Semantic Scholar
A comprehensive Model Context Protocol server that provides AI assistants with direct access to Semantic Scholar's academic database, enabling advanced paper discovery, citation analysis, author research, and AI-powered recommendations.
What is Semantic Scholar?
Semantic Scholar is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to comprehensive model context protocol server that provides ai assistants with direct access to semantic scholar's academic database, enabling advanced paper discovery, citation analysis, author researc...
A comprehensive Model Context Protocol server that provides AI assistants with direct access to Semantic Scholar's academic database, enabling advanced paper discovery, citation analysis, author research, and AI-powered recommendations.
This server falls under the Search & Data Extraction category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- A comprehensive Model Context Protocol server that provides
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
Manual Installation
npx semantic-scholar-mcp-serverConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use Semantic Scholar
The Semantic Scholar MCP Server connects AI assistants directly to the Semantic Scholar academic database, one of the largest repositories of scientific literature. It exposes 16 tools covering paper search, citation analysis, author lookup, and AI-powered paper recommendations, letting researchers discover and analyze academic work through natural language without leaving their AI client. Whether you need to find highly-cited papers in a date range, trace a paper's reference graph, or get personalized recommendations from seed papers, this server handles it all through a clean MCP interface.
Prerequisites
- Python 3.10+ and pip (or uv/uvx) installed
- An MCP-compatible client such as Claude Desktop or Cursor
- A Semantic Scholar API key (optional, but recommended for higher rate limits — obtain free at https://www.semanticscholar.org/product/api)
- Internet access to reach the Semantic Scholar public API
Install the package
Install the semantic-scholar-fastmcp package from PyPI using pip or the faster uv tool.
pip install semantic-scholar-fastmcp
# or with uv:
uvx semantic-scholar-fastmcpObtain an optional API key
Visit https://www.semanticscholar.org/product/api and register for a free API key. Without a key the server still works but is subject to stricter rate limits. Copy the key for the next step.
Add the server to your MCP client configuration
Edit your Claude Desktop (or other client) config file to register the server. Set SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY to your key, or omit the env block to run without one.
{
"mcpServers": {
"semantic-scholar": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["semantic-scholar-fastmcp"],
"env": {
"SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
}
}
}
}Restart your MCP client
Quit and relaunch Claude Desktop (or reload the MCP server list in your client). The 16 Semantic Scholar tools should appear in the tool list.
Verify the connection with a test search
Ask your AI assistant to run a quick paper search to confirm the server is responding correctly before doing deeper research work.
Semantic Scholar Examples
Client configuration
Example claude_desktop_config.json entry for the Semantic Scholar MCP server using uvx.
{
"mcpServers": {
"semantic-scholar": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["semantic-scholar-fastmcp"],
"env": {
"SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
}
}
}
}Prompts to try
Example natural-language prompts that exercise the server's 16 tools.
- "Search for papers on transformer attention mechanisms published between 2022 and 2024 with at least 100 citations"
- "Get the full details and author list for paper ID 649def34f8be52c8b66281af98ae884c09aef38b"
- "Find all papers that cite the original 'Attention Is All You Need' paper"
- "Look up the author Geoffrey Hinton and list his most-cited papers"
- "Given these two seed paper IDs, recommend five related papers I should read next"Troubleshooting Semantic Scholar
Rate limit errors (429) when searching without an API key
Register for a free Semantic Scholar API key at https://www.semanticscholar.org/product/api and set the SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY environment variable in your MCP config. The free tier provides significantly higher rate limits.
Server not found or tool list is empty after configuration
Ensure uvx (from the uv package manager) is installed and on your PATH by running `uvx --version`. If you used pip install instead, change the command to `python -m semantic_scholar_fastmcp` or the exact entry-point name installed.
Paper ID lookups return empty results
Semantic Scholar uses its own paper IDs (S2 corpus IDs). Use paper_relevance_search or paper_title_search first to find the correct S2 paper ID, then pass that ID to paper_details or paper_citations.
Frequently Asked Questions about Semantic Scholar
What is Semantic Scholar?
Semantic Scholar is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that comprehensive model context protocol server that provides ai assistants with direct access to semantic scholar's academic database, enabling advanced paper discovery, citation analysis, author research, and ai-powered recommendations. It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install Semantic Scholar?
Follow the installation instructions on the Semantic Scholar GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.
Which AI clients work with Semantic Scholar?
Semantic Scholar works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is Semantic Scholar free to use?
Yes, Semantic Scholar is open source and available under the MIT License license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
Semantic Scholar Alternatives — Similar Search & Data Extraction Servers
Looking for alternatives to Semantic Scholar? Here are other popular search & data extraction servers you can use with Claude, Cursor, and VS Code.
TrendRadar
★ 58.0kA real-time hotspot monitoring and news aggregation assistant that provides AI-powered analysis of trending topics across multiple platforms via the Model Context Protocol. It enables users to track news and receive automated notifications through va
Scrapling
★ 52.7k🕷️ An adaptive Web Scraping framework that handles everything from a single request to a full-scale crawl!
PDF Math Translate
★ 33.9k[EMNLP 2025 Demo] PDF scientific paper translation with preserved formats - 基于 AI 完整保留排版的 PDF 文档全文双语翻译，支持 Google/DeepL/Ollama/OpenAI 等服务，提供 CLI/GUI/MCP/Docker/Zotero
GPT Researcher
★ 27.2kAn autonomous agent that conducts deep research on any data using any LLM providers
Agent Reach
★ 20.1kGive your AI agent eyes to see the entire internet. Read & search Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, GitHub, Bilibili, XiaoHongShu — one CLI, zero API fees.
Xiaohongshu
★ 13.7kMCP for xiaohongshu.com
Browse More Search & Data Extraction MCP Servers
Explore all search & data extraction servers available in the MCPgee directory. Each server includes setup guides for Claude, Cursor, and VS Code.
Set Up Semantic Scholar in Your Editor
Choose your AI client for step-by-step setup instructions.
Quick Config Preview
Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json or .cursor/mcp.json
Ready to use Semantic Scholar?
Browse our complete directory of 33,000+ MCP servers, read setup guides for your editor, and start building with the Model Context Protocol.