semanticscholar-skill

Import the s2.py helper and call search_relevance() for broad topics or search_bulk() with build_bool_query() for precise boolean queries. Results return as paper dictionaries with title, year, authors, venue, externalIds, and citation counts.

Call get_citations() with a paper ID such as a DOI, arXiv, or CorpusId prefix. It returns citing papers with contextsWithIntent labels showing whether each citation is methodology, background, or result oriented.

No, the S2_API_KEY environment variable is optional. Anonymous requests work with stricter rate limits, while a key raises throughput; the helper enforces a 1.1 second gap and exponential backoff either way.

Yes, export_bibtex() concatenates the citationStyles.bibtex field across papers when that field is requested. The output should be treated as candidate BibTeX and verified against DOI, publisher, or arXiv sources before final citation.

The API returns 429 or 504 errors under heavy load. The helper automatically retries up to five times with exponential backoff from 2 to 60 seconds, so persistent failures usually mean you need an S2_API_KEY for higher limits.

Semantic Scholar is a discovery tool, not a final citation authority. Verify titles, authors, venues, and DOIs through publisher pages, DOI resolvers, arXiv, PubMed, Zotero, or Scite before citing important references.