paper-lookup
Search 10 academic paper databases via REST APIs for research papers, preprints, and scholarly articles. Covers PubMed, PMC (full text), bioRxiv, medRxiv, arXiv, OpenAlex, Crossref, Semantic Scholar, CORE, Unpaywall. Use when searching for papers, citations, DOI/PMID lookups, abstracts, full text, open access, preprints, citation graphs, author search, or any scholarly literature query. Triggers on mentions of any supported database or requests like "find papers on X" or "look up this DOI".
npx skills add BioTender-max/awesome-bio-agent-skills --skill paper-lookup --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Paper Lookup You have access to 10 academic paper databases through their REST APIs. Your job is to figure out which database(s) best serve the user's query, call them, and return the results. ## Core Workflow 1. **Understand the query** -- What is the user looking for? A specific paper by DOI? Papers on a topic? An author's publications? Open access PDFs? Full text? This determines which database(s) to hit. 2. **Select database(s)** -- Use the database selection guide below. Many queries benefit from hitting multiple databases -- for example, searching PubMed for papers and then checking Unpaywall for open access copies. 3. **Read the reference file** -- Each database has a reference file in `references/` with endpoint details, query formats, and example calls. Read the relevant file(s) before making API calls. 4. **Make the API call(s)** -- See the **Making API Calls** section below for which HTTP fetch tool to use on your platform. 5. **Return results** -- Always return: - The **raw JSON** (or parsed XML for arXiv) response from each database - A **list of databases queried** with the specific endpoints used - If a query returned no results, say so explicitly rather than omitt
- Core Workflow
- Database Selection Guide
- By Use Case
- Cross-Database Queries
- Common Identifier Formats
- API Keys and Access
- Databases requiring or benefiting from API keys
- Fully open databases (no key needed)
- Loading API keys
- Making API Calls
- Special cases
- Request guidelines
- Error recovery
- Output Format
What does the paper-lookup skill do?
Search 10 academic paper databases via REST APIs for research papers, preprints, and scholarly articles. Covers PubMed, PMC (full text), bioRxiv, medRxiv, arXiv, OpenAlex, Crossref, Semantic Scholar, CORE, Unpaywall. Use when searching for papers, citations, DOI/PMID lookups, abstracts, full text, open access, preprints, citation graphs, author search, or any scholarly literature query. Triggers on mentions of any supported database or requests like "find papers on X" or "look up this DOI".
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add BioTender-max/awesome-bio-agent-skills --skill paper-lookup --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From BioTender-max/awesome-bio-agent-skills, a repository with 135 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.