diff --git a/src/sparql/report/report_profile.txt b/src/sparql/report/report_profile.txt
index bf0989785..18881342b 100644
--- a/src/sparql/report/report_profile.txt
+++ b/src/sparql/report/report_profile.txt
@@ -24,5 +24,6 @@ WARN	file:./src/sparql/report/mixup_xref_synonym.rq
 WARN	missing_definition
 INFO	file:./src/sparql/report/invalid_class_id.rq
 INFO	file:./src/sparql/report/missing_definition_xref.rq
+INFO	file:./src/sparql/report/xref_is_url.rq
 INFO	lowercase_definition
 INFO	missing_superclass
diff --git a/src/sparql/report/xref_is_url.rq b/src/sparql/report/xref_is_url.rq
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e352db8fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sparql/report/xref_is_url.rq
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# identifies definition xrefs (URLs) annotated on the class instead of
+# directly annotated on the definition
+
+PREFIX xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#>
+PREFIX owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#>
+PREFIX obo: <http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/>
+PREFIX oboInOwl: <http://www.geneontology.org/formats/oboInOwl#>
+
+SELECT DISTINCT ?entity ?property ?value
+WHERE {
+	VALUES ?property { oboInOwl:hasDbXref }
+	?entity a owl:Class ;
+		?property ?value .
+
+	FILTER(REGEX(?value, "https?:"))
+	FILTER NOT EXISTS { ?entity owl:deprecated "true"^^xsd:boolean }
+}