OpenAlex MCP Server
by DavidEncrypted
This project provides a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI agents to interact with the OpenAlex database, focusing on scholarly works. It utilizes pyalex to communicate with the OpenAlex API and the MCP Python SDK to expose functionality as MCP tools.
Last updated: N/A
What is OpenAlex MCP Server?
The OpenAlex MCP Server is a tool that enables AI agents and other MCP clients to access and query the OpenAlex database of scholarly works. It provides a set of MCP tools for searching, retrieving details, and exploring citations within the OpenAlex dataset.
How to use OpenAlex MCP Server?
To use the server, you need to install it, configure your OpenAlex email for the polite pool, and integrate it with an MCP client (like the Claude VS Code Extension). Once configured, you can use the use_mcp_tool command within your AI agent to call the available tools with specific arguments.
Key features of OpenAlex MCP Server
Search for OpenAlex works based on keywords and filters.
Retrieve detailed information for a specific OpenAlex work by its ID.
Retrieve the list of OpenAlex IDs cited by a specific OpenAlex work.
Retrieve the list of works that cite a specific OpenAlex work.
Retrieve the N-grams (word proximity information) for a specific OpenAlex work's full text.
Use cases of OpenAlex MCP Server
Finding the most cited papers that cite a foundational paper.
Searching for papers related to a specific topic and scoring their relevance.
Identifying influential papers on a particular topic published since a certain year.
Finding papers co-authored by researchers at specific institutions.
FAQ from OpenAlex MCP Server
What is the OpenAlex Polite Pool?
What is the OpenAlex Polite Pool?
The OpenAlex Polite Pool is a faster, more reliable way to access the OpenAlex API. To use it, you need to set the OPENALEX_EMAIL environment variable to your email address.
What happens if I don't set the OPENALEX_EMAIL environment variable?
What happens if I don't set the OPENALEX_EMAIL environment variable?
If you don't set the OPENALEX_EMAIL environment variable, the server will use the anonymous pool, which has stricter rate limits.
What MCP clients can I use with this server?
What MCP clients can I use with this server?
The README mentions the Claude VS Code Extension and Claude Desktop as examples of MCP clients that can be used with this server.
Does OpenAlex store the full text of papers?
Does OpenAlex store the full text of papers?
No, OpenAlex generally does not store Full Text due to copywrite reasons. This also means that the openalex search functionality does not search over the full text, but only the title + abstract
What is the maximum number of results I can get per page?
What is the maximum number of results I can get per page?
The maximum number of results you can get per page is 200.