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Scholar Sidekick

by Mark Lavercombe

Overview

Scholar Sidekick MCP resolves any scholarly identifier (DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, arXiv, ISSN, NASA ADS bibcodes, WHO IRIS URLs) into structured bibliographic metadata, formats citations in 10,000+ CSL styles (Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, Nature, BMJ, Lancet, and many more), and exports references to BibTeX, RIS, CSL JSON, EndNote (XML/Refer), RefWorks, MEDLINE, Zotero RDF, and CSV. The format/export/resolve tools accept a single identifier or a comma/newline-separated batch, so an assistant can chain resolveIdentifier → formatCitation → exportCitation in one prompt for an end-to-end 'raw IDs → exportable bibliography' workflow. Three single-citation checks complete the picture: checkRetraction surfaces retractions, corrections, and expressions of concern from Crossref / Retraction Watch; checkOpenAccess returns OA status and the best legal landing or PDF URL from Unpaywall; verifyCitation cross-checks the cited title against the resolved record at the cited identifier to detect the AI-driven fabrication pattern documented by Topaz et al. (Lancet 2026 — 1 in 277 biomedical papers in early 2026 contains at least one fabricated reference; the dominant pattern is real DOI + invented title, which simple identifier resolution cannot catch). Each formatted response carries a provenance metadata block (formatter, styleUsed, requestId, warnings) so users can see exactly which engine produced each citation.

Tools

check_retraction

ChatGPT
Check whether a work has been retracted, corrected, or had an expression of concern raised (Crossref / Retraction Watch). Accepts a DOI, PMID, PMCID, arXiv id, or ADS bibcode.

check_retraction

ChatGPT
Check whether a work has been retracted, corrected, or had an expression of concern raised (Crossref / Retraction Watch). Accepts a DOI, PMID, PMCID, arXiv id, or ADS bibcode.

format_citation

ChatGPT
Resolve one to five scholarly identifiers (DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, arXiv, ISSN, ADS bibcode, WHO IRIS URL) and format them in a citation style (Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, CSE, or any of 10,000+ CSL styles).

format_citation

ChatGPT
Resolve one to five scholarly identifiers (DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, arXiv, ISSN, ADS bibcode, WHO IRIS URL) and format them in a citation style (Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, CSE, or any of 10,000+ CSL styles).

verify_citation

ChatGPT
Check whether a claimed citation matches the real record at its identifier — catches the real-DOI + fabricated-title pattern (Topaz et al. 2026). Returns a verdict: matched, mismatch, not_found, or ambiguous.

verify_citation

ChatGPT
Check whether a claimed citation matches the real record at its identifier — catches the real-DOI + fabricated-title pattern (Topaz et al. 2026). Returns a verdict: matched, mismatch, not_found, or ambiguous.

checkOpenAccess

Claude

checkOpenAccess

Claude

checkRetraction

Claude

checkRetraction

Claude

exportCitation

Claude

exportCitation

Claude

formatCitation

Claude

formatCitation

Claude

resolveIdentifier

Claude

resolveIdentifier

Claude

verifyCitation

Claude

verifyCitation

Claude

Capabilities

Interactive

Example Prompts

Click any prompt to copy it.

App Stats

18

Tools

3

Prompts

ChatGPT, Claude

Platforms

Works with

ChatGPT
Claude

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