Semanticscholar vs Semantic Scholar Mcp

In-depth architectural comparison of the Semanticscholar and Semantic Scholar Mcp MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

S

Choose Semanticscholar when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Research domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).

Explore Semanticscholar Details

Choose Semantic Scholar Mcp when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Research domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: API Key required (Free / Open Source).
• You have access to required keys: SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY.
• Primary tools included: 14 typed MCP tools for research workflows, Access to 200M+ Semantic Scholar papers, Citation graph traversal (citations and references).

Explore Semantic Scholar Mcp Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	S Semanticscholar Research	Semantic Scholar Mcp smaniches Research
Summary	Search 200M+ papers, authors, citations, and recommendations via Semantic Scholar	Semantic Scholar MCP server: 14 typed tools over 200M+ academic papers — search, paper/author retrieval, citation-graph traversal, and recommendations. uvx s2-mcp-server
Category & Scope	Research	Research

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations

Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "semanticscholar": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "semanticscholar"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "smaniches-semantic-scholar-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "s2-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "YOUR_SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

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