English Français العربية

io.github.SMABoundless/semanticscholar

Official registry Search and web

Search 200M+ papers, authors, citations, and recommendations via Semantic Scholar

Source code Documentation

What can you do with io.github.SMABoundless/semanticscholar?

  • Multiple ID formats: Accepts S2 Paper IDs, DOIs, ArXiv IDs, PMIDs, PMCIDs, CorpusIds
  • Markdown or JSON output: Every tool supports response_format: "json" for structured data
  • Custom field selection: Override default fields with the fields parameter
  • Built-in rate limiting: Token bucket limiter prevents API throttling
  • Batch operations: Retrieve up to 500 papers or 1000 authors in a single call

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).

NPM package semanticscholar-mcp-server
Claude Code 
claude mcp add semanticscholar -e 'SEMANTICSCHOLAR_API_KEY=<your semanticscholar_api_key>' -- npx -y semanticscholar-mcp-server@1.0.0
JSON configuration (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code) 
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "semanticscholar": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "semanticscholar-mcp-server@1.0.0"
            ],
            "env": {
                "SEMANTICSCHOLAR_API_KEY": "<your semanticscholar_api_key>"
            }
        }
    }
}

Environment variables

  • SEMANTICSCHOLAR_API_KEY secret Semantic Scholar API key from https://www.semanticscholar.org/product/api (optional but recommended for higher rate limits)

Documentation

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

Contents
  1. Semantic Scholar MCP Server
  2. Tools (16 total)
  3. Setup
  4. Features
  5. Usage examples
  6. License

Semantic Scholar MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph API — 200M+ papers with citation networks, author profiles, and full-text snippet search.

Built with the MCP TypeScript SDK and Zod.

Tools (16 total)

Papers (9 tools)
ToolDescription
paper_searchSearch papers by keyword with filtering (year, venue, field, open access, citations, type)
paper_search_bulkBulk search with cursor pagination for large result sets (up to 10M)
paper_matchFind the single best match for a known paper title
paper_autocompleteAutocomplete partial paper titles (up to 10 suggestions)
paper_getGet full details for a paper by ID (S2 ID, DOI, ArXiv, PMID, etc.)
paper_batchRetrieve up to 500 papers in a single request
paper_citationsGet papers that cite a given paper (forward citations)
paper_referencesGet a paper's reference list (bibliography)
paper_authorsGet author details for a specific paper
Authors (4 tools)
ToolDescription
author_getGet full author profile (h-index, affiliations, stats)
author_batchRetrieve up to 1000 author profiles in one request
author_searchSearch for authors by name
author_papersGet all papers by a specific author
Recommendations (2 tools)
ToolDescription
recommendations_for_paperGet ML-powered paper recommendations for a given paper
recommendations_from_listsGet recommendations from positive/negative example papers
Snippets (1 tool)
ToolDescription
snippet_searchSearch within paper bodies for specific text passages

Setup

Get a free key at semanticscholar.org/product/api. Without a key, requests are heavily rate-limited.

2. Install and build
cd semanticscholar-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build
3. Add to Claude Desktop

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "semantic-scholar": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/semanticscholar-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "SEMANTICSCHOLAR_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or if using Claude Code CLI:

claude mcp add semantic-scholar \
  node \
  /path/to/semanticscholar-mcp-server/dist/index.js \
  -e SEMANTICSCHOLAR_API_KEY=your-api-key

Features

  • Multiple ID formats: Accepts S2 Paper IDs, DOIs, ArXiv IDs, PMIDs, PMCIDs, CorpusIds
  • Markdown or JSON output: Every tool supports response_format: "json" for structured data
  • Custom field selection: Override default fields with the fields parameter
  • Built-in rate limiting: Token bucket limiter prevents API throttling
  • Batch operations: Retrieve up to 500 papers or 1000 authors in a single call

Usage examples

  • "Search Semantic Scholar for papers on transformer architectures from 2023"
  • "Get recommendations for papers similar to this one"
  • "Find the citation network for DOI 10.1038/nature14539"
  • "Search for text snippets mentioning 'chain of thought prompting'"
  • "Look up author profile for researcher 1741101"

License

MIT

Frequently asked questions

What is io.github.SMABoundless/semanticscholar?

Search 200M+ papers, authors, citations, and recommendations via Semantic Scholar

How do I install io.github.SMABoundless/semanticscholar?

It runs on your machine. In Claude Code: claude mcp add semanticscholar -e 'SEMANTICSCHOLAR_API_KEY=<your semanticscholar_api_key>' -- npx -y semanticscholar-mcp-server@1.0.0. For other clients, paste the JSON configuration from this page into their MCP settings.

Does io.github.SMABoundless/semanticscholar need an API key?

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

Is io.github.SMABoundless/semanticscholar open source?

Its code is public on GitHub, but the repository does not declare a standard license.

Who maintains io.github.SMABoundless/semanticscholar?

It is published by SMABoundless. 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.