search-citation-mcp 1.1.0

Academic paper search and IEEE citation engine — MCP server with 9 tools

Search & Citation MCP

Academic search and IEEE citation engine as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. Designed to integrate with AI coding assistants (Claude Desktop, Cursor, opencode) and MCP daemons.

9 tools that allow an LLM to search papers across 3 sources (OpenAlex + Crossref + Semantic Scholar), validate metadata, generate biblatex-ieee BibTeX citations, download open-access PDFs, and maintain a bibliography.

Quick Start (uvx — zero install)

Add to your MCP client configuration:

Claude Desktop

claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "search-citation": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["search-citation-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor / opencode

opencode.json or Cursor MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "search-citation": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["search-citation-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

HTTP Mode (multi-client / daemon)

Expose the server on the network for multiple simultaneous clients:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "search-citation": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["search-citation-mcp", "--transport", "streamable-http"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_HOST": "0.0.0.0",
        "MCP_PORT": "8000"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuration (.env)

Create a .env file (or set environment variables in your MCP client config):

# Optional: better rate limits and features
OPENALEX_API_KEY=          # OpenAlex API key
SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY=  # Enables semantic search (third source)
CROSSREF_MAILTO=           # Polite pool email for Crossref
UNPAYWALL_EMAIL=           # Enables Unpaywall PDF downloads

# Optional: bibliography path
BIBLIOGRAPHY_PATH=./bibliografia.bib

# Optional: institutional proxy
EZPROXY_HOST=bibliotecabuap.elogim.com

# Optional: Sci-Hub fallback
SCIHUB_ENABLED=1

MCP Tools

Tool	Description
search_papers	Search papers via OpenAlex + Crossref + Semantic Scholar (3 sources in parallel)
add_from_doi	Add citation by DOI with Crossref → S2 → OpenAlex validation pipeline
cite_paper	Generate .bib entry without writing to file
add_to_bibliography	Add manual entry to .bib (CFE, NOM, IEC, thesis, datasheets)
find_related_papers	Find related papers via citation graph + semantic similarity
detect_input	Detect whether text is a DOI, arXiv, PMID, ISBN, or URL
list_cached	List recent cached searches
fix_bib	Fix Title Case, protect acronyms ({IEEE}, {CFE}), add datasheet notes
download_paper	Download PDF from free sources (OA → S2 → Unpaywall → arXiv)

CLI Usage

# Install with pip
pip install search-citation-mcp

# Search
search-citation search "photovoltaic" -n 5

# Add citation by DOI
search-citation add --doi 10.1016/j.rser.2015.08.042

# Generate citation without writing
search-citation cite --doi 10.1016/j.rser.2015.08.042

# Find related papers
search-citation related 10.1016/j.rser.2015.08.042 -n 5

# Detect input type
search-citation detect "10.1016/j.rser.2015.08.042"

# Fix and validate .bib files
search-citation fix-bib bibliografia.bib --dry-run

# Download PDF
search-citation download 10.1016/j.rser.2015.08.042 -o ./pdfs

# View cached searches
search-citation cache

Supported BibTeX Entry Types

article · inproceedings · book · techreport · mastersthesis · phdthesis · manual · misc · online · incollection

Validated against IEEE schema with required and optional fields per type.

Development

git clone https://github.com/isaacwars/search-citation-mcp.git
cd search-citation-mcp
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest tests/ -v

Security

• stdio transport by default — no TCP port, no network exposure
• Path traversal blocked on all file operations
• Credentials via environment variables only, never hardcoded
• Zero personal data in source code
• PDF and .bib output confined to project workspace

License

Apache 2.0 with Commons Clause — see LICENSE