• METRICS
  • HISTORY
  • DISCOVERY
  • HUMAN

How to analyze researcher impact with your AI

Connect your AI to the Stanford OpenAlex dataset to pull real-time scholarly data. Once connected, your agent handles the heavy lifting of searching and aggregating metrics.

Ask AI about this page

Short answer

How can I use my AI to check a scientist's impact?

Your AI uses the Stanford OpenAlex connector to find specific authors and pull their citation counts, h-index, and full publication lists. You get a structured breakdown of their scholarly footprint. Here is how the data flows.

The results you get

Where your data lands

Your AI turns raw scholarly data into organized intelligence.

METRICS

Instant impact scores

The AI pulls specific h-index and citation counts for any researcher. You get the numbers you need for peer reviews or literature surveys.

HISTORY

Complete publication logs

Your agent retrieves a full list of an author's works. This builds a chronological view of their research trajectory.

DISCOVERY

Targeted author searches

Find specific scientists or groups by name or affiliation. The AI identifies the right profiles to start your investigation.

HUMAN

Expert interpretation

The AI provides the raw data and summaries. You decide how to weigh these metrics against qualitative research quality.

The workflow

What your AI does when the request arrives.

The AI acts as a bridge between your chat interface and the OpenAlex database.

  1. Locate the researcher

    The AI searches the OpenAlex database to find the exact person you are looking for, even if you only have a partial name.

    search_authors

  2. Fetch profile data

    Once the author is identified, the AI pulls their specific profile details, including their primary metrics.

    get_author

  3. Compile work history

    The agent gathers every paper and publication associated with that specific author ID.

    get_author_works

  4. Synthesize findings

    The AI organizes the citations and publication dates into a readable report for your review.

    get_author_works

Try it

Copy these to start.

Use these prompts to trigger the analysis immediately.

Starting points

Replace the names and topics in these prompts with the specific scientists or fields you are investigating.

OpenAlex Connector

You're all set. Choose your MCP client and follow the setup instructions.

Connector linkhttps://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_1IhaHep1Klzl6YPd1lxfO7cfzrTJkmx4GduKvQt1/mcp

Claude Desktop

Follow the steps below to connect in seconds.

  1. 1In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors.
  2. 2Click “Add custom connector” and paste the connector link above as the remote MCP server URL.
  3. 3Click Add and start a new chat — OpenAlex capabilities are ready to use.
Configuration · claude_desktop_config.jsonCopy
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "stanford-openalex-mcp": {
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_1IhaHep1Klzl6YPd1lxfO7cfzrTJkmx4GduKvQt1/mcp"
    }
  }
}
Copy into chat04

  • Search for the researcher 'Jennifer Doudna' and give me her h-index and total citation count.

  • Find the publication history for 'Geoffrey Hinton' and summarize his most cited works.

  • Who are the top researchers in the field of CRISPR, and what are their citation counts?

  • Get the full list of works for author ID 12345 and tell me their most recent publication.

  • Claude
  • ChatGPT
  • Cursor
  • VS Code
  • Windsurf
  • Claude Code
  • JetBrains
  • Cline

Start here

Connect Stanford OpenAlex once, then ask.

One click connects the MCP to your client. Your credentials stay encrypted, and you can start querying the database immediately.

Connect Stanford OpenAlex to your AI

FAQ

How the analysis behaves

  • 01

    Can the AI update a researcher's h-index?

    No. The AI only reads existing data from the OpenAlex database; it cannot modify scholarly records.

  • 02

    Can I use this to find papers that aren't in OpenAlex?

    No. The AI is limited to the data provided by the Stanford OpenAlex dataset.

  • 03

    Does the AI decide if a researcher is 'important'?

    No. The AI provides the metrics like citation counts, but you must perform the qualitative judgment.

  • 04

    Can I search for authors by their university?

    Yes, you can use the search capability to find authors based on their affiliations.

  • 05

    Will the AI download PDFs of the papers?

    No. The AI retrieves metadata and publication lists, not the full-text files themselves.

  • More questions about Stanford OpenAlex? The Connector page answers them. See everything the Stanford OpenAlex Connector can do

Connect OpenAlex to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT & more