diff --git a/app/models/citation_topic.rb b/app/models/citation_topic.rb
index bfed880082..6ea7813580 100644
--- a/app/models/citation_topic.rb
+++ b/app/models/citation_topic.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,15 @@
 class CitationTopic < ActiveRecord::Base
   belongs_to :topic
   belongs_to :citation
+
+  validates_presence_of :topic_id, :citation_id
+  validates_uniqueness_of :topic_id, :citation_id
+
+  before_save :trim_pages
+
+  protected
+
+  def trim_pages # pages should have content or be empty
+    self.pages = self.pages.to_str.strip
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/models/citation_spec.rb b/spec/models/citation_spec.rb
index 1e3b3cc00e..b21bd5f74b 100644
--- a/spec/models/citation_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/citation_spec.rb
@@ -19,4 +19,12 @@
     specify 'isolate and create concern citable (see identifiable concern)' 
   end
 
+  context 'Beth' do
+    context 'create a citation' do
+      # create a citation linking a specimen (collection_object?) to a source
+      # create a citation linking a nomenclatural act (what object represents this?) to a source.
+    end
+
+  end
+
 end
diff --git a/spec/models/citation_topic_spec.rb b/spec/models/citation_topic_spec.rb
index 354aeecd30..2a3796820d 100644
--- a/spec/models/citation_topic_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/citation_topic_spec.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,33 @@
 require 'spec_helper'
 
 describe CitationTopic do
+  let(:citationtopic) { CitationTopic.new }
+
   pending "add some examples to (or delete) #{__FILE__}"
+
+  context 'Beth' do
+    context 'validation' do
+      before do
+        citationtopic.valid?
+      end
+
+      context 'required fields' do
+        specify 'citation_id' do
+          expect(citationtopic.errors.include?(:citation_id)).to be_true
+        end
+
+        specify 'topic_id' do
+          expect(citationtopic.errors.include?(:topic_id)).to be_true
+        end
+      end
+
+      context 'no duplicates' do
+        # create citation
+        # create topic
+        # create cite_topic
+        # save & reload
+        # try to save again - maybe with added pages
+      end
+    end
+  end
 end