# Crossref (npm · @pipeworx/mcp-crossref)

Crossref MCP — wraps the Crossref REST API (academic papers, free, no auth)

- Trust score: 83/100 (high trust)
- Change this week: +3
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-11-05

## Components

- remote · `gateway.pipeworx.io`: 84/100, [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-crossref/crossref-mcp.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-crossref/crossref-mcp)
- npm · `@pipeworx/mcp-crossref`: 83/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-crossref/pipeworx-mcp-crossref.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-crossref/pipeworx-mcp-crossref)

## Channel facts

- Registry: `npm`
- Package: `@pipeworx/mcp-crossref`
- Version: `1.1.1`
- Transport: `stdio`

## Trust breakdown

How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically from public evidence about the published package, including repeated runs of it in an isolated sandbox, and we only credit what we can confirm. Scores are 0–100 per category. Scoring method: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring (what has changed: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring/changelog)

Scored 2026-11-05.

- **Supply Chain Security**: 100/100
  - No malware found by supply-chain analysis.
  - No known CVEs affecting this package version or its production dependencies.
  - No install/post-install scripts declared.
  - No production dependencies, so there is no dependency health to assess.
- **Provenance & Transparency**: 97/100
  - Source repository is publicly reachable at the declared URL.
  - Cryptographically verified build provenance (signed, bound to pipeworx-io/mcp-crossref).
  - Clear OSI-approved license (MIT).
  - Actively maintained (last published 4 days ago).
  - Disclosure check failed: no security disclosure policy was found in the source repository.
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 68/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 679 tokens (~226/item across 3 items; 3 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 23/100
  - Stability observed for 7 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.
- **Tool Coverage**: 100/100
  - 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).
  - 100% of tool parameters carry a description.
- **Tool Safety**: 100/100
  - No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.
  - We read all 3 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.
  - An AI judge read all 4 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.
- **Capabilities**: 100/100
  - Implements a supported MCP spec version (2025-11-25); the latest is 2026-07-28.

## Install

### How do I install the Crossref MCP server?

Crossref runs locally as an npm package, launched with npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-crossref. Ready-made configuration for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and 5 more is on this page, copied from each client's own documentation.

### Claude

```bash
claude mcp add pipeworx-io-crossref -- npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-crossref
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx-io-crossref": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-crossref"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "pipeworx-io-crossref": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-crossref"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```bash
codex mcp add pipeworx-io-crossref -- npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-crossref
```

### opencode

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "pipeworx-io-crossref": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": [
        "npx",
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-crossref"
      ],
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
```

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add pipeworx-io-crossref --command npx --arg -y --arg @pipeworx/mcp-crossref
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  pipeworx-io-crossref:
    command: "npx"
    args: ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-crossref"]
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "pipeworx-io-crossref": {
      "Transport": "stdio",
      "Command": "npx",
      "Arguments": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-crossref"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add pipeworx-io-crossref -t stdio -c npx -a -y @pipeworx/mcp-crossref
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx-io-crossref": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-crossref"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

## Changelog

Every change recorded for this component, newest first. Days that predate change tracking, or that we cannot explain, say so: "we were watching and nothing happened" and "we were not watching" are different claims.

### 2026-11-05 (score 83, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 20 to 23. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 6 days of observed history at the previous scan, 7 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-11-03 (score 82, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 13 to 17. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 4 days of observed history at the previous scan, 5 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-11-01 (score 81, +26)

- [security improvement] Malware scan: unverified → pass
- [security improvement] Known CVEs: unverified → pass
- [functional improvement] Dependency health: unverified → pass

### 2026-10-31 (score 55, −25)

- [security regression] Known CVEs: pass → unverified
- [security regression] Malware scan: pass → unverified
- [functional regression] Dependency health: pass → unverified
- [functional] Package version: 1.1.0 → 1.1.1

### 2026-10-29 (score 80)

First indexed and scored.

## MCP tools (3)

### `search_works` (~488 tokens)

Search academic papers, books, and datasets via Crossref. For "search works titled X" / finding a SPECIFIC paper by its title, pass `title` (title-scoped — ranks the exact paper first). Beyond keyword search you can SORT by citation count or publication date and FILTER by date range, work type, author, and JOURNAL (`journal` = a journal name like "Progress in Materials Science" or an ISSN; results are restricted to that journal only) — e.g. "most-cited papers on transformers" (sort=citations), "papers on LLMs since 2024" (from_date=2024-01-01), "recent journal articles by an author". Returns titles, authors, journal, DOIs, citation counts, and dates.

Input parameters:

- `author` (string): Search/restrict by author name (e.g. "Hinton", "Yann LeCun").
- `from_date` (string): Only works published on/after this date (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY).
- `journal` (string): Restrict results to ONE journal: its name (e.g. "Progress in Materials Science", resolved to its ISSNs) or an ISSN (e.g. "0079-6425"). Returns only that journal's works, never other journals' papers.
- `limit` (number): Number of results to return (1-100, default 10)
- `query` (string): Keyword query over all fields (e.g. "climate change machine learning"). Optional if "title", "author" or "journal" is given.
- `sort` (string): Result ordering: "relevance" (default), "citations" (most-cited first), or "published" (newest first; note Crossref has some records with erroneous future dates).
- `title` (string): Title-scoped search — use when looking for a specific paper by its (partial or full) title, e.g. "Remus High Availability Asynchronous Virtual Machine Replication".
- `type` (string): Restrict to a Crossref work type, e.g. "journal-article", "book", "proceedings-article", "dataset", "posted-content" (preprints).
- `until_date` (string): Only works published on/before this date (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY).

### `get_work` (~70 tokens)

Get full metadata for a publication by DOI (e.g., "10.1038/nature12373"). Returns title, authors, abstract, journal, publisher, citations, and subjects.

Input parameters:

- `doi` (string, required): DOI of the work (e.g., "10.1038/nature12373")

### `get_journal` (~69 tokens)

Get the 5 most recent works from a journal by ISSN (e.g., "2041-1723"). Returns titles, authors, DOIs, and publication dates.

Input parameters:

- `issn` (string, required): Journal ISSN (e.g., "1476-4687" for Nature)

## Diagnostics

Captured diagnostic sections: Provenance, Dependencies. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-crossref/pipeworx-mcp-crossref#diagnostics

## Score history

- 2026-11-05: 83
- 2026-11-04: 82
- 2026-11-03: 82
- 2026-11-02: 81
- 2026-11-01: 81
- 2026-10-31: 55
- 2026-10-30: 80
- 2026-10-29: 80

## Common questions

### What is the Crossref MCP server?

Crossref is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.pipeworx-io/crossref. Crossref MCP, wraps the Crossref REST API (academic papers, free, no auth). This page covers its npm package (@pipeworx/mcp-crossref).

### Is the Crossref MCP server safe to use?

Crossref scores 83 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. We found no known CVEs affecting it as of 5 November 2026. It declares no install or post-install scripts. Its build provenance is signed and verified. That is a record of what we were able to check automatically, not an endorsement. The category breakdown on this page shows every signal behind the number, including the ones we could not confirm.

### What tools does the Crossref MCP server expose?

Crossref exposes 3 tools: search_works, get_work, get_journal. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 627 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Is the Crossref MCP server still maintained?

Crossref is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 5 November 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.

### What licence is the Crossref MCP server under?

Crossref declares the MIT licence, which is OSI-approved. That covers the source only, and says nothing about the cost of any service it calls.

### What did VerifyMCP test on the Crossref MCP server?

VerifyMCP ran 16 checks on Crossref, covering Malware scan, Known CVEs, Install scripts, Dependency health and 12 more. Endpoint Security and Transport & Reachability do not apply to an npm package, so they were not tested. The score does not measure everything, and the scoring documentation lists what it leaves out.

## Links

- npm package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@pipeworx/mcp-crossref
- Socket report: https://socket.dev/npm/package/@pipeworx/mcp-crossref
- Repository: https://github.com/pipeworx-io/mcp-crossref
- Website: https://pipeworx.io/packs/crossref
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-crossref/pipeworx-mcp-crossref.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-crossref/pipeworx-mcp-crossref/changelog.json
- Trust report (JSON): https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-crossref/pipeworx-mcp-crossref.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-crossref/pipeworx-mcp-crossref