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Nature Academic Search

  • 18 installs
  • 45 repo stars
  • Updated June 23, 2026
  • yuanyuanma03/academic-research-skills

Coordinates multi-source literature search, citation verification, MeSH strategies, and citation-file conversion via PubMed, CrossRef, and arXiv MCP tools.

About

Runs coordinated multi-step literature workflows across PubMed, CrossRef, and arXiv including citation verification and .nbib/.ris/.bib conversion. A researcher uses it for literature tasks beyond a single MCP call.

  • Multi-source search and citation verification
  • Citation-file format conversion and ID mapping

Nature Academic Search by the numbers

  • 18 all-time installs (skills.sh)
  • Ranked #1,361 of 2,715 Automation & Workflows skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
  • Data as of Aug 3, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
npx skills add https://github.com/yuanyuanma03/academic-research-skills --skill nature-academic-search

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Installs18
repo stars45
Last updatedJune 23, 2026
Repositoryyuanyuanma03/academic-research-skills

What it does

Coordinates multi-source literature search, citation verification, MeSH strategies, and citation-file conversion via PubMed, CrossRef, and arXiv MCP tools.

Files

SKILL.mdMarkdownGitHub ↗

Academic Search

Multi-source literature search, citation verification, citation format conversion, and reference management via MCP tools.

MCP Tools

Bundled MCP Server (academic-search)

The bundled MCP server provides these tools — use these names when calling the server:

ToolPurpose
search_papersMulti-source search across CrossRef, PubMed, arXiv (concurrent)
get_paper_by_idFetch paper by DOI, PMID, or arXiv ID
get_citationFormatted citation output (APA, MLA, BibTeX, etc.)
lookup_meshMeSH term exploration and hierarchy

External MCP Tools (require separate installation)

The following tools are referenced in workflows but require external MCP servers to be installed separately. If unavailable, fall back to the bundled search_papers tool.

ToolSourceBest For
pubmed_search_articlesPubMed MCPBiomedical, MeSH, clinical trials
search_crossrefpaper-search MCPCross-disciplinary, citation counts
search_arxivpaper-search MCPPreprints (physics, math, CS, biology)

Extended Search (external only)

ToolSourceBest For
search_google_scholarpaper-search MCPBroad academic search (scraped)
search_semantic_scholarpaper-search MCPCitation graph, field-of-study filters
search_biorxivpaper-search MCPBiology preprints
search_medrxivpaper-search MCPMedical preprints
search_webofsciencepaper-search MCPCurated index, citation reports
search_scopuspaper-search MCPBroad scholarly database

PubMed Utilities

ToolPurpose
pubmed_fetch_articlesFull metadata by PMID
pubmed_find_relatedRelated article discovery
pubmed_format_citationsAPA / MLA / BibTeX / RIS formatting
pubmed_convert_idsDOI ↔ PMID ↔ PMCID conversion
pubmed_lookup_meshMeSH term exploration and hierarchy
pubmed_lookup_citationBibliographic citation → PMID lookup

Source Routing

See Source Tiers & Reliability for the complete reliability classification and fallback routing rules. The T1→T2→T3 fallback chain is the standard execution order across all workflows.

Quick guide:

User needPrimary (T1)Secondary (T2)Last Resort (T3)
Medical / clinicalPubMedSemantic ScholarGoogle Scholar
Cross-disciplinaryCrossRefSemantic ScholarScopus
Preprints / CS / physicsarXivbioRxiv / medRxiv
Exhaustive reviewPubMed + CrossRef + arXivSemantic Scholar + bioRxiv/medRxivWoS / Scopus
Citation count sensitiveSemantic ScholarCrossRef
Chinese literatureCNKI / 万方 (manual)

Workflows

#WorkflowReference
1Multi-Source Literature Searchwf1
2Citation Verificationwf2
3MeSH Search Strategywf3
4Citation File Managementwf4
5Reference Managementwf5

Shared Modules

ModulePurpose
Dedup EngineUnified deduplication (WFs 1, 2, 5a)
Citation ParserExtract citations from documents (WF 2)
Search StrategyQuery construction, source selection, ranking
RIS/BibTeX FormatFormat specifications and field mappings
Format ConverterMulti-source .nbib/.ris/.bib downloader

Environment Setup

API Keys (optional but recommended)

ServiceEnv VarRegister AtFree Tier
Semantic ScholarSEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEYapi.semanticscholar.org100 req/s with key (1/s without)
NCBI E-utilitiesNCBI_API_KEYncbi.nlm.nih.gov/account10 req/s with key (3/s without)

Set via export or .env file.

Proxy (if behind firewall)

export http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:7890
export https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:7890

Pre-flight Check

python scripts/preflight.py

Run before batch operations to verify API endpoints are reachable.

Format Converter Dependencies

The format converter (scripts/format-converter.py) uses Python stdlib only — no extra dependencies. Run python scripts/format-converter.py --test to verify the conversion pipeline.

Error Handling

  • MCP tool unavailable: report specific failure, continue with remaining tools.
  • No results: broaden terms, try alternative sources, suggest user refine query.
  • Script failure (2x): fall back to manual generation from MCP-fetched metadata.

Limitations

  • Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar are scraped (not API-backed) — results may vary.
  • Chinese literature (CNKI / 万方) not indexed by CrossRef or PubMed.
  • Citation counts may be delayed (CrossRef updates monthly).

Related skills

Automation & Workflowsresearchautomation

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