Semantic Scholar MCP Server

Instructions

Get detailed information about a specific author.

Args:
    author_id: Author ID
    fields: Comma-separated list of fields to return

Returns:
    Detailed author information

Implementation Reference

• src/semantic_scholar_mcp/server.py:336-387 (handler)

  The handler function for the get_author tool. It is decorated with @mcp.tool() which handles both implementation and registration in FastMCP. Retrieves author details via Semantic Scholar API and formats output including recent papers.

  @mcp.tool()
  async def get_author(author_id: str, fields: Optional[str] = None) -> str:
      """
      Get detailed information about a specific author.
  
      Args:
          author_id: Author ID
          fields: Comma-separated list of fields to return
  
      Returns:
          Detailed author information
      """
      params = {}
      if fields:
          params["fields"] = fields
      else:
          params["fields"] = "authorId,name,paperCount,citationCount,hIndex,papers"
  
      result = await make_api_request(f"author/{author_id}", params)
  
      if result is None:
          return "Error: Failed to fetch author"
  
      if "error" in result:
          return f"Error: {result['error']}"
  
      author = result
      name = author.get("name", "Unknown Name")
      author_id = author.get("authorId", "")
      paper_count = author.get("paperCount", 0)
      citation_count = author.get("citationCount", 0)
      h_index = author.get("hIndex", 0)
  
      papers = author.get("papers", [])
  
      result_text = f"""Name: {name}
  Author ID: {author_id}
  Total Papers: {paper_count}
  Total Citations: {citation_count}
  H-Index: {h_index}
  
  Recent Papers ({len(papers)} shown):"""
  
      if papers:
          for i, paper in enumerate(papers[:10], 1):
              title = paper.get("title", "Unknown Title")
              year = paper.get("year", "Unknown")
              citations = paper.get("citationCount", 0)
              result_text += f"\n{i}. {title} ({year}) - {citations} citations"
  
      return result_text

• src/semantic_scholar_mcp/server.py:94-102 (helper)

  Helper function used in author-related tools to format author information for display.

  def format_author(author: Dict[str, Any]) -> str:
      """Format an author for display."""
      name = author.get("name", "Unknown Name")
      author_id = author.get("authorId", "")
      paper_count = author.get("paperCount", 0)
      citation_count = author.get("citationCount", 0)
      h_index = author.get("hIndex", 0)
  
      return f"Name: {name}\nAuthor ID: {author_id}\nPapers: {paper_count}\nCitations: {citation_count}\nH-Index: {h_index}"

• src/semantic_scholar_mcp/server.py:24-70 (helper)

  General helper function used by get_author to make API requests to Semantic Scholar, handling errors and authentication.

  async def make_api_request(
      endpoint: str, params: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None, method: str = "GET"
  ) -> Optional[Dict[str, Any]]:
      """Make a request to the Semantic Scholar API."""
      url = f"{BASE_URL}/{endpoint.lstrip('/')}"
  
      headers = {
          "Accept": "application/json",
          "User-Agent": f"semantic-scholar-mcp/{USER_AGENT_VERSION}",
      }
  
      if API_KEY:
          headers["x-api-key"] = API_KEY
  
      try:
          async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=API_TIMEOUT) as client:
              if method == "GET":
                  response = await client.get(url, headers=headers, params=params)
              elif method == "POST":
                  response = await client.post(url, headers=headers, json=params)
              else:
                  raise ValueError(f"Unsupported HTTP method: {method}")
  
              response.raise_for_status()
              return response.json()
  
      except httpx.HTTPStatusError as e:
          if e.response.status_code == 403:
              if not API_KEY:
                  return {
                      "error": "Rate limit exceeded. The shared public rate limit (1000 req/sec) may be exceeded. Get a free API key from https://www.semanticscholar.org/product/api for dedicated limits."
                  }
              else:
                  return {
                      "error": f"API key may be invalid or rate limit exceeded: {str(e)}"
                  }
          elif e.response.status_code == 429:
              return {
                  "error": "Rate limit exceeded. Please wait a moment and try again, or get an API key for dedicated higher limits."
              }
          else:
              return {"error": f"HTTP error: {str(e)}"}
      except httpx.HTTPError as e:
          return {"error": f"HTTP error: {str(e)}"}
      except Exception as e:
          return {"error": f"Request failed: {str(e)}"}