# Scholarly Research > > - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-adeerkhan-vitruvius-scholarly-research` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [adeerkhan](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/adeerkhan) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [AI & ML](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/ai-and-ml) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** MIT - **Upstream author:** [adeerkhan](https://github.com/adeerkhan) - **Source:** https://github.com/adeerkhan/vitruvius/tree/main/skills/scholarly-research ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-adeerkhan-vitruvius-scholarly-research ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # Scholarly Research Find academic sources and verify them. This skill layers free, keyless scholarly indexes first, then the host's own web/browser tools — and never depends on scraping a site that blocks agents. ## Rules (read first) - **This skill produces evidence, not a report.** You find, read, and record sources. Synthesis, recommendations, and the final deliverable belong to `engineering-research`. If the user invoked you directly and wants a report, say so and hand back the evidence set with a pointer to that skill — do not improvise a deliverable, because an unbounded report is how a literature review ends up answering a question nobody asked. - **Every source must answer a named question.** Before searching, write down the specific question each query is trying to answer, and tag every source with the question it resolves and its relation to it: `supports`, `challenges`, or `contextual`. A source that answers no named question is dropped, however interesting it is. - **Never assert facts about a local codebase or artifact.** You have no mandate to read the user's repository, and this skill does not grant one. If the question depends on what their code does, hand that to `engineering-research`, which carries the `repo`-anchored evidence contract. - Tool names are literal and host-dependent. Use ONLY tools visible in the current session: a web search may be `web_search`, `search`, or `browser`; fetching may be `fetch`, `fetch_content`, or a shell `curl`. Never call a tool name you cannot see. If a needed capability is missing, degrade gracefully and record it as `blocked`. - Prefer structured scholarly APIs over scraping search engines. **Google Scholar has no official API, blocks automated browsers with captchas, and its scrapers violate its ToS — do not scrape it.** Use OpenAlex or Semantic Scholar citation counts instead, and say which source the count came from. - Never invent a citation. Every claim maps to a fetched source: DOI, arXiv id, or URL you actually retrieved. - When a source is paywalled or unreachable, cite from search metadata and mark full-text access as `blocked`. See `references/blocked-access-policy.md` for the full rules. ## Discovery layers (in priority order) ### 1. OpenAlex — primary, keyless REST JSON, ~250M works, citation counts, open-access full-text links. No key needed for casual use. ``` GET https://api.openalex.org/works?search=&per-page=20&select=id,display_name,publication_year,publication_date,cited_by_count,doi,open_access,best_oa_location,authorships ``` - Sort by citations: add `&sort=cited_by_count:desc`. - Filter by year / open access: `&filter=publication_year:2019-2024,open_access.is_oa:true`. - Single work by DOI: `GET https://api.openalex.org/works/doi:10.1109/xxx`. - `best_oa_location.pdf_url` gives a full-text PDF when open access. **Search filter rule:** For narrow engineering topics, use `title_and_abstract.search` instead of `fulltext.search` (default). Full-text search returns too many off-topic results for niche queries. Use `fulltext.search` only for broad surveys where precision is less critical. ### 2. Semantic Scholar — enrichment, keyless ``` GET https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/search?query=&limit=20&fields=title,year,abstract,externalIds,openAccessPdf,citationCount ``` - Single paper: `GET /graph/v1/paper/DOI:10.xxxx?fields=...` or `/graph/v1/paper/arXiv:1706.03762?fields=...`. - Citations: `GET /graph/v1/paper/{id}/citations?fields=title,year`. - Shared pool is rate-limited; if it times out, fall back to OpenAlex. ### 3. arXiv API — preprints (CS, physics, quantitative fields) Atom XML, keyless. ~1 request per 3 seconds. ``` GET https://export.arxiv.org/api/query?search_query=all:&max_results=20 ``` ### 4. alphaXiv fast search — keyless arXiv discovery ``` GET https://api.alphaxiv.org/search/v2/paper/fast?q=&includePrivate=false ``` Returns JSON with `title`, `link`, `paperId`, `snippet`. For paper Q&A over full text (answer_pdf_queries, discover_papers), the user needs an alphaXiv account: connect `https://api.alphaxiv.org/mcp/v1` as an MCP server with `Authorization: Bearer `, or use the `alpha` CLI (`alpha login`, then `alpha search|get|ask`) when available. ### 5. Host web / browser tools When the host exposes a web search or browser tool, use it for non-academic sources (vendor docs, standards bodies, news, blogs) and to confirm recency — not as the primary paper index. Do not point a browser at scholar.google.com. ## Full text and verification - Fetch full text from the OpenAlex `best_oa_location.pdf_url`, the arXiv PDF/HTML, or the publisher page. Prefer HTML/XML abstracts over parsing PDFs when the claim only needs the abstract. - For each key claim record: title, authors, year, venue, DOI / arXiv id, and the URL actually fetched. - If a full text is paywalled, cite it from metadata and mark full-text access as `blocked`. Never guess at its contents. ## Output Write findings as an evidence table with stable numeric IDs (see the `engineering-research` method) and end with a numbered Sources section where every entry is a DOI, arXiv id, or verified URL. Add a `Question` column to the table so each row names the question it resolves, and close with two required sections: - **`## What the literature does not settle`** — the questions searched for where the literature is silent, contested, or jurisdiction-specific. A literature review with no such section reads as "the field agrees", which is the most expensive false impression research can produce. This is the scholarly half of the negative coverage the `engineering-research` problem anchor records on the report side. - **`## Handback`** — what `engineering-research` must decide, and which questions this evidence set cannot answer. Product policy, jurisdiction choice, and anything about the user's own code belong there, not in a finding. ## Scope and Boundaries - This skill finds and verifies academic sources — it does NOT produce final designs, implementation guidance, or the final research deliverable. - **Research-only, not for final engineering sign-off.** Outputs support engineering research but must be reviewed by a licensed engineer for any design application. - Evidence quality: see `references/evidence-quality-tiers.md`. ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [adeerkhan](https://github.com/adeerkhan) - **Source:** [adeerkhan/vitruvius](https://github.com/adeerkhan/vitruvius) - **License:** MIT Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above. ## Pricing - **Free** — Free ## Security capabilities Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access: - **Network access:** yes - **Filesystem access:** no - **Shell / process execution:** no - **Environment & secrets:** no - **Dynamic code execution:** no *"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.* ## Versions - **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source. ## Links - Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-adeerkhan-vitruvius-scholarly-research - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/adeerkhan - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.