RESEARCH LITERATURE / OurResearch
OpenAlex MCP Server
Official OpenAlex server for checking whether a citation exists and for counting scholarly works, with profile-edit tools also registered.
“The official OpenAlex server for the Model Context Protocol. Connect it to Claude (or any MCP client) and ask questions about the scholarly literature …”
01 / THE REASONING
Why this made the selection.
- resolve_references is the publisher tool for checking whether a citation exists, which is the failure mode when a model paper’s references are paraphrased.
- search_works is written to echo the canonical query and a link that reproduces it, so a literature count can be cited instead of restated.
02 / THE REVIEW RECORD
What we actually inspected.
Source review has boundaries.
A clear record is more useful than a “safe” badge.
Material inspected
- README.md
- src/server.ts registration block
- src/curationTools.ts claim and submit tools
- LICENSE
- 2026-10-14 reread of retained pinned setup/configuration evidence for the specific operational details added in this batch.
Our findings
- registerCurationTools is not behind a feature flag. Keyword, expert and alert registration are.
- The README endpoint is https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp. The read-only sentence conflicts with the curation tools in the same commit.
- Retained README/tool descriptions provide preview counts, canonical OQL and rerun URLs, reference-resolution limits and curation prerequisites. Key identity, paging and truncated fields are now explicit in the workflow.
Not established by this review
- The server was not installed or connected. No OAuth login, literature query, curation write or credit spend was performed.
- No authenticated session, installation, permission bypass or package-to-source parity test was performed.
The review applies to the material and revision named here. A newer upstream release can change its behavior.
03 / PUT IT TO WORK
Connect a server deliberately.
DOCUMENTED COMMAND
claude mcp add --transport http openalex https://mcp.openalex.org/mcpCopying does not execute this command. It may retrieve a newer version than the reviewed source.
- Run the README's Claude Code command, or point any Streamable HTTP client at https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp.
- Expect an OAuth sign-in even where the connector blurb says no login is needed. This review did not connect.
Before you start
- An MCP client that can complete OAuth against OpenAlex
- An OpenAlex account whose key budget you are willing to spend
04 / FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The source trail.
Our notes are separate from the original resource.
Check upstream before adopting a new version.
https://github.com/ourresearch/openalex-mcp-server/blob/d33332f26519065c6b6c75f2f101bce10d95a8c5/README.md
Supports: summary, install, transports, limitations, configExample, access, bestFor, review, compatibility
- Server registration ↗Checked
https://github.com/ourresearch/openalex-mcp-server/blob/d33332f26519065c6b6c75f2f101bce10d95a8c5/src/server.ts
Supports: review, access
- Curation tools ↗Checked
https://github.com/ourresearch/openalex-mcp-server/blob/d33332f26519065c6b6c75f2f101bce10d95a8c5/src/curationTools.ts
Supports: review, access
- MIT licence ↗Checked
https://github.com/ourresearch/openalex-mcp-server/blob/d33332f26519065c6b6c75f2f101bce10d95a8c5/LICENSE
Supports: license