A side-by-side look at the Citation Network MCP and Openalex MCP Server MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Citation Network MCP for research work as a local process; choose Openalex MCP Server for research as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
SCOPUS_API_KEY.openalex_search_entities, openalex_analyze_trends, openalex_resolve_name.Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Research | Research |
| Quality signal | 36/100 · Fair | 53/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | BYOK (pay the provider) | Not declared |
| Required env vars | SCOPUS_API_KEY | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 0 | 16 |
| Directory activity | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | Not listed | 5 |
| Full listing | View Citation Network MCP | View Openalex MCP Server |
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
openalex_search_entitiesSearch, filter, sort, or retrieve by ID across all 8 entity typesopenalex_analyze_trendsGroup-by aggregation for trend and distribution analysisopenalex_resolve_nameResolve a name or an identifier (DOI, ORCID, ROR, PMID, ISSN, OpenAlex ID) to an OpenAlex IDopenalex_get_citation_graphWalk the citation graph one hop from a seed work: `cites`, `cited_by`, or `related_toopenalex_describe_fieldsList valid filter, group_by, and select field names for an entity typePaste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
{
"mcpServers": {
"citation-network-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"scopus-plus-mcp"
],
"env": {
"SCOPUS_API_KEY": "YOUR_SCOPUS_API_KEY_HERE"
}
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"openalex-mcp-server": {
"command": "bunx",
"args": [
"@cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server@latest"
]
}
}
}