A side-by-side look at the Crossref MCP Server and OokCite MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Crossref MCP Server for research work as a local process; choose OokCite for research as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
crossref_get_work, crossref_search_works, crossref_get_references.validate_doi, lookup_isbn, reverse_lookup.Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Research | Research |
| Quality signal | 53/100 · Good | 57/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 3 | 2 |
| Directory activity | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 7 | 38 |
| Full listing | View Crossref MCP Server | View OokCite |
crossref_get_workResolve 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 identifierscrossref_search_worksSearch the Crossref works index by free text and/or structured filters, with field-scoped query parameters, sort, field selection, and offset or cursor-based pagingcrossref_get_referencesReturn the outgoing reference list for a DOI — the works cited by this paper, with citation strings and resolved DOIs where availablecrossref_search_journalsFind Crossref journal records by ISSN or title query; optionally retrieve a page of the journal's most recent workscrossref_search_fundersFind funders in the Crossref Funder Registry by name, registry ID, or funder DOI; optionally retrieve a page of funded workscrossref_get_memberResolve a Crossref member ID to its publisher record — name, owned DOI prefixes, DOI counts, and per-category metadata deposit coveragecrossref_get_prefixResolve a DOI prefix (e.g. `10.1038`) to its owning publisher, chaining into `crossref_get_membervalidate_doiCheck if a DOI exists (anti-hallucination)lookup_isbnLook up a book by ISBNreverse_lookupFind a paper from messy citation text; returns original query, confidence, and titlebatch_resolveResolve many citation strings in one request (max 50)enhanced_searchCorpus search with author / category / citation facetshealth_checkCheck API availability and healthformat_citationFormat a DOI in any of 2900+ CSL styles (no API key for a single citation)verify_referencesBatch-check DOIs, and any bibliographic claim passed with thembatch_formatFormat multiple citations at oncesearch_stylesFind CSL style IDs by namelist_stylesPage through the full CSL style listgroup_citeGenerate grouped in-text markers (e.g. [1-3])Paste 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": {
"crossref-mcp-server-2": {
"command": "bunx",
"args": [
"@cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server@latest"
]
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"ookcite": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@turtletech/ookcite-mcp"
]
}
}
}