Academic Search
Multi-source literature search, citation verification, citation format conversion,
and reference management via MCP tools.
MCP Tools
Core Search
| Tool |
Source |
Best For |
pubmed_search_articles |
PubMed MCP |
Biomedical, MeSH, clinical trials |
search_crossref |
paper-search MCP |
Cross-disciplinary, citation counts |
search_arxiv |
paper-search MCP |
Preprints (physics, math, CS, biology) |
Extended Search
| Tool |
Source |
Best For |
search_google_scholar |
paper-search MCP |
Broad academic search (scraped) |
search_semantic_scholar |
paper-search MCP |
Citation graph, field-of-study filters |
search_biorxiv |
paper-search MCP |
Biology preprints |
search_medrxiv |
paper-search MCP |
Medical preprints |
search_webofscience |
paper-search MCP |
Curated index, citation reports |
search_scopus |
paper-search MCP |
Broad scholarly database |
PubMed Utilities
| Tool |
Purpose |
pubmed_fetch_articles |
Full metadata by PMID |
pubmed_find_related |
Related article discovery |
pubmed_format_citations |
APA / MLA / BibTeX / RIS formatting |
pubmed_convert_ids |
DOI ↔ PMID ↔ PMCID conversion |
pubmed_lookup_mesh |
MeSH term exploration and hierarchy |
pubmed_lookup_citation |
Bibliographic citation → PMID lookup |
Source Routing
See Source Tiers & Reliability for the complete reliability classification and fallback routing rules. The T1→T2→T3 fallback chain is the standard execution order across all workflows.
Quick guide:
| User need |
Primary (T1) |
Secondary (T2) |
Last Resort (T3) |
| Medical / clinical |
PubMed |
Semantic Scholar |
Google Scholar |
| Cross-disciplinary |
CrossRef |
Semantic Scholar |
Scopus |
| Preprints / CS / physics |
arXiv |
bioRxiv / medRxiv |
— |
| Exhaustive review |
PubMed + CrossRef + arXiv |
Semantic Scholar + bioRxiv/medRxiv |
WoS / Scopus |
| Citation count sensitive |
Semantic Scholar |
CrossRef |
— |
| Chinese literature |
— |
— |
CNKI / Wanfang (manual) |
Workflows
| # |
Workflow |
Reference |
| 1 |
Multi-Source Literature Search |
wf1 |
| 2 |
Citation Verification |
wf2 |
| 3 |
MeSH Search Strategy |
wf3 |
| 4 |
Citation File Management |
wf4 |
| 5 |
Reference Management |
wf5 |
Shared Modules
Environment Setup
API Keys (optional but recommended)
Set via export or .env file.
Proxy (if behind firewall)
export http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:7890
export https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:7890
Pre-flight Check
python scripts/preflight.py
Run before batch operations to verify API endpoints are reachable.
Format Converter Dependencies
The format converter (scripts/format-converter.py) uses Python stdlib only — no extra dependencies. Run python scripts/format-converter.py --test to verify the conversion pipeline.
Error Handling
- MCP tool unavailable: report specific failure, continue with remaining tools.
- No results: broaden terms, try alternative sources, suggest user refine query.
- Script failure (2x): fall back to manual generation from MCP-fetched metadata.
Limitations
- Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar are scraped (not API-backed) — results may vary.
- Chinese literature (CNKI / Wanfang) not indexed by CrossRef or PubMed.
- Citation counts may be delayed (CrossRef updates monthly).
