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Paper Lookup

Routes literature queries across 11 scholarly APIs (PubMed, arXiv, OpenAlex, Unpaywall and more) and returns papers, citations, and OA PDFs with reproducible provenance.

Data & AnalyticsIntermediate★ 33,030⑂ 3,248AI score 9/10Last updated: Aug 9, 2026

What it does

  • Picks the authoritative database for your intent among PubMed, PMC, Europe PMC, bioRxiv, medRxiv, arXiv, OpenAlex, Crossref, Semantic Scholar, CORE, and Unpaywall.
  • Handles DOI/PMID/PMCID/arXiv ID conversion, author publication lists, citation graphs, open-access PDF resolution, and JATS full-text extraction.
  • Guards against the "HTTP 200 but actually failed" traps (bodyless PMC articles, arXiv Error entries, Europe PMC errCode, bioRxiv pagination drift) using explicit rules plus bundled scripts: paginate.py, jats_to_text.py, arxiv_atom.py, openalex_abstract.py.
  • Reports endpoints, parameters, access date, and count reconciliation so any retrieval can be repeated or audited.

Who it's for

  • Graduate students and researchers running literature reviews or systematic searches.
  • Data engineers pulling paper metadata and citation graphs into analysis pipelines.
  • Science and medical writers who need verifiable sources and OA links.

Example uses

  1. "Find recent organoid preprints" → searches Europe PMC with SRC:"PPR" (bioRxiv has no keyword search), then enriches via bioRxiv DOIs.
  2. "Who cites this DOI?" → Semantic Scholar citation graph, cross-checked in OpenAlex, with expected-vs-retrieved counts reported.
  3. "Get me the PDF" → Unpaywall OA check, falling back to PMC/CORE full text, and stating plainly when only an abstract exists.

· · · Install guide · · ·

Try it now, no install

Paste this into Claude to use the skill without installing anything.

Read the instructions in this file and follow them to help me:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills/HEAD/skills/paper-lookup/SKILL.md

What I want: (describe your task here)

If Claude can't open the link, open it yourself and paste the contents instead.

↓ If it works for you, download the ZIP below and install it. Then it runs on its own — no pasting each time.

Install in the Claude app (no terminal)
  1. Download the ZIP with the button below.
  2. In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
  3. Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.
↓ Download ZIP
Install in Claude Code

Let Claude do it — paste this into Claude Code

Install the skill I found on AI Skill Mart.
Copy the skills/paper-lookup folder from the GitHub repo K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills into my ~/.claude/skills/paper-lookup/.
When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.

Install with a command instead

git clone https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills.git /tmp/scientific-agent-skills && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r /tmp/scientific-agent-skills/skills/paper-lookup ~/.claude/skills/

⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.

  1. Open a terminal and confirm Claude Code is installed.
  2. Clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills.git
  3. Copy the skill: mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r scientific-agent-skills/skills/paper-lookup ~/.claude/skills/
  4. Verify prerequisites: python3 --version (3.11+) and curl --version.
  5. Optional — export API keys for higher limits: export NCBI_API_KEY=..., export S2_API_KEY=..., export CORE_API_KEY=..., export OPENALEX_API_KEY=...
  6. Restart Claude Code and try a prompt like "find recent papers on CRISPR delivery" to trigger the skill.
View source on GitHub ↗License: MIT