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Google Scholar

Official registry Search and web

Search Google Scholar for academic papers, citations, and author profiles.

Source code Website Documentation

What can you do with Google Scholar?

  • "Find the 10 most-cited papers on transformer architecture published since 2023"
  • "Get the author profile and h-index for Yoshua Bengio"
  • "Search Google Scholar for recent papers on RAG retrieval performance"

Install

Add this to your client's MCP configuration (Claude Desktop: claude_desktop_config.json; Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json; VS Code and others use the same "mcpServers" shape).

Remote (streamable-http)
Claude Code 
claude mcp add --transport http google-scholar 'https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=johnvc/google-scholar-api' --header 'Authorization: <Apify API token in Bearer format. Get one at https://console.apify.com/account#/integrations. Optional if your client supports OAuth.>'
JSON configuration (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code) 
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "google-scholar": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=johnvc/google-scholar-api",
            "headers": {
                "Authorization": "<Apify API token in Bearer format. Get one at https://console.apify.com/account#/integrations. Optional if your client supports OAuth.>"
            }
        }
    }
}

Documentation

From the project's README on GitHub, refreshed weekly. Links open on GitHub.

Contents
  1. Google Scholar MCP Server
  2. Login
  3. Install in Claude Desktop
  4. Install in Cursor
  5. What it does
  6. Built by
  7. License

Google Scholar MCP Server

Search Google Scholar for academic papers, citations, and author profiles.

This is a remote MCP server that lets Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, or any MCP client query Google Scholar directly as a tool call. Review the documentation here.

Login

You'll need an Apify API token to login. A free Apify account works. Get yours at console.apify.com/account#/integrations.

Install in Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop currently requires a stdio bridge for remote MCP servers. Add this to your ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-scholar": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=johnvc/google-scholar-api",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Replace <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN> with your token. Restart Claude Desktop.

Install in Cursor

Cursor supports remote MCP servers natively. Two ways to connect:

Add this to your .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-scholar": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=johnvc/google-scholar-api"
    }
  }
}

The first connection opens a browser to sign in to Apify.

Option B: Bearer token
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-scholar": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=johnvc/google-scholar-api",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

What it does

This MCP server lets Claude search Google Scholar for academic papers, retrieve citation counts, fetch author profiles, and pull abstracts. Useful for literature reviews, citation tracking, prior-art research, and "what's been written about X?" queries. Returns structured JSON with paper title, authors, citation count, abstract, PDF link, and publication year.

Example queries to try in Claude:

  • "Find the 10 most-cited papers on transformer architecture published since 2023"
  • "Get the author profile and h-index for Yoshua Bengio"
  • "Search Google Scholar for recent papers on RAG retrieval performance"

Built by

johnvc on Apify | Sign up for a free Apify account.

License

MIT

Frequently asked questions

What is Google Scholar?

Search Google Scholar for academic papers, citations, and author profiles.

How do I install Google Scholar?

It runs as a remote server. In Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http google-scholar 'https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=johnvc/google-scholar-api' --header 'Authorization: <Apify API token in Bearer format. Get one at https://console.apify.com/account#/integrations. Optional if your client supports OAuth.>'. For other clients, paste the JSON configuration from this page into their MCP settings.

Does Google Scholar need an API key?

Yes. It expects Authorization, which you set in its configuration.

Is Google Scholar open source?

Yes. Its code is on GitHub under the MIT license.

Who maintains Google Scholar?

It is published by johnisanerd. AI.tn lists it but does not maintain or endorse it.

From the official MCP Registry. Listing is not an endorsement: review a server's code and permissions before giving it access to your data.