# crossref-mcp-server [Health: Active]

**Category:** 🔬 Research  
**Repository:** https://github.com/cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server  
**GitHub Stars:** 4  
**npm Downloads (last month):** 1875  
**Views:** 1  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/crossref-mcp-server-2

## Description
Resolve DOIs, search ~155M scholarly works, and fetch references via the Crossref REST API.

## Tools
Capabilities this server exposes over MCP:

- **crossref_get_work** — Resolve a DOI to its full Crossref metadata record: title, authors, editors, affiliations, abstract, journal with volume/issue/pages, ISSNs and ISBNs, publication date, license, full-text links, funder acknowledgements, post-publication updates, and related identifiers
- **crossref_search_works** — Search the Crossref works index by free text and/or structured filters, with field-scoped query parameters, sort, field selection, and offset or cursor-based paging
- **crossref_get_references** — Return the outgoing reference list for a DOI — the works cited by this paper, with citation strings and resolved DOIs where available
- **crossref_search_journals** — Find Crossref journal records by ISSN or title query; optionally retrieve a page of the journal's most recent works
- **crossref_search_funders** — Find funders in the Crossref Funder Registry by name, registry ID, or funder DOI; optionally retrieve a page of funded works
- **crossref_get_member** — Resolve a Crossref member ID to its publisher record — name, owned DOI prefixes, DOI counts, and per-category metadata deposit coverage
- **crossref_get_prefix** — Resolve a DOI prefix (e.g. `10.1038`) to its owning publisher, chaining into `crossref_get_member

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Install path detected from listing signals. Uses `bunx` (confidence: high):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "crossref-mcp-server": {
    "command": "bunx",
    "args": ["@cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server@latest"]
  }
}
```

## Documentation

## What crossref-mcp-server does

crossref-mcp-server exposes Crossref’s scholarly metadata through seven MCP tools. It can resolve a DOI into a detailed work record, search the Crossref works index, retrieve the references cited by a work, and query Crossref records for journals, funders, publishers, and DOI prefixes.

A resolved work can include its title, contributors and affiliations, abstract, journal or book details, publication dates, identifiers, licensing information, full-text links, funder acknowledgements, related identifiers, and post-publication notices. The returned record also includes incoming citation counts, while outgoing references are retrieved with a separate tool.

## How it works

The server sends validated requests to the Crossref REST API and returns MCP tool results. DOI resolution accepts a bare DOI or common resolver forms such as `https://doi.org/...`, `https://dx.doi.org/...`, and `doi:...`. Invalid DOI formats are rejected before an upstream lookup.

Work searches support free-text queries, field-specific terms for titles, authors, containers, and bibliographic data, plus Crossref filter keys such as publication dates, type, ISSN, funder, abstract availability, and license URL. Results can be sorted, narrowed to selected fields, and paged with offsets or cursors. Search results can include update relationships, making it possible to screen for corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, and newer versions before resolving individual records.

Reference results contain citation strings and resolved DOIs when Crossref supplies them. Journal and funder searches can also return a page of associated works. A DOI prefix lookup identifies its owning publisher and chains into the corresponding member record.

## Setup and configuration

The package can be launched over STDIO with the npm package command used by MCP clients:

```bash
npx -y @cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server
```

It can also be used through the public Streamable HTTP endpoint:

```text
https://crossref.caseyjhand.com/mcp
```

The repository provides installation paths for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and VS Code. Choose STDIO when the client starts the process locally, or Streamable HTTP when connecting to the hosted service.

## Tools and capabilities

- `crossref_get_work` resolves a DOI and returns detailed Crossref metadata, including authors, editors, affiliations, citations counts, licenses, links, funders, relations, and update notices.
- `crossref_search_works` searches scholarly works with free text, structured filters, field selection, sorting, and offset or cursor pagination.
- `crossref_get_references` retrieves the outgoing reference list for a DOI.
- `crossref_search_journals` finds journals by ISSN or title and can include recent works.
- `crossref_search_funders` searches the Crossref Funder Registry and can include funded works.
- `crossref_get_member` resolves a Crossref member ID to publisher details, DOI prefixes, counts, and deposit coverage.
- `crossref_get_prefix` maps a DOI prefix to its publisher.

## Limitations and notes

Crossref records reflect metadata deposited by publishers and other registrants, so fields can be absent or incomplete. Search result pages return at most 100 works per request, and author lists are capped per response; a work lookup can be used to retrieve the full record. Offset searches cannot exceed Crossref’s approximately 10,000-record boundary, while cursor paging uses continuation tokens.

An absent update list should not be interpreted as proof that a work has never changed. Crossref exposes incoming citation counts but not the complete set of citing works through this server. DOI records held by other registration agencies can produce a not-found result identifying the relevant agency rather than returning Crossref metadata.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/crossref-mcp-server-2/readme_