Altmetric MCP

Altmetric MCP Server

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI agents to access Altmetric APIs for tracking the attention and reach of research outputs across news outlets, policy documents, social media, and other online platforms.

Altmetric monitors where research is being discussed beyond traditional academic citations - from mainstream media coverage to policy citations, patent references, and social media engagement - providing a comprehensive view of real-world research impact.

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 20.6.0 - Download from nodejs.org (LTS recommended)
• Altmetric API credentials (at least one):
  • Details Page API key - Free tier or commercial access
  • Explorer API key + secret - Institutional access

Don't have keys yet? Request API access

Quick Install (Claude Desktop on macOS)

Run the guided installer in Terminal - it checks Node.js, prompts for your API keys, and configures Claude Desktop automatically:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/altmetric/altmetric-mcp/main/install.sh)

Or if you've cloned the repo:

bash install.sh

Prefer to set things up manually? See Claude Desktop below.

Installation

Configure your MCP client to run the Altmetric MCP server using npx. Include only the API credentials you have access to.

{
  "type": "stdio",
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y", "altmetric-mcp"],
  "env": {
    "ALTMETRIC_DETAILS_API_KEY": "your_details_api_key_here",
    "ALTMETRIC_EXPLORER_API_KEY": "your_explorer_api_key_here",
    "ALTMETRIC_EXPLORER_API_SECRET": "your_explorer_api_secret_here"
  }
}

Below are specific instructions for popular AI tools and editors.

Claude Desktop

1. Open the configuration file at:

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

   On macOS you can open it from Terminal:

   mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude && open -a TextEdit ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   

2. Add the Altmetric MCP server. If the file is empty, paste this (replacing the placeholder keys with your own, and removing any you don't have):

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "Altmetric": {
         "type": "stdio",
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["-y", "altmetric-mcp"],
         "env": {
           "ALTMETRIC_DETAILS_API_KEY": "your_details_api_key_here",
           "ALTMETRIC_EXPLORER_API_KEY": "your_explorer_api_key_here",
           "ALTMETRIC_EXPLORER_API_SECRET": "your_explorer_api_secret_here"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

   If the file already has content, add "Altmetric": { ... } inside the existing "mcpServers" block, separated by a comma from the other entries.

3. Save the file and restart Claude Desktop (Cmd+Q then reopen).

4. Verify by asking Claude: "Use the Altmetric tools to look up the attention score for DOI 10.1038/nature12373"

claude mcp add --transport stdio altmetric-mcp \
  --env ALTMETRIC_DETAILS_API_KEY=your_details_api_key_here \
  --env ALTMETRIC_EXPLORER_API_KEY=your_explorer_api_key_here \
  --env ALTMETRIC_EXPLORER_API_SECRET=your_explorer_api_secret_here \
  -- npx -y altmetric-mcp

{
  "servers": {
    "Altmetric": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "altmetric-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ALTMETRIC_DETAILS_API_KEY": "your_details_api_key_here",
        "ALTMETRIC_EXPLORER_API_KEY": "your_explorer_api_key_here",
        "ALTMETRIC_EXPLORER_API_SECRET": "your_explorer_api_secret_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Altmetric": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "altmetric-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ALTMETRIC_DETAILS_API_KEY": "your_details_api_key_here",
        "ALTMETRIC_EXPLORER_API_KEY": "your_explorer_api_key_here",
        "ALTMETRIC_EXPLORER_API_SECRET": "your_explorer_api_secret_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Deploying safely

This server runs as a child process of the MCP host (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, etc.). A few things are worth knowing before you wire it into a sensitive workflow.

What the server does

• Read-only proxy to two Altmetric HTTP APIs over outbound HTTPS. The one exception is an idempotent POST to the Explorer identifier_lists endpoint (create-or-find), used internally to scope an Explorer query to a supplied set of identifiers; it creates no user-visible state and is not destructive.
• No inbound network surface in the default stdio mode; no destructive operations. (The opt-in HTTP transport adds an OAuth-gated inbound surface.)
• Treats upstream text as untrusted: scans for prompt-injection markers, redacts suspicious matches in the LLM-facing summary, and surfaces raw values only via structuredContent.

What you should do

• Set API keys via your MCP host's env block, not via a committed .env file. Keys appear in URL query strings; treat them as bearer-equivalent credentials.
• Run with reduced privileges if your host allows it. The server only needs outbound HTTPS to api.altmetric.com and www.altmetric.com. If your host or container runtime supports it, deny filesystem writes outside $TMPDIR and deny other network egress.
• Consider an egress allowlist (forward proxy / DLP). If you're using the server inside an environment that processes sensitive data, route outbound traffic through a proxy that only allows the two Altmetric hosts. The server doesn't need to talk to anyone else.
• Respect your data-classification zone. This server forwards tool arguments verbatim to a third party. If your prompt contains restricted or regulated data, it leaves your boundary.

What's enforced for you

• Outbound URLs are asserted to use https:.
• Upstream responses are capped at 20 MB and 60 s.
• Inbound tool arguments are capped at 8 MB total / 64 KB per string.
• Filter values are validated client-side (date format, length, pagination ranges) before any upstream call.
• Upstream error bodies are logged to stderr by SHA-256 prefix only, not verbatim.

For vulnerability reports and supported versions see SECURITY.md.

HTTP transport (OAuth) — experimental

Besides the default stdio entrypoint, the server can run as a long-lived HTTP service that authenticates callers with OAuth 2.1 instead of static API keys. This is intended for shared/remote deployments and is still experimental.

In this mode the server is an OAuth resource server: clients present a bearer token issued by Altmetric Explorer (the authorization server). The server validates the token, exchanges it for that user's Explorer API credentials via Explorer's credential broker, then signs Explorer API calls itself — the client's bearer is never forwarded to the Altmetric API. Only the Explorer tools are exposed over HTTP; Details Page tools remain stdio-only for now.

Run it:

npm run start:http

Configuration (environment variables):

No ALTMETRIC_* keys are used on the HTTP transport — credentials are brokered per request.

Endpoints:

• POST /mcp — MCP Streamable HTTP (bearer required). The transport is stateless: a fresh server/transport is created per request, so there are no sessions, any instance serves any request, and redeploys are invisible to clients. GET/DELETE /mcp return 405 (no server-initiated stream, no session to close).
• GET /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource — RFC 9728 metadata pointing clients at Explorer
• GET /health — health check

Unauthenticated /mcp requests get 401 with a WWW-Authenticate header pointing at the metadata document, so MCP clients can discover Explorer and run the OAuth flow automatically.

Troubleshooting

API Tiers

Details Page API

• Free Tier: Access to get_citation_counts and search_citations
• Commercial Tier: Access to all Details Page tools including get_citation_details

If you attempt to use get_citation_details with a free API key, you'll receive a 403 error.

Explorer API

• Institutional Access Only: All Explorer API tools require institutional credentials
• Provides access to research outputs and attention data across the entire Altmetric database
• Organizations with data integrations can also access their own institutional research outputs in isolation
• Includes advanced filtering by author, department, journal, and custom organizational metadata

Tools

This server provides eleven tools across two APIs:

All Explorer tools additionally accept researcher_id and grant_id filters (Dimensions IDs), and an identifiers parameter that scopes a query to a raw list of scholarly identifiers - the server builds the corresponding identifier list for you. Explorer responses also include sentiment data (sentiment-analysis-totals on research outputs, sentiment-analysis on X/Bluesky mentions).

For detailed parameters and examples, see TOOLS.md.

API Documentation

• Details Page API: https://docs.altmetric.com/details-page-api/
• Explorer API: https://docs.altmetric.com/explorer-api/

License

MIT