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MCP-scopus

MCP-scopus

MCP-Scopus

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for searching academic papers on Scopus - helping AI assistants write papers without hallucinating citations.

MIT License Node.js Docker

Why This Matters

When AI assistants write academic papers or research content, they often hallucinate citations - inventing papers that don't exist, misattributing authors, or fabricating DOIs. This MCP server solves that problem by giving AI direct access to real academic data from Scopus, the world's largest abstract and citation database.

The Problem

  • AI hallucinates non-existent papers

  • Fabricated author names and affiliations

  • Invented DOIs and citation counts

  • Outdated or incorrect publication data

The Solution

  • Real papers from Scopus database

  • Accurate author information

  • Verified DOIs and citation metrics

  • Up-to-date publication details

Related MCP server: Strato Scopus MCP

Features

Paper Search & Retrieval

  • search_papers - Search by keywords, title, author, abstract, year range

  • search_papers_advanced - Structured search combining author, journal, affiliation, keywords, year range, and document type without needing Scopus query syntax

  • get_paper_by_id - Get full details by Scopus ID

  • get_paper_by_doi - Retrieve paper by DOI (full metadata including authors, affiliations, keywords)

  • get_abstract - Fetch paper abstracts

Author Information

  • search_authors - Find authors by name

  • get_author_by_id - Get author profile with h-index, citations, subject areas, and top co-authors

  • get_author_publications - List all publications by an author

Citation Analysis

  • get_citations - Papers citing a specific work

  • get_references - Bibliography of a paper (with pagination warnings for large reference lists)

  • get_citation_overview - Year-by-year citation breakdown for a paper

Journal & Venue Intelligence

  • get_journal_info - Get journal metrics: CiteScore, SJR, SNIP, subject areas

  • search_journals - Search for journals by name, get ISSN and metadata

  • search_by_affiliation - Find papers by university/organization (with year filtering)

  • search_by_subject_area - Search within ASJC subject area codes for domain-specific literature reviews


Installation

Prerequisites

Step 1: Clone & Build

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/andri-setiawan/MCP-scopus.git
cd MCP-scopus

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

# Run tests
npm test

Step 2: Get Scopus API Key

  1. Visit Elsevier Developer Portal

  2. Create a free account

  3. Apply for API access

  4. Select "Scopus Search API"

  5. You'll receive an API key via email

Note: Free API keys have rate limits. For production use, consider a paid subscription.


Configuration (Choose One)

Most stable and reliable method. Uses stdio transport directly without network overhead.

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scopus": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/path/to/MCP-scopus/dist/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SCOPUS_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Config file locations:

OS

Path

Windows

%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

macOS

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Linux

~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Example: Windows Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scopus": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "D:\\Documents\\MCP-scopus\\dist\\index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SCOPUS_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Example: macOS/Linux Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scopus": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/home/username/MCP-scopus/dist/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SCOPUS_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Aspect

Direct Node.js

HTTP/SSE (Docker)

Stability

Best

Good

Latency

Lower

Higher

Connection

Direct stdio

Network-based

Timeouts

No issues

Possible

Docker Required

No

Yes

Setup Complexity

Simple

More complex


Option B: Docker + HTTP/SSE (Alternative)

If you prefer containerization or need remote access:

# Build the image
docker build -t mcp-scopus .

# Run the container
docker run -d \
  --name mcp-scopus \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 5566:5566 \
  -e SCOPUS_API_KEY=your_api_key_here \
  mcp-scopus

Claude Desktop Configuration (HTTP)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scopus": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "http://localhost:5566/sse"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Docker Management

docker logs mcp-scopus      # View logs
docker restart mcp-scopus   # Restart container
docker stop mcp-scopus      # Stop container
docker start mcp-scopus     # Start container

Usage Examples

Once configured, restart Claude Desktop and try:

"Search for recent papers about transformer architectures in NLP"
"Find papers by Geoffrey Hinton from the last 5 years"
"What papers cite the attention is all you need paper?"
"Get details about paper with DOI 10.1016/j.example.2023.01.001"
"Find publications from Stanford University about machine learning"
"What are the metrics for the journal Nature (ISSN 0028-0836)?"
"Search for conference papers about LLMs published between 2023 and 2024"
"Show me the citation trajectory of paper 2-s2.0-85012345678"
"Find papers in Computer Science (ASJC 1700) about reinforcement learning"

Search Syntax

The server supports Scopus advanced query syntax:

machine learning AND PUBYEAR > 2023
TITLE(deep learning) AND AUTHOR(lecun)
ABS(neural networks) AND KEY(transformer)
SRCTITLE(Nature) AND PUBYEAR = 2024

Or use search_papers_advanced for structured queries without learning Scopus syntax:

keywords: "transformer", author: "vaswani", journal: "NeurIPS", yearFrom: 2017, documentType: "conference-paper"

Available Tools

Tool

Description

search_papers

Search papers by query with filters and year range

search_papers_advanced

Structured multi-field search (author, journal, affiliation, keywords, year, doc type)

get_paper_by_id

Get paper details by Scopus ID

get_paper_by_doi

Get paper details by DOI (full metadata)

get_abstract

Get paper abstract

search_authors

Search for authors

get_author_by_id

Get author profile with co-authors

get_author_publications

List author's papers

get_citations

Get citing papers

get_references

Get paper's references

get_citation_overview

Year-by-year citation breakdown

get_journal_info

Journal metrics: CiteScore, SJR, SNIP

search_journals

Search journals by name

search_by_affiliation

Search by institution (with year filter)

search_by_subject_area

Search by ASJC subject code


API Reference

search_papers

{
  query: string,           // Required: Search query
  count?: number,          // Default: 10, Max: 200
  start?: number,          // For pagination
  sortBy?: string,         // 'relevance' | 'date' | 'citedby-count' | 'pub-name'
  sortOrder?: string,      // 'asc' | 'desc'
  yearFrom?: number,       // Filter from year (e.g., 2020)
  yearTo?: number          // Filter to year (e.g., 2024)
}

search_papers_advanced

{
  keywords?: string,       // Keywords for title/abstract/keywords search
  author?: string,         // Author name
  affiliation?: string,    // Institution name
  journal?: string,        // Source/journal title
  yearFrom?: number,       // Start year
  yearTo?: number,         // End year
  documentType?: string,   // 'article' | 'review' | 'conference-paper' | etc.
  count?: number,          // Default: 10
  sortBy?: string,         // Sort field
  sortOrder?: string       // Sort order
}

get_journal_info

{
  issn: string             // Required: ISSN of the journal
}

get_citation_overview

{
  scopusId: string         // Required: Scopus ID of the paper
}

search_by_subject_area

{
  subjectCode: string,     // Required: ASJC code (e.g., '1700' for Computer Science)
  keywords?: string,       // Additional keywords
  yearFrom?: number,       // Start year
  yearTo?: number,         // End year
  count?: number,          // Default: 10
  sortBy?: string,         // Sort field
  sortOrder?: string       // Sort order
}

Architecture

src/
  index.ts          # Stdio MCP server (recommended)
  http-server.ts    # HTTP/SSE MCP server (alternative)
  handlers.ts       # All tool execution logic (shared)
  tools.ts          # Tool definitions and schemas (shared)
  formatters.ts     # Response formatting helpers (shared)
  client.ts         # Scopus API client with rate limiting (shared)
  schemas.ts        # Zod input validation schemas (shared)
  types.ts          # TypeScript interfaces for Scopus API responses
  __tests__/        # Test suite

Both transport modes share identical logic via the registerHandlers() function, so any bug fix or feature applies to both.


Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build TypeScript
npm run build

# Run tests
npm test

# Watch tests
npm run test:watch

# Run in development mode (stdio)
npm run dev

# Run HTTP server
npm run start:http

Project Structure

MCP-scopus/
  src/
    index.ts          # Stdio MCP server (recommended)
    http-server.ts    # HTTP/SSE MCP server (alternative)
    handlers.ts       # Shared tool execution logic
    tools.ts          # Shared tool definitions
    formatters.ts     # Response formatters
    client.ts         # API client with rate limiting
    schemas.ts        # Zod validation schemas
    types.ts          # TypeScript interfaces
    __tests__/        # Test files
  dist/               # Compiled JavaScript
  Dockerfile
  docker-compose.yml
  package.json
  tsconfig.json
  vitest.config.ts
  README.md

Troubleshooting

Connection Timeout Errors

If you see timeout errors with HTTP/SSE, switch to Option A (Direct Node.js) - it's more stable.

API Key Issues

# Test your API key
curl -H "X-ELS-APIKey: your_key" "https://api.elsevier.com/content/search/scopus?query=test"

Rate Limiting (429 Errors)

The server automatically retries on 429 responses with exponential backoff. If you still see issues, reduce your count parameter or space out requests.

Container Won't Start

# Check logs
docker logs mcp-scopus

# Rebuild
docker stop mcp-scopus && docker rm mcp-scopus
docker build -t mcp-scopus . --no-cache
docker run -d --name mcp-scopus -p 5566:5566 -e SCOPUS_API_KEY=your_key mcp-scopus

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.


Acknowledgments


Disclaimer

This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Elsevier or Scopus. Scopus is a registered trademark of Elsevier B.V. Use of the Scopus API is subject to Elsevier's terms of service.

Available Tools

15 tools
get_abstractB

Retrieve the abstract of a specific paper using its Scopus ID.

Inputs: scopusId (required).

get_author_by_idA

Retrieve detailed information about a specific author using their Scopus Author ID, including h-index, citation count, subject areas, and top co-authors.

Inputs: authorId (required).

get_author_publicationsC

Retrieve a list of publications by a specific author using their Scopus Author ID.

Inputs: authorId (required), count, start, sortBy, +1 more.

get_citation_overviewA

Get a citation overview for a specific paper including total citations and yearly citation breakdown. Useful for understanding the impact trajectory of a paper.

Inputs: scopusId (required).

get_citationsB

Retrieve the list of papers that cite a specific paper using its Scopus ID.

Inputs: scopusId (required), count, start.

get_journal_infoB

Get journal metrics including CiteScore, SJR, SNIP, and subject area classifications. Essential for evaluating publication venues.

Inputs: issn (required).

get_paper_by_doiA

Retrieve detailed information about a specific paper using its DOI (Digital Object Identifier). Returns full metadata including authors, affiliations, keywords, and subject areas.

Inputs: doi (required).

get_paper_by_idC

Retrieve detailed information about a specific paper using its Scopus EID or Scopus ID.

Inputs: scopusId (required), field.

get_referencesB

Retrieve the list of references (bibliography) of a specific paper using its Scopus ID.

Inputs: scopusId (required), count, start.

search_authorsA

Search for authors on Scopus by name. Returns author profiles with affiliations, publication counts, citation counts, and h-index.

Inputs: query (required), count, start.

search_by_affiliationC

Search for papers from a specific institution/affiliation.

Inputs: affiliationName (required), count, start, yearTo, +1 more.

search_by_subject_areaA

Search for papers within a specific ASJC (All Science Journal Classification) subject area code. Useful for domain-specific literature reviews.

Inputs: subjectCode (required), count, start, sortBy, +4 more.

search_journalsA

Search for journals/serial titles by name. Returns ISSN, publisher info, and links to full metrics.

Inputs: query (required), count, start.

search_papersA

Search for academic papers on Scopus by keywords, title, author, or other criteria. Returns a list of matching papers with metadata including title, authors, abstract, citations, DOI, and more. Supports Scopus advanced query syntax like TITLE(), ABS(), AUTHOR(), KEY(), SRCTITLE(), PUBYEAR.

Inputs: query (required), count, field, start, +4 more.

search_papers_advancedB

Structured advanced search combining multiple criteria without needing Scopus query syntax. Build complex searches by specifying author, keywords, journal, affiliation, year range, and document type separately.

Inputs: count, start, author, sortBy, +7 more.

Tool Schema Changelog

Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Loading tool schema changelog…

    TDQS

    A3.5/5.0

    Scored across 15 tools

    Disambiguation4/5

    Most tools have clearly distinct purposes, but search_papers and search_papers_advanced overlap in searching papers with different interfaces, and get_paper_by_id may overlap with get_abstract if the former returns abstracts. Descriptions help clarify boundaries, but minor confusion is possible.

    Naming Consistency4/5

    All tool names use snake_case with consistent get_ and search_ prefixes, following a predictable verb_noun pattern. Minor inconsistency exists between search_by_affiliation/search_by_subject_area and search_papers/search_authors, but this is a small deviation.

    Tool Count5/5

    15 tools is well-scoped for a Scopus API wrapper, covering search, retrieval, citations, and journals without excessive redundancy. Each tool provides a distinct service, and the count fits the domain's needs.

    Completeness4/5

    The surface covers paper, author, and journal search and retrieval, plus citations, references, and citation overview. Minor gaps include direct retrieval of author citation lists or journal details by ISSN, but these can be worked around via existing search tools.

    Maintenance

    ActivityInactive
    ResponsivenessNo recent community issues

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