form):
         self.fields['latex_bibitems'].widget.attrs.update(
             {'rows': 30, 'cols': 50, 'placeholder': 'Paste the .tex bibitems here'})
 
+    def extract_dois(self):
+        entries_list = self.cleaned_data['latex_bibitems']
+        entries_list = re.sub(r'(?m)^\%.*\n?', '', entries_list)
+        entries_list = entries_list.split('\doi{')
+        dois = []
+        nentries = 1
+        for entry in entries_list[1:]:  # drop first bit before first \doi{
+            dois.append(
+                {'key': 'ref' + str(nentries),
+                 'doi': entry.partition('}')[0], }
+            )
+            nentries += 1
+        return dois
+
 
 class FundingInfoForm(forms.Form):
     funding_statement = forms.CharField(widget=forms.Textarea())
diff --git a/journals/views.py b/journals/views.py
index 9ed655acb42b1b6bbcf314725c38a4ac00b18fd1..c901e579b419c757e395de4d9054f3b1ef467a33 100644
--- a/journals/views.py
+++ b/journals/views.py
@@ -372,15 +372,7 @@ def create_citation_list_metadata(request, doi_label):
     if request.method == 'POST':
         bibitems_form = CitationListBibitemsForm(request.POST, request.FILES)
         if bibitems_form.is_valid():
-            publication.metadata['citation_list'] = []
-            entries_list = bibitems_form.cleaned_data['latex_bibitems'].split('\doi{')
-            nentries = 1
-            for entry in entries_list[1:]:  # drop first bit before first \doi{
-                publication.metadata['citation_list'].append(
-                    {'key': 'ref' + str(nentries),
-                     'doi': entry.partition('}')[0], }
-                )
-                nentries += 1
+            publication.metadata['citation_list'] = bibitems_form.extract_dois()
             publication.save()
     bibitems_form = CitationListBibitemsForm()
     context = {