MCPs โบ Data & APIs โบ Scholar Sidekick
Scholar Sidekick MCP resolves any scholarly identifier (DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, arXiv, ISSN, NASA ADS bibcodes, WHO IRIS URLs) into structured bibliographic metadata, formats citations in 10,000+ CSL styles (Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, Nature, BMJ, Lancet, and many more), and exports references to BibTeX, RIS, CSL JSON, EndNote (XML/Refer), RefWorks, MEDLINE, Zotero RDF, and CSV. The format/export/resolve tools accept a single identifier or a comma/newline-separated batch, so an assistant can chain resolveIdentifier โ formatCitation โ exportCitation in one prompt for an end-to-end "raw IDs โ exportable bibliography" workflow. Three single-citation checks complete the picture: checkRetraction surfaces retractions, corrections, and expressions of concern from Crossref / Retraction Watch; checkOpenAccess returns OA status and the best legal landing or PDF URL from Unpaywall; verifyCitation cross-checks the cited title against the resolved record at the cited identifier to detect the AI-driven fabrication pattern documented by Topaz et al. (Lancet 2026 โ the dominant pattern is a real DOI paired with an invented title, which simple identifier resolution cannot catch). Each formatted response carries a provenance metadata block (formatter, styleUsed, requestId, warnings) so you can see exactly which engine produced each citation. Try asking your assistant: "Is this citation real, or did an AI make it up? 10.1056/NEJMoa2033700 โ 'Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine'" "Has PMID 30049270 been retracted?" "Resolve arXiv:2301.08745 and tell me if there's a free open-access PDF" "Format 10.1056/NEJMoa2033700 in Vancouver style and export as BibTeX" Works anonymously with no key on a free, rate-limited tier. Add a free first-party API key (ssk_, from scholar-sidekick.com/account) for higher limits, or a RapidAPI key for paid/managed tiers.
Not monetized yet
Turn Scholar Sidekickโs tool calls into revenue: one disclosed sponsored slot, 70% revenue share, fail-open by design.
Install Scholar Sidekick
For anyone using Scholar Sidekick โ no Lulu account needednpx -y @smithery/cli@latest install scholar-sidekick/scholar-sidekick-mcp --client claude
9 field-tested tactics as a designed playbook plus skills your coding agent can run. Free.
Get the Kit โFAQ
Scholar Sidekick installs from source โ follow the repository README.
Unrated out of 100, computed from cross-registry traction signals (installs, stars, registry presence) โ never influenced by sponsorship.
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