Scholar Sidekick MCP Server

Catch AI-fabricated citations (real DOI + fake title). Retraction, open-access, 10,000+ CSL styles. Its 7 documented tools cluster into verify citation, audit bibliography, resolve identifier, format citation.

People connecting science & health tools to Claude, Cursor, VS Code, or another MCP client. The project is written in TypeScript.

VERIFIED ACTIVE

LAST COMMIT 2026-08-23 · ★ 8 · #12 OF 60 MAINTAINED SCIENCE & HEALTH · VERIFIED 2026-08-25

MIT · TypeScript servers · how we verify → /methodology

01 · Install Scholar Sidekick

before you install - you'll need

SCHOLAR_API_KEY

Environment variables documented in the project's README - it lists which are required and which have defaults.

Claude Code

claude mcp add mlava-scholar-sidekick-mcp --transport http https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code - add to config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mlava-scholar-sidekick-mcp": {
      "url": "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Same JSON for Cursor. For VS Code, rename the top-level key from `mcpServers` to `servers`.

Using another client? Same JSON, different key

Claude Desktop · mcpServers

Cursor · mcpServers

VS Code · servers

Windsurf · mcpServers

Zed · context_servers

Cline · mcpServers

Roo Code · mcpServers

Continue · mcpServers

LibreChat · mcpServers

Gemini CLI · mcpServers

Codex CLI · mcp_servers

Full setup guides: every client.

02 · Evidence

https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/mcp

transport: streamable-http

endpoint alive - responded to MCP initialize · probed 2026-08-25

Security posture

What to check before giving this server access to your agent - from the registry, GitHub, and our own probes. We don't score safety; we show what's verifiable.

runs as local process (stdio) - runs on your machine with your user's permissions · remote - your agent's requests go to scholar-sidekick.com

endpoint auth accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize - no credentials needed to connect

license MIT - declared in the repository

npm package scholar-sidekick-mcp - unscoped; check the name against the project README before installing

registry namespace io.github.mlava is GitHub-verified and matches the repo owner

03 · What Scholar Sidekick can do

Prose above is summarized from the project's README and registry record - no invented capabilities.

What you can build

An agent gets 7 documented tools across verify citation, audit bibliography, resolve identifier, including verifyCitation, auditBibliography, resolveIdentifier, formatCitation.

Capability map

Tools grouped from the project's README - what Scholar Sidekick lets an agent do.

Verify Citation

1 tool - e.g. Verify a claimed citation against the resolved record at its identifier. Detects the Topaz et al. (Lancet 2026) fabrication pattern - real DOI + invented title

verifyCitation

Audit Bibliography

1 tool - e.g. Run the verifyCitation check plus a retraction lookup across a whole bibliography in one call. Accepts raw BibTeX, RIS, or CSL-JSON text, or a pre-parsed claims

auditBibliography

Resolve Identifier

1 tool - e.g. Resolve DOIs, PMIDs, PMCIDs, ISBNs, arXiv IDs, ISSNs, ADS bibcodes, and WHO IRIS URLs to structured bibliographic metadata (CSL JSON). Accepts a single identifi

resolveIdentifier

Format Citation

1 tool - e.g. Format one or many identifiers into Vancouver, AMA, APA, IEEE, CSE, or any of 10,000+ CSL styles. Output as text, HTML, or JSON. Returns formatted citations plu

formatCitation

Export Citation

1 tool - e.g. Export one or many identifiers to BibTeX, RIS, CSL JSON, EndNote (XML/Refer), RefWorks, MEDLINE, Zotero RDF, CSV, or plain text - ready to write to disk or hand

exportCitation

Check Retraction

1 tool - e.g. Check whether a single work has been retracted, corrected, or had an expression of concern raised. Sourced from Crossref updated-by (Retraction Watch). Resolves

checkRetraction

Check Open Access

1 tool - e.g. Check whether a single work is openly accessible and where to find the best legal version. Sourced from Unpaywall. Returns OA status (gold/green/hybrid/bronze/c

checkOpenAccess

Latest releases

v0.8.8 · 2026-08-11

Declares the hosted streamable-HTTP endpoint ( in the registry entry, so clients can find the zero-install path. · Drops both optional environment variables from the registry entry. isRequired: false is declared…

v0.8.7 · 2026-07-30

A placeholder SCHOLAR_API_KEY is now ignored rather than sent (a pasted install snippet used to 401 every call). Warns on stderr when both RAPIDAPI_KEY and SCHOLAR_API_KEY are set, when a key lacks the ssk_ prefix, and…

v0.8.6 · 2026-07-28

…

04 · Who maintains Scholar Sidekick

Scholar Sidekick is maintained by mlava. We track 2 MCP servers from mlava - 2 actively maintained, 9 combined GitHub stars, oldest repo from Feb 2026.

05 · Facts

repository: github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-mcp
website: https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp
category: science & health - ranked #12 of 60 actively-maintained science & health servers as of 2026-08-25.
release cadence: 8 releases in the last 90 days (latest 2026-08-11)
registry: io.github.mlava/scholar-sidekick-mcp (active, first published 2026-02-13 · 17 versions)
packages: npm:scholar-sidekick-mcp

06 · Scholar Sidekick FAQ

Is Scholar Sidekick still maintained?

Yes - as of 2026-08-25, its last commit was 2026-08-23 and it shipped 8 releases in the last 90 days. We re-verify nightly.

What can Scholar Sidekick do?

An agent gets 7 documented tools across verify citation, audit bibliography, resolve identifier, including verifyCitation, auditBibliography, resolveIdentifier, formatCitation.

How do I install Scholar Sidekick?

Run `npx -y scholar-sidekick-mcp`. The README documents one environment variable (SCHOLAR_API_KEY) to set first. You can also paste the ready-made client config above.

Does Scholar Sidekick require authentication?

No - the endpoint accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize when probed on 2026-08-25; you can connect without credentials.

07 · Alternatives to Scholar Sidekick

Alternatives to Scholar Sidekick

Maintained science & health servers if Scholar Sidekick isn't the fit.

More science & health MCP servers · Molecare MCP · Data Aggregator · Pubcrawl · Redacta MCP · DICOM/HL7/FHIR Interoperability MCP Server

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