# Semanticscholar (npm · @pipeworx/mcp-semanticscholar)

Semantic Scholar Academic Graph MCP.

- Trust score: 84/100 (high trust)
- Change this week: +3
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-11-05

## Components

- remote · `gateway.pipeworx.io`: 64/100, [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-semanticscholar/semanticscholar-mcp.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-semanticscholar/semanticscholar-mcp)
- npm · `@pipeworx/mcp-semanticscholar`: 84/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-semanticscholar/pipeworx-mcp-semanticscholar.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-semanticscholar/pipeworx-mcp-semanticscholar)

## Channel facts

- Registry: `npm`
- Package: `@pipeworx/mcp-semanticscholar`
- Version: `0.2.1`
- 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-semanticscholar).
  - Clear OSI-approved license (MIT).
  - Actively maintained (last published 0 days ago).
  - Disclosure check failed: no security disclosure policy was found in the source repository.
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 74/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 602 tokens (~150/item across 4 items; 4 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 4 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.
  - An AI judge read all 5 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 Semanticscholar MCP server?

Semanticscholar runs locally as an npm package, launched with npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-semanticscholar. 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-semanticscholar -- npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-semanticscholar
```

### Cursor

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

### VS Code

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

### Codex

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

### opencode

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

### OpenClaw

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

### Hermes

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

### Netclaw

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

### Vellum

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

### Other

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

## 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 84, +3)

- [security regression] Tool safety: pass → unverified
- [security] Stability: Stability not yet verified: we do not have a sandbox capture of the MCP schema this version of the package serves yet.
- [functional regression] Capabilities: pass → unverified
- [functional regression] Tool coverage: 100 → unverified
- [functional improvement] Stability: unverified → 0.23
- [functional] First check of Schema quality: unverified
- [functional] Package version: 0.2.0 → 0.2.1

### 2026-10-30 (score 81, 0)

- [functional regression] Security disclosure: unverified → fail

### 2026-10-29 (score 81)

First indexed and scored.

## MCP tools (4)

### `search_papers` (~206 tokens)

Search 200M+ academic papers on Semantic Scholar by keyword or exact title. Returns titles, authors, year, venue, CITATION COUNTS, DOI, and open-access PDF links. PREFER for "how many citations does <paper title> have", "citation count for <paper>", "how cited is <paper>" — search the title and read citationCount off the match. Optionally filter by year range and field of study. Keyless.

Input parameters:

- `fields_of_study` (string): Filter by field of study, e.g. "Computer Science", "Medicine", "Biology", "Physics".
- `limit` (number): Max results to return (default 10, max 25).
- `query` (string, required): Search query, e.g. "transformer attention mechanism" or "CRISPR gene editing".
- `year` (string): Filter by publication year or range, e.g. "2023" or "2020-2024".

### `get_paper` (~135 tokens)

Get full metadata for a single paper by ID. Accepts a Semantic Scholar paper ID, or a prefixed ID like "DOI:10.1145/3292500", "arXiv:2106.15928", or "CorpusId:215416146". Returns abstract, TLDR summary, authors, venue, citation/reference counts, fields of study, and open-access PDF. Keyless.

Input parameters:

- `paper_id` (string, required): Paper identifier. A Semantic Scholar ID, or prefixed: "DOI:10...", "arXiv:2106.15928", "CorpusId:...".

### `get_paper_citations` (~139 tokens)

Semantic Scholar cited-by lookup: list the papers that CITE a given paper (the works citing it), with their titles, authors, year, and citation counts. Use for "cited-by papers", "who cites this paper", "papers that cite X", forward citation tracing, and finding follow-up work. Keyless.

Input parameters:

- `limit` (number): Max citing papers to return (default 10, max 25).
- `paper_id` (string, required): Paper identifier. A Semantic Scholar ID, or prefixed: "DOI:10...", "arXiv:2106.15928", "CorpusId:...".

### `get_author` (~66 tokens)

Search for academic authors by name on Semantic Scholar. Returns up to 5 matches with affiliations, paper count, total citation count, h-index, and profile URL. Keyless.

Input parameters:

- `name` (string, required): Author name to search for, e.g. "Yoshua Bengio".

## Diagnostics

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

## Score history

- 2026-11-05: 84
- 2026-11-04: 81
- 2026-11-03: 81
- 2026-11-02: 81
- 2026-11-01: 81
- 2026-10-31: 81
- 2026-10-30: 81
- 2026-10-29: 81

## Common questions

### What is the Semanticscholar MCP server?

Semanticscholar is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.pipeworx-io/semanticscholar. Semantic Scholar Academic Graph MCP. This page covers its npm package (@pipeworx/mcp-semanticscholar).

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

Semanticscholar scores 84 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 Semanticscholar MCP server expose?

Semanticscholar exposes 4 tools: search_papers, get_paper, get_paper_citations, get_author. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 546 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Is the Semanticscholar MCP server still maintained?

Semanticscholar 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 Semanticscholar MCP server under?

Semanticscholar 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 Semanticscholar MCP server?

VerifyMCP ran 16 checks on Semanticscholar, 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-semanticscholar
- Socket report: https://socket.dev/npm/package/@pipeworx/mcp-semanticscholar
- Repository: https://github.com/pipeworx-io/mcp-semanticscholar
- Website: https://pipeworx.io/packs/semanticscholar
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-semanticscholar/pipeworx-mcp-semanticscholar.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-semanticscholar/pipeworx-mcp-semanticscholar/changelog.json
- Trust report (JSON): https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-semanticscholar/pipeworx-mcp-semanticscholar.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-semanticscholar/pipeworx-mcp-semanticscholar