paper-search

Search academic papers by keyword or look up papers via the OpenAlex API.

61|4|Updated Mar 15, 2026

Search Tags:#research #api #citations #academic papers #literature search #openalex #doi lookup

Ready to run

npx skills add https://github.com/ykdojo/paper-search --skill paper-search-ykdojo

💬 Prompt for ChatGPT / Claude Chat▼

Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: paper-search
Source: https://github.com/ykdojo/paper-search/tree/main/skills/paper-search
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/ykdojo/paper-search --skill paper-search-ykdojo

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

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

What problem does it solve? Finding relevant academic papers and retrieving their full details (authors, citations, abstracts, open access links) normally requires manual searching across publisher sites or paid databases. This Skill queries the OpenAlex index of 250M+ works directly, with no API key required. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Keyword Search: Search papers by topic with configurable result limits, pagination, and sorting by relevance, citation count, or publication date. - Paper Lookup: Retrieve full details for a specific paper by DOI URL or OpenAlex ID, including abstract, concepts, open access PDF link, and related works. - Citation Graph Exploration: Feed `related_works` IDs from one lookup back into `paper.sh` to trace citing and cited literature. - Use Case: When asked for scientific backing on a claim, search broadly by keyword, identify the most cited papers, then look up full details and cite them as (Author, Year, Journal). ## Quick Start Ask Claude to search OpenAlex for papers on a topic such as "mindfulness meditation stress reduction" sorted by citation count.

Frequently Asked Questions about paper-search

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

FAQPage Schema

How do I search for academic papers by keyword?▼

Run search.sh with a query string, optional result limit, sort order, and page number. Sort options are relevance (default), cites for citation count, and date for publication date, with up to 200 results per page.

How do I look up a paper by DOI or OpenAlex ID?▼

Run paper.sh with a full DOI URL like https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci8020020 or an OpenAlex ID like W2789811475. It returns authors, abstract, concepts, open access PDF link, and related works.

Does OpenAlex require an API key?▼

No, OpenAlex is free and open with no API key required. The index covers over 250 million works, and the scripts only need curl and jq installed on the system.

Why does a search result show Abstract: N/A?▼

Search results sometimes lack abstract text in the summary payload. Use paper.sh with the paper's DOI or OpenAlex ID to fetch the full record, which typically includes the complete abstract.

How can I find papers related to one I already have?▼

Look up the paper with paper.sh and inspect its related_works field. Feed those OpenAlex IDs back into paper.sh to explore the citation graph and discover connected literature.