scholar-sidekick-api

# Scholar Sidekick (REST API) — Citations, Retraction & Open-Access Turn a scholarly identifier into a formatted citation, a bibliography file, or an integrity check (retraction / open-access / fabrication), via a documented REST API. **No API key and no install required** — plain HTTPS calls over `curl`. An optional free first-party key (`ssk_…`, from /account) or RapidAPI key only raises rate limits. > Prefer the `scholar-sidekick-mcp` skill instead if your host already has the Scholar > Sidekick MCP server connected — same capabilities as native tool calls. This skill is the > zero-setup path that works in any agent that can run `curl`. ## When to Use - The user has an identifier (DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, arXiv, ISSN, ADS bibcode, WHO IRIS URL; shortDOI aliases like `10/aabbe` accepted) and wants metadata, a formatted citation, or a bibliography file. - "Cite this in APA/Vancouver/Chicago…", "give me a BibTeX/RIS file", "export these refs". - "Has this been retracted?", "is this open access?", "is this citation real / did you make it up?" - "Audit my bibliography", "check all these references at once", "which of these are fake or retracted?" — a whole reference list or `.bib` / `.ris` / CSL-JSON file. - Do NOT use to *search* for papers by topic — that's discovery (see the `arxiv` skill). This assumes you already have an identifier. ## Surfaces — call the API, never scrape the UI The site is built for agents. The contract lives at: - https://scholar-sidekick.com/llms.txt (index of agent surfaces) - https://scholar-sidekick.com/AGENTS.md (REST + MCP guide) - https://scholar-sidekick.com/openapi/openapi.yml (OpenAPI 3.1) Always call the JSON REST API below. Do not drive the website form. ## Authentication & limits Calls to `scholar-sidekick.com/api/*` work **anonymously — no key required** — at a rate-limited free tier that is plenty for normal, human-driven agent use. For higher limits, create a free first-party API key (prefixed `ssk_`) at https://scholar-sidekick.com/account and send it as `Authorization: Bearer ssk_…`. Scholar Sidekick is also offered on RapidAPI for paid/managed tiers: subscribe at https://rapidapi.com/scholar-sidekick-scholar-sidekick-api/api/scholar-sidekick and call it through the RapidAPI gateway with your `X-RapidAPI-Key`. Default to the anonymous `scholar-sidekick.com` endpoints; add a `Bearer ssk_…` key for higher limits, or move to RapidAPI for paid volume. ## Quick Reference Base URL: `https://scholar-sidekick.com` | Need | Endpoint | Body | |------|----------|------| | Format a citation | `POST /api/format` | `{text, style, output}` | | Export a bibliography file | `POST /api/export` | `{text, format}` | | Retraction / correction / EoC check | `POST /api/retraction-check` | `{id}` | | Open-access status + best legal URL | `POST /api/oa-check` | `{id}` | | Verify a claimed citation (fabrication) | `POST /api/verify` | `{claimed: {title, doi}}` | | Audit a whole bibliography (batch verify + retraction) | `POST /api/audit` | `{bibliography: "…"}` or `{claims: […]}` | | Service health | `GET /api/health` | — | ## Procedure ### Format a citation ```bash curl -sS -X POST "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/format" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"text": "10.1038/nphys1170", "style": "vancouver", "output": "text"}' ``` - `text`: one identifier, or several newline-separated for a batch. Pass verbatim — `PMID:`, `arXiv:`, ISBN hyphens, and `https://doi.org/…` are all tolerated. A shortDOI alias (`10/aabbe`, from shortdoi.org) is accepted anywhere a DOI is, and expanded to the full DOI before resolving. - `style`: `vancouver` (default), `ama`, `apa`, `ieee`, `cse`, or any CSL style ID (`chicago-author-date`, `harvard-cite-them-right`, `modern-language-association`, `nature`, `bmj`, `the-lancet`, …). - `output`: `text` or `json`. Response: `{ "ok": true, "items": [{ "formatted": "…" }], "text": "…" }`. ### Export a bibliography file ```bash curl -sS -X POST "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/export" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"text": "10.1038/nphys1170\nPMID:30049270", "format": "bibtex"}' \ -o refs.bib ``` - `format`: `bibtex`, `ris`, `csl-json`, `endnote-xml`, `refworks`, `nbib`, `rdf`, `csv`, `txt`. ### Check retraction ```bash curl -sS -X POST "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/retraction-check" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"id": "10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096-0"}' ``` Returns `{ ok, doi, result: { isRetracted, hasCorrections, hasConcern, notices[], title } }` (Crossref + Retraction Watch). One identifier per call — field is **`id`**. When the work has no DOI (e.g. a book), `result` is `null` and `reason` explains why (`no_doi` / `timeout` / `upstream`). ### Check open access ```bash curl -sS -X POST "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/oa-check" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0173664"}' ``` Returns `{ ok, doi, result: { isOa, oaStatus, bestLocation: {url, hostType, license, version}, locations[] } }` (Unpaywall). One identifier per call — field is **`id`**. ### Verify a claimed citation (catch fabrication) ```bash curl -sS -X POST "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/verify" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"claimed": {"title": "The title exactly as cited", "doi": "10.xxxx/xxxxx"}}' ``` Citation fields go inside a **`claimed`** object: `title` (required) plus an identifier (`doi`, `pmid`, … — recommended) and optional `authors` / `year` / `container`. Returns `{ ok, verdict, confidence, matched }`, verdict ∈ `matched` / `mismatch` / `ambiguous` / `not_found`: - `matched` — the claim agrees with the record at the identifier. - `mismatch` — the identifier resolves but the title doesn't: the dominant AI-fabrication pattern (real DOI + invented title; Topaz et al., Lancet 2026). - `ambiguous` — the identifier resolves to one paper but the claimed title matches a *different* real paper (a wrong-identifier error, not a fabrication). - `not_found` — neither identifier nor title resolves anywhere. Use this for "is this citation real?", not a plain format/resolve. ### Audit a whole bibliography (batch fabrication + retraction check) ```bash curl -sS -X POST "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/audit" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"bibliography":"@article{ligo, title={Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger}, doi={10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102}}\n@article{fab, title={A Completely Invented Title That Does Not Match The Paper}, doi={10.1016/j.neuroscience.2023.02.008}}"}' ``` The batch counterpart to `/api/verify`. Send EITHER `bibliography` (raw BibTeX / RIS / CSL-JSON text; format auto-detected, override with `format`) OR `claims` (an array of `{title + one identifier}` objects) — not both. Optional `options.checks` defaults to `["retraction"]`; pass `[]` to skip the retraction lookup. Max 25 entries per call (excess dropped and reported via `truncated`). Returns `{ ok, format, entries[], parseErrors[], truncated, summary }` — each entry carries the same `verdict` / `confidence` semantics as `/api/verify` plus a `retraction: { checked, doi, isRetracted, hasCorrections, hasConcern, notices }` block, and `summary = { total, matched, mismatch, ambiguous, not_found, errored, retracted }`. One bad entry becomes `status: "error"` without failing the batch (a total outage returns `502`). This audits citation *identity* — it does **not** check whether each source supports the claim it is cited for. ## Pitfalls - Never scrape the web UI — the JSON API is faster and stable. - Pass identifiers verbatim; don't strip prefixes. - Body fields differ per endpoint: `format`/`export` use `text`; `retraction-check`/`oa-check` use `id` (one identifier per call); `verify` wraps fields in `claimed`; `audit` takes `bibliography` (raw text) or `claims` (array), never both. Don't mix them up. - ISBNs have no DOI, so retraction/OA return a "no DOI" result for books. - Don't fabricate a fallback: if a call fails or returns `ok:false`, report that — never invent a citation, retraction status, OA verdict, or a "matched" verdict. ## Verification - `curl -sS https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/health` returns `{ "ok": true, … }`. - A good `/api/format` response has `items[].formatted` non-empty. ## Optional: MCP server (power users) Scholar Sidekick is also an MCP server (tools: `resolveIdentifier`, `formatCitation`, `exportCitation`, `checkRetraction`, `checkOpenAccess`, `verifyCitation`, `auditBibliography`). That path requires connecting the server in an MCP host, so the REST calls above are the zero-setup default. The MCP server works anonymously (no key required). See the companion `scholar-sidekick-mcp` skill, or: ```bash npx -y scholar-sidekick-mcp@latest # anonymous; optional SCHOLAR_API_KEY/RAPIDAPI_KEY raise limits ```