Which integrations are available for this server?

Search papers and download PDFs from arXiv. Search papers from DBLP computer science bibliography. Search papers from INSPIRE-HEP high-energy physics literature. Search papers from PubMed biomedical database. Search papers and use API from Semantic Scholar with optional API key for higher rate limits. Download PDFs from SSRN preprint server.

How do I use scholar-mcp?

1. Click on "Install Server". 2. Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state. 3. In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@scholar-mcp search papers on transformer architectures" That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed. Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.

scholar-mcp

by Liyux3

Overview Schema Related Servers Score Discussions

Python

Remote

scholar-mcp

PyPI version Python 3.10+ License: MIT MCP

Multi-source academic paper search, citation graph exploration, and PDF download as an MCP server. Designed for LLM agents doing research.

Fuses results from 9 academic sources via Reciprocal Rank Fusion, with PDF access across 10+ preprint servers.

Quick Start

Claude Code:

claude mcp add scholar -- uvx scholar-mcp

With API key (recommended, higher rate limits):

claude mcp add scholar -e S2_API_KEY=your_key -- uvx scholar-mcp

Claude Desktop (add to config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholar": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["scholar-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Requires Python 3.10+ and uv. No API key needed for basic use.

Tools

Tool	Description
`search_papers`	Multi-source search with RRF fusion. Filters: year, venue, field, citations, open access
`get_paper`	Paper details by S2 ID, DOI, ArXiv ID, PMID, or OpenAlex ID
`get_citations`	Papers citing a given paper (impact-sorted)
`get_references`	Papers referenced by a given paper
`recommend_papers`	Similar papers via SPECTER2 embeddings
`search_authors`	Researchers with h-index, affiliations, paper counts
`build_paper_graph`	Citation graph with PageRank analytics and Mermaid visualization
`search_openreview`	Conference papers (ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML)
`discover_field`	Auto-map a research field: find surveys, foundations, recent trends, build citation graph
`save_papers`	Save papers to a persistent collection for later reference
`list_saved_papers`	List or search saved paper collections (persists across sessions)
`download_paper`	Smart PDF download across 10+ sources
`read_paper`	Download + extract text from PDF

Search Sources

Source	Coverage	Strength
Semantic Scholar	214M papers	SPECTER2 semantic search
OpenAlex	250M works	Best coverage, impact-ranked citations
arXiv	CS/Math/Physics	Preprints
PubMed	36M biomedical	Medicine, biology
Europe PMC	Biomedical + EU	PubMed superset
Crossref	150M DOIs	Metadata
DBLP	CS bibliography	Conferences, proceedings
INSPIRE-HEP	High-energy physics	Particle physics
CORE	250M open access	Institutional repositories

PDF Download Chain

Semantic Scholar open access
arXiv direct
CORE (institutional repositories)
Preprint servers: bioRxiv, medRxiv, SSRN, ChemRxiv, PsyArXiv, EarthArXiv, SocArXiv, engrXiv, AgriXiv, SportRxiv, Preprints.org
Unpaywall (legal OA discovery)
PubMed Central
Sci-Hub (opt-in via SCIHUB_ENABLED=1)

Citation Graph

build_paper_graph builds an interactive citation network:

BFS expansion with velocity-weighted priority (new + influential papers first)
PageRank and betweenness centrality via networkx
Pivot/bridge paper detection
Topic filtering to keep graph focused
Mermaid output with color-coded nodes (seed, high-cite, bridge)

build_paper_graph("Attention Is All You Need", max_hops=2, max_papers=20, topic_filter="attention transformer")

Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
`S2_API_KEY`	-	Semantic Scholar API key (1 req/s)
`CORE_API_KEY`	-	CORE API key
`OPENALEX_EMAIL`	-	Email for Unpaywall + OpenAlex polite pool
`SCHOLAR_DOWNLOAD_DIR`	`./downloads`	PDF save directory
`SCIHUB_ENABLED`	`false`	Enable Sci-Hub as last-resort source

Development

git clone https://github.com/Liyux3/scholar-mcp.git
cd scholar-mcp
uv venv && uv pip install -e ".[dev]"
uv run pytest tests/                          # 42 unit tests
S2_API_KEY=... uv run python tests/smoke_test.py  # quick integration check

42 tests: relevance scoring (26), graph analytics (9), knowledge base (7).

License

MIT

Install Server

license - permissive license

quality

maintenance

How are these scores calculated?

Maintenance

–Maintainers

<1hResponse time

–Release cycle

–Releases (12mo)

Resources

GitHub Repository

Need Help?

Related Servers

Unclaimed servers have limited discoverability.

Looking for Admin?

If you are the server author, to access and configure the admin panel.

Tools

View all tools

Latest Blog Posts

Lightport: Open-Sourcing Glama's AI Gateway
By punkpeye on April 27, 2026.
open source
OpenAI
Tool Definition Quality Score (TDQS)
By punkpeye on April 3, 2026.
mcp
The Hackers Who Tracked My Sleep Cycle
By punkpeye on March 26, 2026.
security

MCP directory API

We provide all the information about MCP servers via our MCP API.

curl -X GET 'https://glama.ai/api/mcp/v1/servers/Liyux3/scholar-mcp'

If you have feedback or need assistance with the MCP directory API, please join our Discord server