academic-paper-mcp (Part of DPM Research)

An open, high-performance Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that empowers AI Agents (Antigravity, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, etc.) to search, fetch, rank, cite, and download academic papers across major scholarly databases:

• 🟢 arXiv (Free, no API key required)

• 🟢 OpenAlex (Free, 250M+ scholarly works, no API key required)

• 🟢 Crossref (Free, official DOI metadata repository, no API key required)

• 🟡 Semantic Scholar (AI2 graph search, free API key optional/recommended)

• 🔵 Scopus (Elsevier) (Curated peer-reviewed index, requires API Key)

✨ Features

• 🔍 Multi-Database Search: Queries arXiv, OpenAlex, Crossref, Semantic Scholar, and Scopus (Elsevier) concurrently in real time.

• 🧹 Automatic Deduplication: Merges duplicate records by DOI, arXiv ID, or title similarity so your AI context isn't cluttered.

• 🎯 Relevance & Recency Ranking: Scores papers based on query term overlap (weighted on title and abstract), citation count (logarithmic), recency, and open access availability.

• 📝 Auto BibTeX Generation: Instantly produces valid, formatted BibTeX citations ready for LaTeX or Word documents.

• 📥 Direct PDF Downloader: Downloads open-access paper PDFs directly to your workspace for immediate agent reading and analysis.

• ⚡ Zero Setup Required: Searches work out-of-the-box immediately without needing any paid API keys.

Related MCP server: Research MCP

🛠️ Tools Exposed to AI Agents

🚀 Quick Start & Installation

You can run this MCP server via uvx directly from Git, or locally with python / uv.

1. Claude Code CLI

Add the MCP server directly using claude mcp add:

# Option A: Run directly from GitHub repository via uvx (Recommended)
claude mcp add academic-paper-mcp -s user \
  -e SCOPUS_API_KEY=your_scopus_api_key \
  -e SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY=your_s2_api_key \
  -- uvx --from git+https://github.com/rico192/academic-paper-mcp academic-paper-mcp

# Option B: Run from local directory using uv
claude mcp add academic-paper-mcp -s user -- uv --directory /path/to/academic-paper-mcp run academic-paper-mcp

# Option C: Run with local Python environment
claude mcp add academic-paper-mcp -s user -- python -m academic_paper_mcp.server

2. Google Antigravity & Gemini CLI

In your workspace or global Antigravity settings (mcp_servers.json or Antigravity Settings UI):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "academic-paper-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/rico192/academic-paper-mcp", "academic-paper-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SCOPUS_API_KEY": "",
        "SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": ""
      }
    }
  }
}

Or for a local checkout:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "academic-paper-mcp": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "academic_paper_mcp.server"],
      "cwd": "C:/path/to/academic-paper-mcp",
      "env": {
        "PYTHONPATH": "src"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Claude Desktop

Edit your Claude Desktop configuration file:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "academic-paper-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/rico192/academic-paper-mcp", "academic-paper-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SCOPUS_API_KEY": "",
        "SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": ""
      }
    }
  }
}

4. Cursor / Windsurf / Zed

In your MCP configuration file (e.g. .cursor/mcp.json or Zed settings):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "academic-paper-mcp": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "/path/to/academic-paper-mcp", "run", "academic-paper-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

⚙️ Environment Variables (Optional)

Create a .env file in the project folder if you want to configure optional API keys:

# Elsevier Scopus API Key (Get free key at: https://dev.elsevier.com)
SCOPUS_API_KEY=
# Optional: Elsevier Institutional Token for off-campus/remote access
SCOPUS_INST_TOKEN=

# Semantic Scholar API Key (Recommended to avoid rate limits: https://www.semanticscholar.org/product/api)
SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY=

# Polite pool identification for OpenAlex & Crossref (Recommended for faster response times)
OPENALEX_EMAIL=your-email@example.com
CROSSREF_EMAIL=your-email@example.com

Note: If no environment variables are provided, arXiv, OpenAlex, and Crossref will continue to work normally with 100% free public access.

💻 Local Development & Testing

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rico192/academic-paper-mcp.git
cd academic-paper-mcp

# Install dependencies with uv or pip
pip install -e .

# Run test query
python -m academic_paper_mcp.server

📄 License

MIT License. Feel free to use, modify, and distribute.