Yuzongmin Semantic Scholar Fastmcp MCP Server

🚀 Semantic Scholar MCP Server

A fast MCP server implementation for the Semantic Scholar API, offering comprehensive access to academic paper data, author information, and citation networks.

✨ Features

Paper Search and Discovery

• Full-text search and advanced filtering capabilities.
• Find papers by title matching.
• Paper recommendation (single and multiple).
• Batch retrieval of paper details.
• Advanced search combined with sorting strategies.

Citation Analysis

• Exploration of citation networks.
• Tracking of references.
• Analysis of citation context and influence.

Author Information

• Author search and profile query.
• View publication history.
• Batch retrieval of author details.

Advanced Features

• Complex search with multiple sorting strategies.
• Customizable field selection.
• Efficient batch processing operations.
• Compliant rate-limiting strategies.
• Support for authenticated and unauthenticated access.
• Graceful shutdown and error handling.
• Connection pooling and resource management.

📦 Installation

System Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• FastMCP framework
• API key environment variable (optional)

Installation Steps

Install using FastMCP:

fastmcp install semantic-scholar-server.py --name "Semantic Scholar" -e SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY=your-api-key

The -e SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY parameter is optional. If not provided, the server will use unauthenticated access with lower rate limits.

📚 Documentation

Configuration

Environment Variables

• SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY: Your Semantic Scholar API key (optional).
  • Obtain your key at Semantic Scholar API.
  • If not provided, the server will use unauthenticated access.

Rate Limiting Strategies

The server automatically adjusts to appropriate rate limits:

With API Key:

• Search, batch, and recommendation endpoints: 1 request per second.
• Other endpoints: 10 requests per second.

Without Key:

• All endpoints: 100 requests within 5 minutes.
• Longer request timeout.

Available MCP Tools

⚠️ Important Note

All tools are aligned with the official Semantic Scholar API documentation. Please refer to the official documentation for detailed field descriptions and more information.

Error Handling

The server provides standard error responses:

{
    "error": {
        "type": "error_type",  # Possible error types: rate limiting, API error, authentication failure, timeout, etc.
        "message": "Error description",
        "details": {
            # Additional context
            "authenticated": true/false  # Indicates whether the request is authenticated
        }
    }
}