citation-grabber

name	citation-grabber
description	Search for scientific papers and fetch citations in BibTeX or NBIB format from PubMed and CrossRef
version	1.1.0
usage	citation-grabber <title_or_doi_or_pmid_or_file> [--format bibtex|nbib] [--output <file>] [--quiet]
metadata	{"openclaw":{"emoji":"📚","os":["darwin","linux","win32"],"requires":{"bins":["python3"],"python":">=3.8"},"install":[{"id":"pip-deps","kind":"pip","packages":["requests>=2.25.0"],"label":"Install Python dependencies"}]}}

Citation Grabber

Instantly fetch scientific paper citations from the command line.

Features

• 🔍 Search by title, DOI, or PubMed ID
• 📚 Supports BibTeX and NBIB output formats
• 🔄 Dual source: PubMed + CrossRef
• 📦 Batch processing from text files
• ✨ Smart fallback between data sources

Installation

The skill automatically ensures dependencies are installed. Manual installation:

pip3 install requests>=2.25.0

Usage

Single Paper

By Title:

python3 citation.py "Attention Is All You Need"

By DOI:

python3 citation.py "10.1038/nature14539"

By PubMed ID:

python3 citation.py "12345678"

Output Formats

BibTeX (Default):

python3 citation.py "Deep Learning" --format bibtex

NBIB (PubMed Format for EndNote/Zotero):

python3 citation.py "COVID-19 vaccine" --format nbib

Batch Processing

Create a file papers.txt with paper titles/DOIs/PMIDs (one per line):

Attention Is All You Need
10.1038/nature14539
Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition

Process all at once:

python3 citation.py papers.txt --output references.bib

Save to File

python3 citation.py "Paper Title" --output my_citations.bib

Quiet Mode

Suppress progress messages (useful for scripting):

python3 citation.py "Paper Title" --quiet

Command-Line Options

Option	Short	Description	Default
--format		Output format: bibtex or nbib	bibtex
--output	-o	Save to file instead of stdout	stdout
--quiet	-q	Suppress progress messages	false
--version		Show version and exit	-
--help	-h	Show help message	-

Examples

Get BibTeX for a Classic Paper:

python3 citation.py "The structure of DNA"

Get NBIB for a Medical Paper:

python3 citation.py "COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness" --format nbib

Process a List of Papers:

# Create papers.txt
echo "Attention Is All You Need" > papers.txt
echo "BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers" >> papers.txt
echo "Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition" >> papers.txt

# Fetch all citations
python3 citation.py papers.txt --output all_refs.bib

Silent Mode for Scripts:

python3 citation.py "10.1038/nature14539" --quiet > paper.bib 2>/dev/null

How It Works

1. Auto-Detection: Identifies input type (title, DOI, or PMID)
2. Smart Search:
   • Direct DOI → Fetch from doi.org
   • Direct PMID → Fetch from PubMed
   • Title search → Try CrossRef first, fallback to PubMed
3. Robust Fallback: If one source fails, automatically tries the other

Tips

• For biomedical papers, use --format nbib to get PubMed-native format
• For LaTeX/Overleaf, use default --format bibtex
• Use DOI or PMID when available for faster and more accurate results
• Create a papers.txt file to manage your bibliography systematically

Troubleshooting

No citation found:

• Verify the paper title is correct (check for typos)
• Try using DOI or PMID instead of title
• Some older papers may not be in digital databases

Timeout errors:

• Check your internet connection
• APIs may be temporarily unavailable
• Try again after a few moments

Wrong paper returned:

• Use more specific titles
• Prefer DOI or PMID for exact matching
• Verify the returned citation before use

Requirements

• Python 3.8 or higher
• requests library (auto-installed by skill)
• Internet connection

Version History

• 1.1.0: Complete rewrite with type hints, better error handling, comprehensive tests
• 1.0.0: Initial release

Links

• Repository: https://github.com/yf8578/citation-grabber
• Issues: https://github.com/yf8578/citation-grabber/issues
• License: MIT