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Doaj

Searches DOAJ’s open-access journal and article index through MCP tools, with local stdio or hosted gateway access.

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Install Doaj

Pick your client, then add it in one click or paste the config.

STDIONode.js
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "doaj": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-doaj"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Settings → Developer → Edit Config, merge this into mcpServers, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

We couldn’t confirm it starts correctly

The install command started, but didn't respond the way we expected when we tried to talk to it.

npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-doaj

initialize succeeded but no response to tools/list.

This is an experimental automated check and can have false negatives — missing environment variables, a slow cold install, etc. It doesn’t necessarily mean something’s wrong. Last checked Today.

Overview

The Doaj MCP server connects AI clients to the Directory of Open Access Journals through its public API. It provides tools for searching articles and journals, sorting and paginating results, and retrieving individual records by ID. Use it for literature discovery, open-access journal research, or retrieving metadata without authentication. It can run locally over stdio or through a hosted Pipeworx gateway and HTTP tool endpoint.

Use cases

  • Search open-access articles by topic
  • Find journals that match a research query
  • Retrieve article metadata by ID
  • Inspect journal records by identifier

Key features

  • Article search with pagination and sorting
  • Journal search with pagination and sorting
  • Article lookup by ID
  • Journal lookup by ID
  • Public DOAJ API access without authentication
  • Local stdio and hosted gateway modes

Security & health

What it can reach and how reliably it runs — from our own checks, not the maintainer’s claims.

ActiveLast checked 2d ago

Recent health check succeeded.

7/7 checks healthy over the last 46d

Supply-chain signal

No high-severity advisories surfaced by our automated scan.

Critical 0High 0Medium 0Low 0

Scanned 15d ago via OSV.dev · @pipeworx/mcp-doaj (npm)

Adoption & maintenance

Factual signals from GitHub, npm, and our automated checks — not a rating.

npm downloads500Package downloads in the last 30 days.
Last commit27d agoMost recent push to the default branch.
Install checkInconclusiveStarted but did not complete the MCP handshake in our test.
Directory activity2 viewsConfig copies, upvotes, and views on AllMCPs.

How Doaj works

What the Doaj MCP server does

The Doaj MCP server exposes the Directory of Open Access Journals as tools for an MCP-compatible AI client. DOAJ is a curated index of peer-reviewed open-access journals, so the server is suited to finding article and journal records rather than querying a private library or subscription database.

The available article operations include keyword or field-based searches and retrieval of a specific article by ID. Journal operations provide the equivalent search and record lookup functions for journals. Search requests support optional page, page-size, and sort parameters. The underlying data comes from DOAJ’s public API, which does not require an API key.

How it works

A client can connect to the hosted MCP endpoint at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/doaj/mcp. That endpoint exposes the Doaj pack’s four tools along with shared Pipeworx gateway tools. The shared tools can route broader questions across the Pipeworx catalog, while direct calls to the pack tools remain focused on DOAJ data.

The same gateway also provides an HTTP tool interface. For example, an HTTP client can send a JSON POST request to the article-search tool endpoint rather than using an MCP client. The gateway documentation also exposes tool inspection and pack-search endpoints.

For an isolated connection, run the package locally over standard input and output. The local process answers MCP initialization, tool-listing, and tool-call requests for the Doaj pack only. It does not add the gateway’s shared meta-tools or its cross-catalog routing behavior.

Setup and configuration

The Doaj MCP server can be configured in an MCP client with the hosted URL, or launched with npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-doaj as a local stdio process. The local option does not require a Pipeworx account and avoids a gateway round trip.

Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf are named as supported client choices. A hosted configuration points the client at the Doaj MCP endpoint; a local configuration uses npx as the command and -y, followed by the package name, as its arguments.

Tools and capabilities

The Doaj MCP server includes these pack-specific tools:

  • search_articles(query, page?, page_size?, sort?) searches indexed article records.
  • search_journals(query, page?, page_size?, sort?) searches indexed journal records.
  • get_article(id) retrieves an article record by identifier.
  • get_journal(id) retrieves a journal record by identifier.

On the hosted gateway connection, tools/list also returns shared Pipeworx tools such as ask_pipeworx, discover_tools, search_within, and remember or recall. The exact gateway tool scope can change, so the connection’s initialize response is authoritative.

Limitations and notes

The Doaj MCP server is limited to the records and behavior exposed by the DOAJ API.

Hosted pack connections include shared gateway schemas by design; they cannot currently be mounted without those additional tools. Choose the local package when only the four DOAJ tools are needed, or use the full Pipeworx gateway when direct access to all catalog packs is preferable. The project is released under the MIT license.

Read the full README View source on GitHub

Reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions about Doaj

Doaj is an MCP server that connects AI clients to the Directory of Open Access Journals through its public API. Its main tools search articles, search journals, and retrieve individual article or journal records by ID, with optional pagination and sorting for searches.

Install it as a local stdio server with `npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-doaj`. Add that command and its `-y` and package arguments to an MCP client configuration, or connect directly to the hosted Pipeworx MCP URL.

Yes, Doaj works with Cursor.

No, it does not require an API key for the DOAJ data described here. The server uses DOAJ’s public API, and the local package also runs without a Pipeworx account.

Yes, you can call the hosted tools over HTTP. Send a JSON POST request to the gateway’s `doaj_search_articles` endpoint, and use the gateway’s tool-inspection endpoint to examine a tool.

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