| name | scholar-sidekick-api |
| description | Resolve scholarly identifiers (DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, arXiv, ISSN, ADS bibcode, WHO IRIS URL) into formatted citations (10,000+ CSL styles) and bibliography exports (BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, CSV…), and check retraction, open-access, and citation-fabrication status. Calls a documented REST API over plain HTTP — no install, no API key needed for the free tier. |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| author | Scholar Sidekick |
| license | MIT |
| metadata | {"tags":["citations","bibliography","doi","pmid","arxiv","csl","bibtex","ris","retraction","open-access","citation-verification","research"],"related_skills":["scholar-sidekick-mcp","arxiv"],"openclaw":{"emoji":"📚","homepage":"https://scholar-sidekick.com","requires":{"bins":["curl"]}}} |
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
RapidAPI key only raises rate limits.
Prefer the bundled scholar-sidekick MCP server instead if it is connected — same
capabilities as native tool calls. This skill is the zero-setup path that works in any
agent that can run curl, and needs no RAPIDAPI_KEY.
When to Use
- The user has an identifier (DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, arXiv, ISSN, ADS bibcode, WHO IRIS URL) 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- "Has this been retracted?", "is this open access?", "is this citation real / did you make it up?"
- Do NOT use to search for papers by topic — that's discovery. 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:
Always call the JSON REST API below. Do not drive the website form.
Authentication & limits
Calls to scholar-sidekick.com/api/* work anonymously — there is no first-party API
key — at a rate-limited free tier (~40 format / 10 export requests per window), which
is plenty for normal, human-driven agent use. For higher limits, Scholar Sidekick is
offered on RapidAPI: 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. Use the anonymous
scholar-sidekick.com endpoints by default; move to RapidAPI only for 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
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.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
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
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
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)
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)
curl -sS -X POST "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/audit" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"bibliography":"@article{a, title={A real title}, doi={10.1038/nphys1170}}\n@article{b, title={An invented title}, 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 (array of
{title + one identifier} objects) — not both. Optional options.checks defaults to
["retraction"] (pass [] to skip). Max 25 entries per call (excess reported via
truncated). Returns { ok, format, entries[], parseErrors[], truncated, summary } where
each entry carries verdict / confidence / retraction and
summary = { total, matched, mismatch, ambiguous, not_found, errored, retracted }.
One bad entry becomes status: "error" without failing the batch. This audits citation
identity — it does not check whether a 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. 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: bundled MCP server (power users)
This plugin also ships the scholar-sidekick MCP server (tools: resolveIdentifier,
formatCitation, exportCitation, checkRetraction, checkOpenAccess, verifyCitation).
That path requires a RapidAPI key, so the REST calls above are the zero-setup default:
npx -y scholar-sidekick-mcp@latest
