A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides access to the OpenAlex API - a fully open catalog of the global research system covering over 240 million scholarly works.
OpenAlex MCP Server is an MCP project maintained in the reetp14/openalex-mcp repository. The maintainer describes its purpose as “A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides access to the OpenAlex API - a fully open catalog of the global research system covering over…”. Read the project documentation for the complete scope.
The project provides a local client configuration using node. Follow the repository’s build and installation steps before copying it, and replace example paths with the paths on your own computer.
Project documentation · Repository · Discovery listing. This profile records the public documentation checked on 2026-10-08.
Check the linked publisher documentation and your connected client's tool list. Names and availability can vary with the server version and account permissions.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| search_works | Search scholarly works |
| search_authors | Search researchers and creators |
| search_sources | Search journals, conferences, repositories |
| search_institutions | Search universities, hospitals, labs |
| search_concepts | Search research topics |
| search_publishers | Search publishing organizations |
| search_funders | Search grant-making bodies |
| search | Search query (required) |
| filter | Boolean filters (e.g., concept.id:C12345,from_publication_date:2022-01-01) |
| sort | Sort field with optional :desc (e.g., cited_by_count:desc) |
| cursor | Deep pagination (use for first call) |
| group_by | Faceting/aggregation by field |
| select | Comma-separated fields to return |
| sample | Random sample size with optional seed |
| mailto | Your email for higher rate limits |
| get_entity | Get a single entity by OpenAlex ID |
| entity_type | One of: works, authors, sources, institutions, concepts, publishers, funders |
| openalex_id | OpenAlex ID (e.g., W2741809807, A1969205038) |
| autocomplete | Type-ahead search across entity types |
| per_page | Number of suggestions (max 50) |
| classify_text | Predict research concepts from text |
| title | Title text to classify |
| abstract | Abstract text to classify |
{
"mcpServers": {
"openalex": {
"command": "node",
"args": [
"./node_modules/openalex-mcp/build/index.js"
]
}
}
}From the project documentation. Replace placeholders and example paths before connecting.
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MCP server with tools to search, fetch, analyze, and report on scientific papers and datasets.
Scholarly search: OpenAlex, Crossref, arXiv, OpenCitations and PubMed in one endpoint.