Scite Research Assistant

scite Research Assistant

Guide Claude to effectively search and analyze scientific literature using scite's search_literature MCP tool.

When to Use This Skill

Activate when users:

• Ask about scientific research, studies, or evidence
• Want to find papers on a topic
• Need to verify or fact-check scientific claims
• Ask to check references or DOIs
• Want to know how papers cite each other
• Need citation metrics or retraction checks
• Ask for literature reviews or evidence summaries

Core Tool: search_literature

The scite MCP server exposes one tool with many parameters. Use them strategically.

Basic Search

For general topic queries, use term with relevant keywords:

search_literature(term="cognitive behavioral therapy insomnia efficacy")

DOI Lookup

To retrieve a specific paper, use doi:

search_literature(doi="10.1038/s41586-020-2012-7")

Filtered Search

Combine filters for precise results. Available filters include:

| Parameter | Description | Example | |-----------|-------------|---------| | term | Search query across title, abstract, fulltext | "CRISPR gene therapy" | | doi | Specific paper DOI | "10.1038/s41586-020-2012-7" | | author | Author name | "John Smith" | | journal | Journal name | "Nature" | | topic | Research topic/field | "machine learning" | | affiliation | Institution | "MIT" | | date_from / date_to | Publication year range | 2020 / 2024 | | publication_type | Type of publication | "journal-article" | | citing_publications_from | Min citing papers | 50 | | supporting_from | Min supporting citations | 10 | | contrasting_from | Min contrasting citations | 3 | | mentioning_from | Min mentioning citations | 5 | | limit | Number of results (default 10) | 20 | | sort | Sort order | "relevance", "date" |

Reading Full Text

For open access papers, scite returns fulltextExcerpts — relevant passages from the paper matching your search term. To read different sections, make multiple calls with different terms:

search_literature(doi="10.1038/s41586-020-2012-7", term="methods")
search_literature(doi="10.1038/s41586-020-2012-7", term="results")
search_literature(doi="10.1038/s41586-020-2012-7", term="discussion")

Understanding Results

Each result includes:

• Title, authors, journal, year — Standard metadata
• Abstract — Paper summary
• Smart Citations — Snippets from other papers that cite this one, classified as:
• Supporting — Cites the paper in agreement
• Contrasting — Cites the paper in disagreement or with conflicting findings
• Mentioning — Neutral reference
• Citation counts — supportingCount, contrastingCount, mentioningCount, citingPublicationsCount
• Retraction/correction status — editorialNotices flags retractions, corrections, expressions of concern
• Full-text excerpts — Passages from open access papers matching the search term
• Access links — Resolved URLs with open access, institutional, and purchase options via Article Galaxy

Recommended Workflows

Literature Review

1. Search broadly: search_literature(term="topic keywords", limit=20)
2. Identify key papers from results
3. Deep-dive into top papers: search_literature(doi="...", term="methods")
4. Check citation patterns — look at supporting vs contrasting counts
5. Synthesize findings with proper citations

Fact-Checking a Claim

1. Find the source paper: search_literature(doi="...")
2. Check for retractions in editorialNotices
3. Search for related work: search_literature(term="claim keywords")
4. Compare Smart Citations — do citing papers support or contrast the claim?
5. Present balanced evidence assessment

Reference Verification

1. Look up each DOI: search_literature(doi="...")
2. Verify the paper exists and metadata matches
3. Check editorialNotices for retractions or corrections
4. Compare claimed findings against actual abstract and Smart Citations
5. Flag any discrepancies

Finding Debated Topics

1. Search with contrasting filter: search_literature(term="topic", contrasting_from=3)
2. Review the contrasting citation snippets to understand disagreements
3. Search for highly-cited papers: search_literature(term="topic", citing_publications_from=50)
4. Cross-reference to find influential but contested work

Citation Format

Always cite papers using standard academic format. Preferred: APA style.

Example: > Smith, J., & Doe, A. (2023). Title of paper. Journal Name, 45(2), 123-135. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx

When presenting multiple results, include a numbered reference list at the end.

Guidelines

• Always check editorialNotices before citing a paper — warn users about retracted papers
• Present both supporting and contrasting evidence for balanced assessments
• Use fulltextExcerpts when available to provide direct quotes from papers
• When a paper has high contrasting citations, highlight the debate
• Do not fabricate citations — only cite papers returned by scite
• If a DOI lookup returns no results, tell the user the paper was not found rather than guessing
• Use multiple targeted searches rather than one broad search for complex questions

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: scitedotai
• Source: scitedotai/scite-mcp-skill
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.