ScholarScope MCP

Instructions

Implementation Reference

• src/server.py:394-453 (handler)

  The main handler function for the 'works_citing_paper' tool. It is decorated with @mcp.tool for registration and implements the logic to fetch works citing a given paper from the OpenAlex API using the filter 'cites:{paper_id}', with pagination and sorting.

  async def works_citing_paper(
          paper_id: str,
          sort_by: Literal["cited_by_count", "publication_date"] = "cited_by_count",
          page: int = 1,
  ) -> PageResult:
      """
      Retrieves works that cite a given paper from the OpenAlex API.
  
      Args:
          paper_id: An OpenAlex Work ID of target paper. e.g., "https://openalex.org/W123456789"
          sort_by: The sorting criteria ("cited_by_count", or "publication_date").
          page: The page number of the results to retrieve (default: 1).
  
      Returns:
          A JSON object containing a list of papers+ids citing the specific paper, or an error message if the retrieval fails.
      """
      params = {
          "filter": f"cites:{paper_id}",
          "sort": f"{sort_by}:desc",
          "page": page,
          "per_page": 10,
      }
  
      # Fetches search results from the OpenAlex API
      async with RequestAPI("https://api.openalex.org", default_params={"mailto": OPENALEX_MAILTO}) as api:
          logger.info(f"Searching for works citing paper using: paper_id={paper_id}, sort_by={sort_by}, page={page}")
          try:
              result = await api.aget("/works", params=params)
  
              # Returns a message for when the search results are empty
              if result is None or len(result.get("results", []) or []) == 0:
                  error_message = f"No cites found for paper_id={paper_id}."
                  logger.info(error_message)
                  raise ToolError(error_message)
  
              # Successfully returns the searched papers
              works = Work.from_list(result.get("results", []) or [])
              success_message = f"Found {len(works)} cites to paper_id={paper_id}."
              logger.info(success_message)
  
              total_count = (result.get("meta", {}) or {}).get("count")
              if total_count and total_count > params["per_page"] * params["page"]:
                  has_next = True
              else:
                  has_next = None
              return PageResult(
                  data=Work.list_to_json(works),
                  total_count=total_count,
                  per_page=params["per_page"],
                  page=params["page"],
                  has_next=has_next
              )
          except httpx.HTTPStatusError as e:
              error_message = f"Request failed with status: {e.response.status_code}"
              logger.error(error_message)
              raise ToolError(error_message)
          except httpx.RequestError as e:
              error_message = f"Network error: {str(e)}"
              logger.error(error_message)
              raise ToolError(error_message)