Citation Network MCP

io.github.michalhronPublished by GitHub account michalhronv0.15.0Updated Oct 24, 2026

Citation-network analysis on Scopus or OpenAlex: coupling, co-citation, lineages, bibliometrics.

VerifiedSTDIODesktop onlyKnowledge & MemoryData & Analytics

Overview

AI-generated overview

Local MCP server for citation-network analysis and bibliometrics on Scopus or OpenAlex, letting an assistant search literature, trace citations and build…

What you can do
  • Search papers, authors and full text, resolve identifiers and fetch abstracts or full text
  • Pull reference lists and citing papers for a work
  • Build citation networks: coupling, co-citation, lineages, historiograph, RPYS and research fronts
  • Audit citers, citation contexts, path transmission, index coverage and retractions
  • Compute bibliometrics: publication counts, topic landscapes, thematic evolution, journal metrics and BibTeX
  • Run diagnostics and background jobs, with results written to files for Pajek, VOSviewer, Gephi or Zotero
When to use it
Useful for researchers and analysts who want to map research fronts, trace who cites whom across generations, or pull journal metrics and bibliographies from a conversation. OpenAlex mode suits users without a Scopus subscription.
Requirements
Runs locally over stdio, typically via uvx (needs uv) or as a Claude Desktop extension or Claude Code plugin. A Scopus API key from the Elsevier Developer Portal is required to start the server (SCOPUS_API_KEY); an optional institutional token (SCOPUS_INSTTOKEN) helps off campus, and an optional OpenAlex key (OPENALEX_API_KEY) raises the daily budget. Network access to Scopus, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and open-access sources.
Before you install
The server sends requests to Scopus and other third-party services using your own key and subscription; Scopus access limits which tools work. It writes result files to disk and runs long jobs in the background. Keep the API key and institutional token in a secret store rather than plain configuration. The project is independent and not affiliated with Elsevier.

Installation

In SourceWeft

  1. Open Citation Network MCP 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

[Scopus Plus MCP: search, full text, citation networks, journal quality and bibliometrics, for Claude and other AI assistants]

[Tests] [PyPI] [Python 3.10+] [License: MIT]

Search the literature, trace who cites whom across generations, map research fronts and intellectual bases, and pull the counts, metrics and bibliography you need, from a conversation. It is an MCP server, so any MCP client can use it: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor.

What you get

[Image]Citation networks
Coupling, co-citation, multi-generation lineages and the network within any paper set, with SPC/SPLC/SPNP main paths, key routes, RPYS and a historiograph. More		[Image]Audited, not just built
Citer sets verified across search strategies, reference lists checked against Crossref, and the sentences behind each citation. More
[Image]Two data sources
Scopus by default. Add source="openalex" to run the same analyses without a Scopus subscription. OpenAlex topics with a field-relative journal quality cut build corpora that span disciplines. More		[Image]Bibliometrics
Where a topic is published and in which quartile, journals above a percentile cut-off, counts per year, themes over time, BibTeX. More
[Image]Full-text search
Find Elsevier papers that use a term in their body, and see how often and where each one uses it. More		[Image]Honest about access
One call tells you which tools your Scopus access supports, and why the rest fail. More
[Image]Main-path skill
Walks Claude from a query to a drawn main path map. Ships with the Claude Code plugin. More		[Image]Tested
510 test functions, CI on Linux, macOS and Windows, and a live check of every tool against the real APIs. More

How it compares with the other Scopus MCP servers and with bibliometrics packages (bibliometrix, pybliometrics, VOSviewer, Pajek): comparison.

Ask things like

Map the research front around these six papers on organizing visions.

Trace two generations of work citing Swanson & Ramiller (1997) and show me the main path.

Build the citation network of every Basket of Eight paper citing the organizing-vision papers, and show how the main path cites its predecessors.

How has publishing on "digital transformation" grown since 2010?

Build a corpus on digital transformation across IS, strategy and marketing, top-quartile journals only, and show which fields cite which.

Get SJR and CiteScore for the Basket of Eight, and BibTeX for the papers we just found.

More, with the tools each one triggers: prompt examples.

How it works

[You ask in your MCP client. scopus-plus-mcp calls Scopus, OpenAlex, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and open-access sources, and writes JSON, CSV, GraphML, Pajek, PNG, HTML and BibTeX files to disk.]

You ask in plain words and the assistant picks the tools. The server calls Scopus with your own key, and Crossref, Semantic Scholar and open-access sources where a tool needs them. Results come back as a summary in the reply, and the full data goes to files that Pajek, VOSviewer, Gephi or Zotero can open. Responses are cached, and long jobs run in the background.

Tools

[36 tools in six families: search, citations, networks, audit, bibliometrics, diagnostics. Sixteen also run on OpenAlex.]

FamilyToolsGuide
[Image]Search and recordssearch_scopus · search_all · search_fulltext · get_abstract_details · resolve_identifier · search_authors · get_author_profile · get_fulltextsearch
[Image]Citationsget_references · get_citing_paperssearch
[Image]Networksbibliographic_coupling · co_citation · citation_lineage · citation_network · historiograph · rpys · research_frontsnetworks
[Image]Auditresolve_citers · citation_context · path_transmission · coding_agreement · index_coverage · check_retractionsaudit
[Image]Bibliometricspublication_counts · topic_landscape · topic_profile · thematic_evolution · get_journal_metrics · find_journals · get_bibtex · import_recordsbibliometrics
[Image]Diagnostics and jobsdiagnose_connection · get_quota_status · get_server_info · job_status · job_resultaccess

Every parameter of every tool: tool reference.

Install

You need an API key from the Elsevier Developer Portal (register with your institutional email). OpenAlex needs no key.

Claude Desktop, one click:

  1. Download scopus-plus-mcp-<version>.mcpb from the latest release.
  2. Open it (or drag it into Settings → Extensions), click Install, and paste your API key when asked. Claude stores it securely.

Claude Code, two commands:

bash
claude plugin marketplace add michalhron/scopus-plus-mcpclaude plugin install scopus-plus-mcp@michalhron

Then make your key available, either in your shell (export SCOPUS_API_KEY=...) or, better, in the OS secret store.

Any other MCP client (needs uv):

json
{  "mcpServers": {    "scopus-plus": {      "command": "uvx",      "args": ["scopus-plus-mcp"],      "env": { "SCOPUS_API_KEY": "YOUR_KEY" }    }  }}

Then ask your assistant to run diagnose_connection. It checks your key and tells you which tools your Scopus access supports.

The Claude Code plugin also installs the main-path skill, which walks Claude through a main path analysis from a query to a drawn map. For Claude Desktop, zip its folder and upload it as a skill.

Documentation

Feature guides:

  • Search, records and full text: finding papers and authors, identifiers, importing exports, full-text search and retrieval.
  • Citation networks and main paths: coupling, co-citation, lineages, main path analysis, historiograph, RPYS, research fronts.
  • Audit: verified citer sets, reference-list completeness, citation contexts, the transmission audit, retractions.
  • Bibliometrics and bibliography: counts per year, topic landscape, journal cut-offs and metrics, thematic evolution, BibTeX.

Reference and setup:

Origins

Formerly citation-network-mcp (and before that michalhron/scopus-mcp). This project began as a fork of qwe4559999/scopus-mcp by thinktraveller and qwe4559999, which provides Scopus search, abstracts, author profiles and citing papers. Everything since version 0.2 was developed here by Michal Hron. MIT licensed; see LICENSE.

Scopus and ScienceDirect are trademarks of Elsevier B.V. This project is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Elsevier; it uses their public APIs with your own key and subscription.

Source: README.md at commit 55dc04e

Tools

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

Version history

1
  1. v0.15.0LatestSep 30, 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