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ScholarMCP

v1.0.0•Knowledge & Memory•stable

ScholarMCP - An academic research MCP server with comprehensive literature search, PDF ingestion, and citation management tools. Integrates with Google Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref, and Semantic Scholar for automated research workflows.

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What is ScholarMCP?

ScholarMCP is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to scholarmcp - an academic research mcp server with comprehensive literature search, pdf ingestion, and citation management tools. integrates with google scholar, openalex, crossref, and semantic schola...

ScholarMCP - An academic research MCP server with comprehensive literature search, PDF ingestion, and citation management tools. Integrates with Google Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref, and Semantic Scholar for automated research workflows.

This server falls under the Knowledge & Memory category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.

Features

  • ScholarMCP - An academic research MCP server with comprehens

Use Cases

Search academic literature across Google Scholar, OpenAlex, and Semantic Scholar.
Ingest and manage PDF research papers with citation tracking.
Automate research workflows with comprehensive literature management.
lstudlo

Maintainer

LicenseMIT
Languagetypescript
Versionv1.0.0
UpdatedMay 17, 2026
Statushealthy
Maintenanceactive

Works with

ClaudeOpenAIwindowsmacoslinux
View SourceBrowse All Servers

Installation

Manual Installation

npx scholarmcp

Configuration

Configuration Details

Config File

claude_desktop_config.json

Performance

Response Metrics

Response Time< 200ms
ThroughputMedium

Resource Usage

Memory UsageLow
CPU UsageLow

How to Set Up and Use ScholarMCP

ScholarMCP is a TypeScript MCP server that gives AI coding agents and research workflows access to a comprehensive set of academic literature tools. It performs federated search across OpenAlex, Crossref, Semantic Scholar, and Google Scholar; ingests and parses full-text PDFs from local files or remote URLs; extracts structured paper details; suggests citations; and validates manuscript references. It is designed to work natively with Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, and any MCP-compatible client, enabling researchers and engineers to run literature reviews directly from chat without switching to a browser.

Prerequisites

  • Node.js 20 or later
  • npm (for installing as a global package) or npx (for one-off usage)
  • An MCP client: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, OpenAI Codex CLI, or any MCP-compatible tool
  • Internet access for querying academic databases and fetching remote PDFs
1

Install scholar-mcp

Install the npm package globally for persistent use, or use npx to run it without a global install.

npm install -g scholar-mcp

# One-off run without global install
npx -y scholar-mcp --transport=stdio
2

Add to Claude Code via the CLI

Use the Claude CLI to register ScholarMCP as a user-scoped MCP server. The environment variables control request throttling and PDF access permissions.

claude mcp add -s user \
  --transport stdio \
  -e SCHOLAR_MCP_TRANSPORT=stdio \
  -e SCHOLAR_REQUEST_DELAY_MS=350 \
  -e RESEARCH_ALLOW_REMOTE_PDFS=true \
  -e RESEARCH_ALLOW_LOCAL_PDFS=true \
  scholar_mcp -- npx -y scholar-mcp --transport=stdio
3

Verify the registration

Confirm the server is registered and reachable from Claude Code.

claude mcp get scholar_mcp
4

Alternative: manual configuration

Add the server manually to ~/.claude.json (Claude Code) or claude_desktop_config.json (Claude Desktop) if you prefer not to use the CLI.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholar_mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "scholar-mcp", "--transport=stdio"],
      "env": {
        "SCHOLAR_MCP_TRANSPORT": "stdio",
        "SCHOLAR_REQUEST_DELAY_MS": "350",
        "RESEARCH_ALLOW_REMOTE_PDFS": "true",
        "RESEARCH_ALLOW_LOCAL_PDFS": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}
5

Optional: run in HTTP mode for shared access

Run ScholarMCP in HTTP mode for team use or web-based clients. Set SCHOLAR_MCP_API_KEY for authentication.

SCHOLAR_MCP_TRANSPORT=http scholar-mcp
# Health check
curl http://127.0.0.1:3000/health

ScholarMCP Examples

Client configuration

Add to claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.claude.json for Claude Code. All four environment variables are recommended for full functionality.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholar_mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "scholar-mcp", "--transport=stdio"],
      "env": {
        "SCHOLAR_MCP_TRANSPORT": "stdio",
        "SCHOLAR_REQUEST_DELAY_MS": "350",
        "RESEARCH_ALLOW_REMOTE_PDFS": "true",
        "RESEARCH_ALLOW_LOCAL_PDFS": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Prompts to try

Use ScholarMCP to search literature, ingest PDFs, and manage citations directly from your AI coding assistant.

- "Search for recent papers on retrieval-augmented generation and summarize the top 5"
- "Ingest this PDF and extract the main findings: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2312.10997"
- "Find papers by Andrej Karpathy on language models"
- "Suggest 3 citations for a paper about transformer attention mechanisms"
- "Search Google Scholar for 'diffusion models image generation' published after 2022"

Troubleshooting ScholarMCP

Google Scholar searches fail or return empty results

Google Scholar rate-limits automated requests. Increase the delay between requests by setting SCHOLAR_REQUEST_DELAY_MS to 1000 or higher. The federated search tools (search_literature_graph) using OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar are more reliable for automated workflows.

PDF ingestion fails for remote URLs

Ensure RESEARCH_ALLOW_REMOTE_PDFS=true is set in your environment. If the URL requires authentication (e.g., journal paywalls), download the PDF locally first and ingest it as a local file with RESEARCH_ALLOW_LOCAL_PDFS=true.

Server not found after npm global install

Run `npm list -g scholar-mcp` to verify installation. If not found, check that your npm global bin directory is on PATH with `npm bin -g`. Alternatively, use the npx form in your config to always use the latest version without a global install.

Frequently Asked Questions about ScholarMCP

What is ScholarMCP?

ScholarMCP is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that scholarmcp - an academic research mcp server with comprehensive literature search, pdf ingestion, and citation management tools. integrates with google scholar, openalex, crossref, and semantic scholar for automated research workflows. It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.

How do I install ScholarMCP?

Follow the installation instructions on the ScholarMCP GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.

Which AI clients work with ScholarMCP?

ScholarMCP works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.

Is ScholarMCP free to use?

Yes, ScholarMCP is open source and available under the MIT license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.

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Quick Config Preview

{ "mcpServers": { "scholarmcp": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "scholarmcp"] } } }

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json or .cursor/mcp.json

Read the full setup guide →

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