literature-search-europepmc

Retrieve open-access scientific literature from Europe PMC and download PDFs or full text.

2.7k|283|Updated May 13, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills --skill literature-search-europepmc
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: literature-search-europepmc
Source: https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills/tree/main/skills/literature_search_europepmc
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills --skill literature-search-europepmc

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill requires scienceskillscommon, and includes scripts (resource) components.

What problem does it solve?

It helps you quickly search Europe PMC for open-access life-science literature and then retrieve usable full text and related citation context without manually navigating sites.

Core Features & Use Cases

  • Open-Access–only search: Automatically enforces the OPEN_ACCESS:y filter so only open-access content is retrieved and processed.
  • Structured retrieval: Download open-access PDFs by PMCID, fetch full-text XML, and convert full text to plain text for downstream summarization.
  • Citation graph support: Retrieve citing articles and reference lists to support literature reviews, pathway exploration, and evidence gathering.
  • Use Case: You have a topic query (e.g., “CRISPR cancer”), find relevant open-access articles, download their PDFs, extract full text, and then expand your reading set via citations and references.

Quick Start

Use the Europe PMC skill to search for open-access papers matching your query and write the results to a JSON file by running: uv run scripts/europepmc_api.py search "CRISPR cancer" --max_results 5 --output results.json

Frequently Asked Questions about literature-search-europepmc

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I download open-access full text from Europe PMC for analysis?

You can download open-access full text from Europe PMC by searching for articles and retrieving usable PDFs or full-text XML, which can be converted to plain text for downstream summarization. The skill enforces the OPEN_ACCESS:y filter to ensure only open-access content is returned.

What is the best way to find open-access papers using a DOI or PMID?

Finding open-access papers by DOI or PMID is supported through end-to-end lookup workflows. The skill queries Europe PMC using these identifiers, applies the OPEN_ACCESS:y filter, and retrieves matching articles along with their full text or PDFs.

Can I retrieve citation and reference graphs for life-science articles on Europe PMC?

Yes, citation and reference graph traversal is supported. You can retrieve citing articles and reference lists for open-access life-science literature on Europe PMC to support literature reviews, pathway exploration, and evidence gathering.

Does the Europe PMC search tool automatically filter for open-access content only?

Yes, the tool automatically enforces the OPEN_ACCESS:y filter. This ensures that all literature search queries executed through the Europe PMC API only retrieve and process open-access content.

How do I gather large sets of search results without causing context overflow?

You can gather large sets of search results by using pagination-based result gathering and saving the outputs to user-specified files. This approach, combined with rate-limited HTTP calls, prevents context overflow when retrieving numerous articles.