search_works_by_queryLABSCO SUMMARY
Turn a half-remembered citation into a verified one.
Crossref is the authority on what a DOI actually points at, which makes this the cheap way to check a reference an assistant produced before it ends up in a bibliography. Funder and journal search extend the same index to questions about where research is published and who paid for it.
What it is
A search layer over Crossref, the registry that mints and records DOIs. Queries return catalogued metadata — authors, titles, journals, funding — rather than the paper's text.
What you get
- Searches by keyword, title or author across the Crossref index
- Full metadata for one work, fetched by its DOI
- Journal search, for placing a title or checking what a venue publishes
- Funder search, for tracing which organizations back a line of research
Requirements
Python 3.10 or newer. No account and no key — Crossref's index is public.
Setup effort
Build from source — git clone https://github.com/JackKuo666/Crossref-MCP-Server.git
USE CASES
01
Checking whether a citation is real
Resolve the DOI and read back the registered metadata. If the title, authors and journal do not match what you were given, the citation was invented.
02
Finding papers on a topic
Search by keywords, a partial title or an author name, and get the catalogued results with their DOIs ready to look up in full.
03
Deciding where to submit
Search journals in the Crossref database to see which venues carry work like yours before you spend a week formatting for one.
04
Tracing who funds a research area
Search funding organizations and the research they support — the starting point for a grant landscape or a conflict-of-interest check.
4 tools
Listed in project docs. Your client may show a different list.
get_work_metadatasearch_journalssearch_fundersBEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
4 tools named in the project's documentation.
Requires
- python on PATH
- Python 3.10+
Where it runs
Both documented clients run the server on your machine.
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
Server setup
TERMINAL
git clone https://github.com/JackKuo666/Crossref-MCP-Server.git
cd Crossref-MCP-Server
pip install -r requirements.txtMCP Clients
Claude Desktop, Cline
JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"crossref": {
"command": "python",
"args": [
"<YOUR_PATH_TO_CROSSREF_MCP_SERVER>/crossref_server.py"
]
}
}
}<YOUR_PATH_TO_CROSSREF_MCP_SERVER> is the folder you cloned, and use the python you ran pip install -r requirements.txt with.
