semantic-scholar

Search published journal and conference papers via the Semantic Scholar API with citation counts and venue metadata.

Updated Jul 9, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/Lingjie-wang/autoRL --skill semantic-scholar-lingjie-wang
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: semantic-scholar
Source: https://github.com/Lingjie-wang/autoRL/tree/main/Auto-claude-code-research-in-sleep/skills/semantic-scholar
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/Lingjie-wang/autoRL --skill semantic-scholar-lingjie-wang

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Finding published, peer-reviewed literature (IEEE, ACM, Springer) is hard when arXiv only covers preprints, and researchers need citation counts, venue information, and DOI links to assess paper quality and impact. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Published Venue Search: Query the Semantic Scholar API for journal and conference papers with filters for publication type, field of study, year range, and minimum citations. - Paper Lookup by ID: Fetch a single paper by DOI, Semantic Scholar ID, ArXiv ID, or Corpus ID, returning abstract, TLDR, open-access PDF links, and citation counts. - arXiv De-duplication & Wiki Ingest: Detect papers also available on arXiv, highlight venue-only papers, and optionally ingest results into a research-wiki directory. - Use Case: A researcher asks to find highly-cited IEEE journal papers on wireless communication since 2022; the skill runs a filtered bulk search sorted by citation count and presents a ranked table with DOI links and TLDR summaries. ## Quick Start Ask the assistant to search Semantic Scholar for published journal papers on your topic, for example by saying "find IEEE papers on federated learning with at least 50 citations".

Frequently Asked Questions about semantic-scholar

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

FAQPage Schema
How do I search Semantic Scholar for published papers?

Provide a topic query and the skill calls the Semantic Scholar graph API search endpoint with default filters for Computer Science and Engineering fields and journal or conference publication types. Results include title, venue, year, citation count, and DOI links.

Semantic Scholar vs arXiv for literature search?

Semantic Scholar covers published venue papers from IEEE, ACM, and Springer with citation counts and TLDR summaries, while arXiv covers latest unrefereed preprints. Use Semantic Scholar when you need peer-reviewed sources and citation-based ranking.

Can I look up a paper by DOI using the Semantic Scholar API?

Yes, pass a DOI like 10.1109/TSP.2021.3071210 directly as the argument and the skill fetches that single paper's metadata. It also accepts Semantic Scholar IDs, ArXiv IDs, and Corpus IDs.

Why does the Semantic Scholar API return HTTP 429 errors?

The API rate-limits unauthenticated requests to roughly one per second with strict cooldowns. Wait and retry when 429 occurs, or set the SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY environment variable for higher limits.

What are the limitations of Semantic Scholar paper search?

The venue filter requires exact venue names rather than partial matches like IEEE, TLDR fields are often missing for IEEE papers, and many papers lack open-access PDFs. The skill falls back to DOI links and abstract first sentences in those cases.