CrossRef MCP. Resolve scholarly metadata and track citations.
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CrossRef MCP Server gives your AI client direct access to the world's largest registry of scholarly metadata. Resolve any DOI instantly, search 140M+ works across all disciplines, or find all publications by a specific author.
Get full bibliographic data, citation counts, and author details without leaving your chat window.
What your AI agents can do
Get crossref doi
Look up any scholarly work by its DOI, retrieving its title, all authors, journal, year, type, citation count, and abstract.
Search crossref
Search 140M+ scholarly works across all scientific disciplines, returning DOI, citation count, and full bibliographic data.
Search crossref author
Find and list publications by a specific author, sorted by relevance and including citation counts.
Inputs a DOI and returns the work's title, full author list, journal, year, type, citation count, and abstract.
Searches the entire 140M+ registry using free text and returns DOIs, citation counts, and full bibliographic data for all matching works.
Searches across major publishers and returns a list of a specific author's works, sorted by relevance and including citation counts.
Ask AI about this MCP
Supported MCP Clients
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019d757fget crossref doi
Look up any scholarly work by its DOI, retrieving its title, all authors, journal, year, type, citation count, and abstract.
019d757fsearch crossref
Search 140M+ scholarly works across all scientific disciplines, returning DOI, citation count, and full bibliographic data.
019d757fsearch crossref author
Find and list publications by a specific author, sorted by relevance and including citation counts.
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Build a custom MCP for your own tools, or connect a ready-made integration from our catalog.
Build Your Own
Turn any API into an MCP. Import a spec, define Agent Skills, or deploy with MCPFusion.
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What you can do with this MCP connector
Your AI client gets direct access to the world's biggest scholarly metadata registry. It handles over 140 million records, covering every DOI assigned by scientific publishers. You can resolve any DOI instantly, search 140M+ works across every field, or pull every publication by a specific author. You'll get full details, citation counts, and author info without leaving your chat window.
get_crossref_doi looks up a scholarly work using its DOI, giving you the title, full author list, journal, year, work type, citation count, and abstract.
search_crossref searches the entire 140M+ registry using free text, returning DOIs, citation counts, and full bibliographic data for every matching work.
search_crossref_author finds and lists all publications by a specific author across major publishers, sorting the results by relevance and including citation counts.
How CrossRef MCP Works
- 1 Your AI client calls a function (e.g.,
get_crossref_doi) and provides the specific DOI or author name. - 2 The CrossRef MCP Server executes the query against the world's largest DOI registry.
- 3 The server returns structured JSON containing the full metadata, including citations and authors, directly to your AI client.
The bottom line is, your agent gets verified, structured academic data without needing to interact with a browser or external website.
Who Is CrossRef MCP For?
This is for researchers, writers, and data analysts who need to validate academic sources fast. If your job involves citing sources or tracking citations, this saves you hours of cross-referencing in multiple databases. It connects your AI workflow directly to the authoritative source for scholarly data.
Resolves DOIs to verify specific citations, checks an author's publication history, and compiles bibliographies for grants or papers.
Retrieves immediate publication details and citation counts to fact-check claims and ensure source accuracy for articles.
Explores the scholarly field using citation metrics, analyzing trends across multiple publishers and domains.
What Changes When You Connect
- Instantly verify any citation. By using
get_crossref_doi, your agent retrieves the full metadata for a given DOI—including the original publication type, full author list, and citation count. This eliminates manual database lookups. - Map out an author’s entire career. The
search_crossref_authortool lets you find every publication by a specific researcher across major publishers. The results are sorted by relevance and include citation metrics, letting you build a comprehensive profile. - Conduct broad literature reviews. Use
search_crossrefto query the entire 140M+ registry with free text. You get full bibliographic data and citation counts for every result, letting you cover a massive knowledge domain in one query. - Consolidate data streams. Instead of pulling data from three different sources (e.g., Google Scholar, PubMed, institutional sites), all results—DOIs, titles, authors—come back through one unified cross-reference layer.
- Cut down on verification time. For science writing, instead of opening 10 tabs to check sources, running
get_crossref_doigives you the complete source details and citation history right in your chat.
Real-World Use Cases
Fact-Checking a Citation for a Magazine Article
A science writer needs to confirm the details of a source cited in a draft. They ask their agent: 'What are the full details for DOI 10.1038/nature12373?' The agent runs get_crossref_doi, instantly providing the full title, author list, journal, and citation count. The writer can verify the fact and cite it without leaving their writing tool.
Building a Bibliography for a Grant Proposal
An academic researcher needs to prove the depth of a field. They ask their agent to 'Find all key papers by Jennifer Doudna.' The agent uses search_crossref_author, which compiles her entire body of work, complete with citation metrics and journal details. The researcher gets a structured, verifiable list ready for their proposal.
Tracking Research Trends in a Niche Field
A data analyst wants to know what research is happening in quantum computing. They ask the agent to 'Search for quantum computing error correction.' The agent runs search_crossref, returning 10 relevant works. The analyst reviews the results, seeing the DOI, citation count, and journal, allowing them to map the current state of the field.
Identifying a Key Contributor to a Topic
A researcher finds a paper and wants to know who else worked on it. They ask the agent to 'Find other papers by the author listed in this paper.' The agent uses search_crossref_author, listing all known works by that author, helping the researcher quickly find key collaborators or follow-up research.
The Tradeoffs
Using general search tools.
Asking the agent to 'Find a paper about RNA-guided nucleases' using a general web search. This returns links, snippets, and guesses, requiring manual clicking to verify the DOI or full citation details.
→
Use search_crossref for a general topic search, or get_crossref_doi if you have a DOI. These tools return verified metadata and citation counts, eliminating the guesswork.
Copying and pasting DOIs manually.
Manually copying a DOI from a PDF, then pasting it into a separate online resolver (like a university site). This adds friction, and the resolver might fail or require an extra step to get the citation count.
→
Just call get_crossref_doi. It handles the entire resolution process—title, authors, journal, type, and citation count—in one function call, keeping you in your current workflow.
Searching only by title.
Searching only by a partial title string in a general search. This often misses the correct record or pulls up irrelevant results from similar-sounding papers.
→
Use search_crossref with full free-text queries, or better yet, use search_crossref_author if you know the researcher. Targeting the search vector narrows the results and increases accuracy.
When It Fits, When It Doesn't
Use this server if your core task is validating academic claims, resolving DOIs, or mapping out scholarly work. You need the structured output: a clean JSON object with titles, authors, and citation counts. Don't use it if you just need a general web search (use a standard search engine) or if you are building a workflow that needs to process non-academic data (e.g., internal company documents). If you only have a vague topic and no DOI or author name, start with search_crossref. If you have an author name, use search_crossref_author first, as it’s more targeted. Never assume a search result is correct; always validate the source metadata using one of the three tools.
Independent Platform Disclaimer: Vinkius is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, verified by, or otherwise authorized by CrossRef. All third-party trademarks, logos, and brand names are the property of their respective owners. Their use on this website is strictly for informational purposes to identify service compatibility and interoperability.
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Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and more
The Model Context Protocol standardizes how applications expose capabilities to LLMs. Instead of operating in isolation, your AI gains direct access to external platforms, live data, and real-world actions through secure, standardized connections.
This server provides 3 capabilities that interface natively with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and any MCP client. No middleware. No custom integration required.
Available Capabilities
Sourcing facts shouldn't require jumping between five different databases.
Today, checking a single citation means opening PubMed, then Google Scholar, then the journal's site, and manually copy-pasting the DOI into a resolver. You spend five minutes just confirming the year and citation count. It’s a mess of tabs and copy-pasting.
With the CrossRef MCP Server, you run one command. Give your agent the DOI, and it returns the complete, verified source data—the title, all authors, journal, and citation count—instantly. You get the final answer without the manual steps.
CrossRef MCP Server: Resolve DOI Metadata
Before, verifying a paper’s details meant finding the DOI, then pasting it into a resolver, and hoping it provided the citation count and author list. It was a multi-step, unreliable process.
Now, simply calling `get_crossref_doi` executes the entire check. You get a single, reliable data payload containing all metadata. It's a single function call that replaces three manual steps.
Common Questions About CrossRef MCP
How does the CrossRef MCP Server find citation counts? +
The server pulls the citation count directly from the Crossref registry, giving you the most up-to-date metric available. It includes this count when running get_crossref_doi, search_crossref, and search_crossref_author.
Can I search for papers by a specific author using the CrossRef MCP Server? +
Yes, use the search_crossref_author tool. This tool finds and lists all known publications by the author, sorted by relevance and including citation counts.
What kind of content can search_crossref handle? +
search_crossref handles journals, books, conference papers, datasets, and dissertations. It searches the full 140M+ registry, not just journal articles.
Is the metadata provided by get_crossref_doi guaranteed to be current? +
The data comes directly from the Crossref registry, which is the industry standard. It provides the most authoritative metadata available for the DOI.
Do I need an API key to use the CrossRef MCP Server? +
No. You just subscribe to the server, and your AI client handles the connection; no API key is required from you.
How does the `search_crossref` tool handle complex search queries? +
The search_crossref tool processes free-text queries across 140M+ records. It searches journals, books, conference papers, and datasets equally, ensuring you find any published work, regardless of format.
If I use `get_crossref_doi` with a bad DOI, what happens? +
The tool handles invalid DOIs gracefully. It returns a clear error message, allowing your AI client to report the failure to the user without crashing the workflow.
Can `search_crossref_author` search across different academic disciplines? +
Yes, the tool searches across all major publishers and scientific disciplines. It gathers publications by a specific author and sorts the results by relevance, including citation counts for each entry.
What exactly is a DOI and why is CrossRef important? +
A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique, permanent identifier assigned to every published scholarly work — like a social security number for academic papers. CrossRef maintains the world's largest DOI registry with 140M+ records, making it the authoritative source for bibliographic metadata across all publishers globally.
Is authentication or registration required to use this server? +
No. CrossRef's public API is free and open without authentication. Adding a polite email in the User-Agent header (which this server does automatically) grants access to the 'polite pool' with significantly faster response times.
What types of scholarly works can I find through CrossRef? +
CrossRef covers virtually every type of scholarly output: journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, preprints, datasets, dissertations, and technical reports. It aggregates metadata from 20,000+ publishers including Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Oxford University Press, and thousands of smaller publishers worldwide.
Use it with your favorite AI tools
Connect this server to Cursor, Claude, VS Code, and more.
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