A
licenseB
qualityD
maintenanceEnables searching and retrieving academic papers from arXiv by various criteria including title, author, and category, with support for extracting full text content from PDFs.
4
MIT
mcp-scholaris
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., "@mcp-scholaris search for papers on reinforcement learning"
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.
# mcp-scholaris
An MCP server for retrieving academic papers from open access sources. Provides search across arXiv, Semantic Scholar, and PubMed, with full text retrieval via arXiv PDFs, PubMed Central (BioC API), and Unpaywall. No paywalls, no grey area — legitimate open access only.
Installation
pip install mcp-scholarisRelated MCP server: Academic MCP
Tools
search_papers
Search for academic papers by topic, author, or keyword.
Parameters:
query(required) — search termssources(optional) — list of sources to search:arxiv,semantic_scholar,pubmed. Defaults to all three.max_results(optional) — maximum results per source. Defaults to 5.
fetch_paper
Fetch the full text of a paper. Tries open access sources in order: arXiv → PubMed Central → Unpaywall. Provide at least one identifier.
Parameters:
arxiv_id— e.g.2301.00001orarxiv:2301.00001pubmed_id— PubMed ID (PMID), e.g.36383508doi— e.g.10.1371/journal.pone.0276755
Configuration
Semantic Scholar works without an API key but is rate-limited. For higher limits, create a .env file in your working directory:
SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY=your_key_hereAPI keys are free at semanticscholar.org.
Usage with an MCP client
Add to your MCP client configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"scholaris": {
"command": "scholaris"
}
}
}Or run directly:
scholarisThe server communicates over stdio using the MCP protocol (JSON-RPC 2.0).
Sources
Source | Search | Full Text |
arXiv | ✓ | |
Semantic Scholar | ✓ | ✓ when OA PDF available |
PubMed | ✓ | ✓ via BioC API (PMC articles) |
Unpaywall | — | ✓ for any DOI with OA version |
License
MIT
Available Tools
2 toolsfetch_paperA
Fetch the full text of a paper given a DOI, arXiv ID, or PubMed ID. Tries open access sources in order: arXiv, PubMed Central, Unpaywall. Returns extracted text from the PDF.
Inputs: doi, arxiv_id, pubmed_id.
search_papersA
Search for academic papers across arXiv, Semantic Scholar, and PubMed. Returns titles, authors, abstracts, DOIs, and links. Use this to find papers by topic, author, or keyword.
Inputs: query (required), sources, max_results.
Tool Schema Changelog
Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
Loading tool schema changelog…
TDQS
A4.3/5.0
Scored across 2 tools
Disambiguation5/5
The two tools have clearly separate roles: search_papers is for discovery, returning metadata about papers, while fetch_paper retrieves full text for a known identifier. There is no overlap in purpose or output.
Naming Consistency5/5
Both tool names follow a consistent verb_noun snake_case pattern: search_papers and fetch_paper. The naming clearly communicates what each tool does and matches the same style.
Tool Count4/5
With only two tools, the server is on the small side, but the two operations form a natural and sufficient pair for a focused scholarly search-and-retrieval tool. Each tool is essential and earns its place.
Completeness5/5
For the stated purpose of finding academic papers and retrieving their full text, the pipeline is complete: search returns identifiers and metadata, and fetch consumes those identifiers to return content. No obvious dead ends or missing core operations exist in this read-only domain.
Maintenance
ActivityInactive
ResponsivenessNo recent community issues
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Academic research search across PubMed and arXiv
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