smaniches/semantic-scholar-mcp

Overview

Semantic Scholar MCP server exposing 14 typed tools for paper search, citation graphs, author profiles, and recommendations. Written in Python, it can be deployed via PyPI or Docker. Uses the Semantic Scholar API to provide structured academic data to MCP clients.

Best for

Best for
Developers building AI assistants that need curated academic paper data

Use cases

• Search and retrieve academic papers
• Explore citation graphs
• Fetch author profiles and recommendations

How to use

Install

uvx s2-mcp-server                                      # run instantly, no install

Tools exposed

• fields_of_study
• publication_types
• open_access_only
• min_citation_count
• response_format
• api_key
• paper_id
• include_citations
• include_references
• citations_limit
• references_limit
• author_id
• include_papers
• papers_limit
• from_pool
• paper_ids
• author_ids
• positive_paper_ids
• negative_paper_ids

Tested with

Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Continue

Notes

Semantic Scholar MCP server exposing 14 typed tools for paper search, citation graphs, author profiles, and recommendations. Written in Python, it can be deployed via PyPI or Docker. Uses the Semantic Scholar API to provide structured academic data to MCP clients.

16 stars on GitHub. Last updated 2026-09-03. Licensed MIT.

Use cases

• Search and retrieve academic papers
• Explore citation graphs
• Fetch author profiles and recommendations

Pros

• Covers multiple research workflows with 14 dedicated tools
• Typed tools provide structured responses for reliable integration
• Easy deployment via PyPI or Docker

Cons

• Small community (16 stars) suggests limited maintenance and support
• Depends on Semantic Scholar API rate limits and availability
• No built-in fallback for API outages

Indexed from awesome-mcp-servers-punkpeye and enriched against its public facts.