# CrossRef MCP for AI Agents MCP > CrossRef gives your AI agent direct access to the world’s largest registry of scholarly metadata, covering over 140 million records across every scientific discipline. Instantly resolve DOIs, track citation counts, or search for all publications from a specific researcher—all in one place. ## Overview - **Category:** the-unthinkable - **Price:** Free - **Tags:** scholarly-metadata, doi-resolution, academic-research, citation-tracking, bibliographic-data, search-api ## Description This MCP connects your AI agent directly to CrossRef, giving it visibility into the world's most comprehensive database of scholarly metadata. You stop hunting across multiple academic indexes and start asking questions that get definitive answers. Whether you’re writing a literature review or building an analytical model, you can use this MCP for immediate data retrieval. Your agent can find any published work—journals, books, datasets, conference papers—using free-text queries to map out entire fields of research. If you just have a DOI, the tool immediately pulls all the deep metadata: title, full author list, journal details, and how many times it has been cited. It's built for people who need verifiable data fast. Because this MCP is hosted on Vinkius, your agent connects once and gains access to cross-disciplinary research tools without needing any specific API keys or manual setup steps. It lets you verify citations and build bibliographies against the definitive source of academic publishing. ## Tools ### search_crossref_author Finds all publications by a given author name and returns them sorted by relevance along with their total citation counts. ### get_crossref_doi Looks up complete metadata (title, authors, journal, year, citation count) instantly using a specific DOI number. ### search_crossref Searches 140M+ scholarly works across all scientific disciplines, returning DOI and full bibliographic data for any topic. ## Prompt Examples **Prompt:** ``` What are the key papers on mRNA vaccine technology? ``` **Response:** ``` **Key Papers in mRNA Technology** * **Title:** Lipid nanoparticle delivery of mRNA encoding Spike protein * **Journal:** Nature Medicine (2021) * **Authors:** Smith J., Lee K., Chen P. * **Cited:** 987 times * **DOI:** [Example DOI] This paper is a foundational piece. It shows the initial work on delivery systems, which was critical for modern vaccine development. ``` **Prompt:** ``` Find all papers by Jennifer Doudna related to CRISPR. ``` **Response:** ``` **Publications by Jennifer Doudna (Top 5)** | Year | Title Snippet | Journal | Citations | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 2012 | Programmable Dual-RNA-Guided... | Science | 15,000+ | | 2017 | CRISPR/Cas9 in vivo applications | Nature | 4,500+ | | 2020 | Genome editing for therapeutics | Cell | 1,200+ | The results confirm her primary contributions and show the trajectory of research over time. ``` **Prompt:** ``` Give me all the details on this DOI: 10.1038/nature12373 ``` **Response:** ``` **Metadata Lookup Complete** * **Full Title:** Sequence-specific antimicrobials using efficiently delivered RNA-guided nucleases * **Authors:** David Bikard, et al. * **Journal:** Nature Biotechnology * **Published:** 2014 * **Type:** Journal Article * **Total Citations:** 682 The record is solid. The full text link resolves to the publisher page. ``` ## Capabilities ### Search scholarly works by topic Your agent can search across 140M+ records for any published work, including DOI and citation metrics. ### Resolve metadata using a DOI The MCP pulls complete details—authors, journal, year, type, and citation count—for any given Digital Object Identifier (DOI). ### Gather all publications by an author Your agent finds every published work associated with a specific researcher across major publishers. ## Use Cases ### Checking a source in a news piece A science journalist needs to verify a claim about CRISPR technology. They ask their agent to use `get_crossref_doi` on the provided DOI, and it immediately confirms the paper's original journal, full author list, and how many times the finding has been cited. ### Writing a literature review for a thesis A PhD candidate is writing about deep learning. They ask their agent to use `search_crossref` with 'deep learning' as the query, getting hundreds of results that include citation counts and full bibliographic data, helping them prioritize key foundational papers. ### Tracking a researcher’s impact A principal investigator needs to know all work by a collaborator. They use `search_crossref_author` with the name, receiving a ranked list of every publication, sorted by relevance and total citations. ### Building an internal knowledge graph A data analyst wants to map relationships between concepts in quantum computing. They use `search_crossref` repeatedly on different keywords, gathering structured metadata and citation links for a robust internal resource. ## Benefits - Verify facts instantly. Instead of guessing, use `get_crossref_doi` to pull precise details—like journal name and year—for any research paper with a DOI. - Build comprehensive bibliographies faster. The MCP lets you track down every publication associated with an author by running the `search_crossref_author` tool, giving you a complete history of work. - Map out entire fields of study. Use `search_crossref` to run broad queries across 140M+ records and gather citation metrics for bibliometric analysis in one go. - Consolidate data sources. You don't need separate tools for books, journals, or datasets; this MCP handles all scholarly types simultaneously. - Save time on manual lookup. The agent resolves the complexity of academic publishing so you get structured data right away. ## How It Works The bottom line is that you pass scholarly reference points (like DOIs or names) to your agent, and it pulls back all the associated academic context immediately. 1. Connect your AI client to this MCP in Vinkius. 2. Ask your agent to perform an action, like finding all works by a named author or resolving a specific DOI number. 3. The agent executes the request and returns structured data containing full metadata, citation counts, and bibliographic details. ## Frequently Asked Questions **How does CrossRef MCP help me find reliable academic sources?** It gives you access to a massive, definitive registry of scholarly metadata. Instead of relying on general web searches, the MCP connects your agent to structured data, providing verifiable DOIs and full citation counts for every source. **I need to track an author's career history; can CrossRef MCP do that?** Yes. You can use the MCP to find all publications by a specific researcher across major publishers simultaneously. It generates a comprehensive, ranked list of their work and citation impact. **What if I only have a DOI number? Can CrossRef MCP still give me enough detail?** Absolutely. If you provide just the DOI, the MCP pulls out every piece of associated metadata: the full title, all authors, the journal it appeared in, and its total citation count. **Is CrossRef MCP better than Google Scholar for bibliography data?** Yes. While Google Scholar is good for discovery, the MCP accesses a professional registry with definitive metadata resolution. It provides structured data points needed for reliable bibliometric analysis and academic writing. **Does CrossRef MCP cover datasets or just journal articles?** No, it's universal. The system searches across journals, books, conference papers, *and* datasets. It is designed to map the entire scholarly landscape, not just published texts.