MCP server · Research
Scholar Sidekick MCP server
by mlava
Your AI can check citations, spot fake references, and format bibliographies in thousands of styles.
Scholar Sidekick is a helper for your AI that works with academic references. You give it a DOI, a PubMed number, an ISBN, or a whole reference list, and it looks up the real records, formats citations, and flags anything that looks made up. It is handy if you write papers, check other people's references, or manage a reading list.
What is an MCP server? The 30-second version
On its own, your AI can only chat with you using what it already knows. An MCP server is a small helper program that gives your AI a new skill or a connection to an outside service. This one connects your AI to Scholar Sidekick, a service that looks up scholarly records and citation styles. Once it is connected, your AI can ask Scholar Sidekick for real publication details and bring the answers back into your chat.
What this MCP server does
You ask your AI something like "format this DOI in APA style" or "check if this citation is real". Your AI passes your request to this helper, which talks to the Scholar Sidekick service. That service looks up the real record behind the identifier, checks retraction and open access status, and formats the citation in the style you asked for. The result comes back into your chat as text, a formatted reference, or a file-ready export. You can also hand it a whole reference list and get a table of verdicts back.
Click to zoomWhat you can do with it
- Turn a DOI, PMID, ISBN, or arXiv ID into full publication details
- Format citations in APA, Vancouver, AMA, IEEE, or thousands of other styles
- Export references as BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, or other formats
- Check whether a citation is real or has an invented title
- Audit a whole bibliography for fakes and retractions in one go
- Check if a paper has been retracted or corrected
- Find a free legal copy of a paper and its license
Try asking your AI
- “Format 10.1056/NEJMoa2033700 in Vancouver style”
- “Resolve PMID:30049270 and export it as BibTeX”
- “Has 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31180-6 been retracted?”
- “Build me an APA bibliography from these: 10.1056/NEJMoa2033700, PMID:30049270, ISBN:9780192854087”
What it gives back to you
You get back plain answers in your chat: formatted citations, lists of publication details, a verdict like matched or mismatch, or a table of results for a whole bibliography. Exports come back as text you can save as a .bib or .ris file. Every formatted citation also comes with a small note showing which style and engine produced it. For retraction and open access checks, you get a clear yes or no plus links and dates.
Before you start
What you need
- The Claude desktop app or another AI tool that supports MCP servers
- Node.js installed on your computer if you use the local version
- Nothing else to start: it works without a key on a free, rate-limited tier
- Optional: a free ssk_ key from scholar-sidekick.com/account for higher limits
Good to know
It only reads and looks things up, so it will not change or delete anything, but it does send your identifiers to an outside service and the free tier has usage limits.
Install it with your AI
Add Scholar Sidekick MCP server to your AI, no technical skills needed
You don't install anything by hand. You copy one prompt, paste it into an AI that can work on your computer, and it checks, installs and connects the server for you, asking you when it needs something.
Sign in to get the install prompt
Members get a ready-made prompt that lets the Claude desktop app check Scholar Sidekick MCP server, install it and connect it for them, step by step. You don't need any technical skills: you copy, paste and answer a few questions. Your connected AI can also find and install any of the 4,066 MCP servers here for you.
Who it's for
Researchers, students, librarians, editors, and anyone who writes or checks academic references.
