afrise/academic-search-mcp-server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables searching and retrieving academic paper information from multiple sources.
The server provides LLMs with:
Real-time academic paper search functionality
Access to paper metadata and abstracts
Ability to retrieve full-text content when available
Structured data responses following the MCP specification
While primarily designed for integration with Anthropic's Claude Desktop client, the MCP specification allows for potential compatibility with other AI models and clients that support tool/function calling capabilities (e.g. OpenAI's API).
Note: This software is under active development. Features and functionality are subject to change.
## Features
This server exposes the following tools:
search_papers: Search for academic papers across multiple sources
Parameters:
query (str): Search query text
limit (int, optional): Maximum number of results to return (default: 10)
Returns: Formatted string containing paper details
fetch_paper_details: Retrieve detailed information for a specific paper
Parameters:
paper_id (str): Paper identifier (DOI or Semantic Scholar ID)
source (str, optional): Data source ("crossref" or "semantic_scholar", default: "crossref")
Returns: Formatted string with comprehensive paper metadata including:
Title, authors, year, DOI
Venue, open access status, PDF URL (Semantic Scholar only)
Abstract and TL;DR summary (when available)
search_by_topic: Search for papers by topic with optional date range filter
Parameters:
topic (str): Search query text (limited to 300 characters)
year_start (int, optional): Start year for date range
year_end (int, optional): End year for date range
limit (int, optional): Maximum number of results to return (default: 10)
Returns: Formatted string containing search results including:
Paper titles, authors, and years
Abstracts and TL;DR summaries when available
Venue and open access information
## Setup
### Installing via Smithery
To install Academic Paper Search Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:
bash
npx -y @smithery/cli install @afrise/academic-search-mcp-server --client claude
note this method is largely untested, as their server seems to be having trouble. you can follow the standalone instructions until smithery gets fixed.
### Installing via uv (manual install):
1. Install dependencies:
sh
uv add "mcp[cli]" httpx
2. Set up required API keys in your environment or .env file:
sh
# These are not actually implemented
SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY=your_key_here
CROSSREF_API_KEY=your_key_here # Optional but recommended
3. Run the server:
sh
uv run server.py
## Usage with Claude Desktop
1. Add the server to your Claude Desktop configuration (claude_desktop_config.json):
json
"mcpServers": {
"academic-search": {
"command": "uv",
"args": ["run ", "/path/to/server/server.py"],
"env": {
"SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "your_key_here",
"CROSSREF_API_KEY": "your_key_here"