# OpenAlex MCP for AI Agents AI Agent Connect > OpenAlex MCP for AI Agents. This tool lets your AI agent search through millions of scholarly works, authors, and institutions. It connects your workspace to the global research system, making it easy to find metadata for articles, books, and datasets. Use it to map research trends, find funding sources, and identify key academic contributors instantly. ## Overview - **Category:** the-unthinkable - **Price:** Free - **Endpoint:** https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_GWJRq8g6Otnq7V6IuPeVtI4hYHUyReAjbxOMayr4/ai-agent-connect - **Tags:** scholarly-data, academic-research, bibliometrics, metadata-search, open-science, research-automation ## Description Connect to OpenAlex, the extensive open index of the global research system. This Connector lets your AI client explore the global research system through natural conversation. Instead of jumping between different library databases and search engines, you can ask your agent to find specific papers, identify key researchers, or explore the funding behind a particular field of study. It does the work of searching the research landscape so you can focus on the actual analysis. You can track citation counts and find the specific publishers that distributed a set of datasets. This tool brings that data straight to your chat window. You get clean, structured metadata for everything from books to conference proceedings, making it much easier to build a bibliography or a research map. It's a major shift for anyone who needs to move quickly through academic data without getting bogged down in messy web results. You can find it in the Vinkius catalog to get your research environment connected in minutes. This connection turns a manual research chore into a conversation, providing you with the data you need to write, analyze, and cite faster. It works by pulling from a massive repository of articles, books, and datasets, ensuring you have access to a wide variety of academic sources. You can drill down into specific universities and research organizations to see where the most impactful work is happening. It also helps you understand the publication landscape by identifying journals and repositories that are most relevant to your specific area of interest. This means you spend less time on the hunt and more time on the actual writing and synthesis of your work. ## Tools ### list_authors Search and filter for authors by name or other criteria. This is the first step to finding specific researchers. ### list_funders Search and filter for various research funders. Use this to see who provides the money for science. ### list_institutions Search and filter for universities and research organizations. This helps you map out global research hubs. ### list_publishers Search and filter for different publishers. Use this to see who is distributing scholarly content. ### list_sources Search and filter for journals, conferences, and repositories. Use this to find where research is published. ### get_author Get a single author's profile using their OpenAlex ID. This helps you see specific researcher details. ### get_funder Retrieve details for a specific funder by ID. Use this to see who is financing research. ### get_institution Get information on a specific university or research org by ID. This shows you where research is happening. ### get_publisher Get details for a specific publisher using their ID. This helps you identify the source of a work. ### get_source Get details for a specific journal or repository by ID. Use this to check publication venues. ### get_topic Get details for a specific research topic by ID. This helps you understand research categories. ### get_work Get the full metadata for a single scholarly work using its ID. This provides all the details for a specific paper. ### list_topics Search and filter for different research topics. This helps you see how different fields are organized. ### list_works Search and filter millions of scholarly works by year, author, or topic. This is your primary way to find research. ## Prompt Examples **Prompt:** ``` Find me some research papers on quantum computing published between 2022 and 2024. ``` **Response:** ``` I've found several recent works on quantum computing. Here are the top results from 2022-2024: | Title | Year | Key Focus | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Quantum Supremacy in Superconducting Circuits | 2023 | Hardware Scaling | | Error Correction in Ion Trap Systems | 2022 | Algorithms | | Hybrid Quantum-Classical Networks | 2024 | Networking | Would you like the full metadata for any of these? ``` **Prompt:** ``` Who are the main authors associated with the University of Tokyo in the field of robotics? ``` **Response:** ``` Based on the OpenAlex index, here are some key researchers associated with the University of Tokyo in robotics: * **Dr. Kenji Sato** (Primary Affiliation: University of Tokyo) * **Dr. Akiko Tanaka** (Primary Affiliation: University of Tokyo) They have significant publication counts in humanoid robotics and machine learning. Would you like to see their specific work counts? ``` **Prompt:** ``` Show me a list of journals that focus on climate change and sustainable energy. ``` **Response:** ``` I found several high-impact sources for climate change and sustainable energy: * **Journal of Climate Change Research** * **Sustainable Energy Reviews** * **Renewable Energy Source Repository** These are frequently cited in the field. Do you want to see the specific publication metrics for any of these? ``` ## Capabilities ### Find specific research papers Retrieve metadata for millions of articles and books. ### Identify key researchers Look up author profiles and their primary affiliations. ### Map research institutions List and filter universities and research organizations globally. ### Explore publication venues Get details on journals, conferences, and repositories. ### Track research funding See which organizations are funding specific topics or projects. ### Discover research topics Navigate through various research categories and publishers. ## Use Cases ### Literature Review A researcher asks for 'Large Language Model' papers from 2023 and gets a list of titles and metadata. ### Institutional Mapping A scientist asks for the top 5 institutions in Germany for AI research and gets a ranked list. ### Author Profile Search A writer wants to know Yoshua Bengio's affiliation and work count and gets a full profile. ### Publisher Analysis A student wants to see which publishers are most active in renewable energy and gets the source list. ## Benefits - Get faster metadata results by using list_works to filter by year or author ID. - Identify high-impact researchers quickly using list_authors to resolve names to IDs. - Map global research infrastructure using list_institutions to find university affiliations. - Track publication trends by using list_sources to inspect journals and repositories. - Analyze research funding by using list_funders to see who is backing specific projects. - Organize research by topic using list_topics to see how different fields are categorized. ## How It Works The bottom line is you get direct access to the global research index from your AI client. 1. Subscribe to the OpenAlex MCP on Vinkius. 2. Add your OpenAlex API key if you want faster limits. 3. Start asking your AI client to find research papers or authors. ## Frequently Asked Questions **What is the OpenAlex MCP?** The OpenAlex MCP connects your AI client to a massive open index of the global research system. It lets you search for scholarly works, authors, and institutions directly in your chat. **Can I use OpenAlex to find specific books or datasets?** Yes, the Connector can retrieve metadata for a wide variety of scholarly works, including articles, books, and datasets, depending on what's indexed in the system. **How does the OpenAlex MCP help with academic research?** It simplifies your literature review by finding relevant papers, identifying key authors, and providing structured data that you can use to build your bibliography faster. **Does the OpenAlex MCP include information on research funding?** Yes, it allows you to see which organizations and funders are backing specific research topics or projects, which is great for mapping out research trends. **Can I find author affiliations using the OpenAlex MCP?** Yes, you can look up specific researchers and see their primary affiliations, such as universities or research organizations, to see where the work is happening. **Is the OpenAlex MCP good for mapping out research trends?** It's excellent for that. You can use it to see which journals are most active in a field or which institutions are leading in specific research categories. **How do I find works by a specific author if I only have their name?** First, use `list_authors` with the `search` parameter to find the author's OpenAlex ID. Once you have the ID (e.g., A5012345678), use `list_works` with a filter like `author.id:A5012345678`. **Can I filter research papers by publication year or citation count?** Yes. Use the `filter` parameter in `list_works`. For example, `publication_year:>2020` or `cited_by_count:>100`. You can also use the `sort` parameter like `cited_by_count:desc` to see the most impactful works first. **Is an API key mandatory to use this server?** No. OpenAlex offers a free public tier. However, providing an API key places you in the 'Polite Pool', which offers faster rate limits and more consistent performance for heavy research tasks.