Provides tools to search and retrieve metadata for works, journals, funders, members, types, and licenses via the Crossref REST API, which is a DOI registration agency.
Click on "Deploy Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@crossref-mcp search for papers on quantum computing"
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.
Crossref REST API MCP server. Wraps the public Crossref REST API (works, journals, funders, members, types, licenses) — no API key required.
Related MCP server: paper-search-mcp
Tool | Parameters | Description |
|
| Search Crossref works (publications) |
|
| Full metadata for a single work by DOI |
|
| Registration agency for a DOI |
|
| List or search journals |
|
| Journal metadata by ISSN |
|
| Works published in a journal |
|
| List or search funding bodies |
|
| Funder metadata by Funder Registry ID |
|
| List or search Crossref members (publishers) |
| none | Available work types and licenses |
Variable | Required | Description |
| no | Email address for Crossref's "polite pool" — higher rate limits, faster responses |
Only requirement: uv (https://docs.astral.sh/uv/). Nothing else to install.
claude mcp add crossref-mcp -- uvx --from git+https://github.com/dam2452/crossref-mcp.git crossref-mcpWith the polite pool email set:
claude mcp add crossref-mcp -e CROSSREF_MCP_MAILTO=you@example.com -- uvx --from git+https://github.com/dam2452/crossref-mcp.git crossref-mcp{
"mcpServers": {
"crossref-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/dam2452/crossref-mcp.git", "crossref-mcp"],
"env": { "CROSSREF_MCP_MAILTO": "you@example.com" }
}
}
}After pushing a new version: uv cache clean and restart the client.
uv run --directory . crossref-mcpTests (manual):
uv run --directory . --with pytest pytest test/Get metadata for a single funder identified by its Funder Registry ID.
Examples: get_funder(funder_id="100000001")
Inputs: funder_id (required). Returns: object
Get metadata for a single journal identified by its ISSN.
Examples: get_journal(issn="0028-0836")
Inputs: issn (required). Returns: object
List works published in a journal identified by its ISSN.
Examples: get_journal_works(issn="0028-0836", rows=10) get_journal_works(issn="0028-0836", query="crispr", cursor="*")
Inputs: issn (required), rows, query, cursor, +2 more. Returns: object
Get full metadata for a single work identified by its DOI.
Examples: get_work(doi="10.1038/nature12373") get_work(doi="10.1001/jama.2020.7681")
Inputs: doi (required). Returns: object
Get the registration agency responsible for a given DOI.
Examples: get_work_agency(doi="10.1038/nature12373")
Inputs: doi (required). Returns: object
List or search funding bodies in the Crossref Funder Registry.
Examples: list_funders(query="national science", rows=10) list_funders(filter="location:United States", rows=5)
Inputs: rows, query, filter, offset. Returns: object
List or search Crossref journals by free-text query.
Examples: list_journals(query="nature", rows=5) list_journals(cursor="*", rows=50)
Inputs: rows, query, cursor, offset. Returns: object
List or search Crossref members (publishers).
Examples: list_members(query="elsevier", rows=5) list_members(filter="has-public-references:true", rows=10)
Inputs: rows, query, filter, offset. Returns: object
List all available Crossref work types and the licenses seen in the corpus.
Examples: list_types_and_licenses()
Inputs: no named parameters. Returns: object
Search Crossref works (publications) by free-text query and/or filters.
Use cursor="*" for deep pagination beyond 10 000 results; the response
includes next-cursor for subsequent pages. Mixing cursor with offset
is not supported — when cursor is set, offset is dropped automatically.
Examples: search_works(query="machine learning", rows=5) search_works(filter="from-pub-date:2024-01-01,until-pub-date:2024-12-31", sort="published", order="desc") search_works(query="crispr", select="DOI,title,author,published", cursor="*")
Inputs: rows, sort, order, query, +4 more. Returns: object
Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
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Scored across 10 tools
Each tool targets a unique entity or operation (funder, journal, work, member, license), with clear boundaries between general search and entity-specific lookups.
All tools follow a consistent verb_noun pattern using snake_case (e.g., get_funder, list_journals, search_works), making the action and target immediately clear.
10 tools is well-scoped for the domain of querying Crossref metadata, covering all major entity types without unnecessary redundancy.
The tool set provides get and list/search for all core entities (works, journals, funders, members) plus additional utilities (work agency, types/licenses), leaving no obvious gaps for a read-only API.
Search 150M+ academic works, journals, and funders via Crossref API.
Resolve DOIs, search ~188M scholarly works, and fetch references via the Crossref REST API.
Free scholarly paper and DOI discovery via Crossref. Self-service registration; no invitation.
Crossref MCP — wraps the Crossref REST API (academic papers, free, no auth)