Crossref

io.github.SMABoundlessPublished by GitHub account SMABoundlessv1.0.0Updated Oct 24, 2026

Search and retrieve scholarly metadata from the Crossref REST API

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Overview

AI-generated overview

Searches and retrieves scholarly metadata from the Crossref REST API, letting an assistant find papers, journals, authors and references and export citations.

What you can do
Search scholarly works by keyword, title or author, with year and type filters and sorting. Retrieve full metadata for a single work by DOI. Search journals by name or list works published in a journal by ISSN. Search funding organizations and get the reference list cited by a work. Export recent results as RIS or BibTeX.
When to use it
Use it when you want an assistant to look up scholarly literature in conversation, find papers by author or journal, pull full metadata for a DOI, or export results as RIS or BibTeX for Zotero or EndNote.
Requirements
Runs locally as the PyPI package crossref-mcp-server via uvx over stdio; desktop only. No API key needed; optionally set the CROSSREF_MAILTO environment variable to an email address for the faster polite pool. Network access to Crossref is required.
Before you install
CROSSREF_MAILTO puts your email address into requests sent to Crossref, which is personally identifying; decide whether to provide it. Tools are read-only lookups, but the export tools generate RIS and BibTeX content. Queries and results go to the third-party Crossref service.

Installation

In SourceWeft

  1. Open Crossref in the dashboard and add it to a workspace.
  2. Enable the server for the chats that should use its tools.

Desktop only via STDIO. STDIO servers start a local process, so they need the SourceWeft desktop host.

Other MCP clients

Follow the launch instructions in the repository.

README

CrossRef MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for searching and retrieving scholarly metadata from the CrossRef REST API — 150M+ records across all publishers and disciplines.

Built with FastMCP. No API key required.

Tools

ToolDescription
crossref_searchSearch works by keyword with filtering by year, type, and sort options
crossref_title_searchSearch specifically by title for more precise matching
crossref_author_searchSearch for works by a specific author, optionally combined with keywords
crossref_doi_lookupRetrieve full metadata for a work by DOI
crossref_journal_searchSearch for journals by name
crossref_journal_worksGet works published in a specific journal by ISSN
crossref_funder_searchSearch for funding organizations
crossref_referencesGet the reference list cited by a specific work
crossref_export_risExport recent results as RIS (for Zotero, EndNote, etc.)
crossref_export_bibtexExport recent results as BibTeX

Setup

1. Install

bash
cd crossref-mcp-serverpython3 -m venv venvsource venv/bin/activatepip install -r requirements.txt

2. Configure environment (optional)

CrossRef doesn't require an API key, but setting a mailto address gives you access to their faster "polite" API pool:

bash
cp .env.example .env# Edit .env with your email address

3. Add to Claude Desktop

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

json
{  "mcpServers": {    "crossref": {      "command": "/path/to/crossref-mcp-server/venv/bin/python",      "args": ["/path/to/crossref-mcp-server/server.py"],      "env": {        "CROSSREF_MAILTO": "[email protected]"      }    }  }}

Or if using Claude Code CLI:

bash
claude mcp add crossref \  /path/to/crossref-mcp-server/venv/bin/python \  /path/to/crossref-mcp-server/server.py \  -e [email protected]

Usage examples

Once connected, you can ask Claude things like:

  • "Search CrossRef for recent papers on transformer architectures"
  • "Find works by Jane Smith on educational psychology from 2020-2024"
  • "Look up the metadata for DOI 10.1038/nature14539"
  • "Search for journals about machine learning"
  • "Get the reference list for this paper and export as RIS for Zotero"

License

MIT

Source: README.md at commit 7e71b39

Tools

0
SourceWeft has not started this package in its sandbox yet, so its tools are not known.

Version history

1
  1. v1.0.0LatestSep 16, 2026

Score

50% of the applicable checks met

How complete this listing is, computed from the registry entry, the endpoint and public sources. Not a rating of the server and not a statement that it is safe or working today: reachability is a dated check, and no installs or reviews go into the score.

  • Reached in the last 30 days25 pts

    Keep the endpoint answering the MCP handshake; SourceWeft probes it every 30 days.

  • Auth declared10 pts

    Declare the credential headers in the registry entry, or keep the endpoint answering the probe so its auth can be classified.

  • Tools listed15 pts

    Answer tools/list without a credential, or ship a package that starts in a sandbox without one.

  • DescriptionRequired15 pts
  • Logo10 pts
  • Documentation15 pts
  • License10 pts