PubScope MCP Server

Connect your AI assistant directly to PubScope's journal intelligence. The PubScope MCP (Model Context Protocol) server gives Claude, Cursor, VS Code and any other MCP-compatible client live access to 46,000+ verified journals — trust scores, quartiles, indexing status and reference verification — instead of guessing from training data.

Endpoint

https://pubscope.org/api/mcp

Streamable HTTP · no authentication or API key · free within fair-use limits · GitHub

Available tools

Tool	Arguments	What it does
`search_journals`	query, quartile?, open_access_only?, max_results?	Search the catalogue of 46,000+ journals by title, ISSN or topic. Returns trust score, SJR quartile, indexing (Scopus / Web of Science / DOAJ), open-access status and APC.
`get_journal`	issn	Full profile of one journal by ISSN — trust score breakdown, indexing credentials, publisher, quartile, APC and integrity flags.
`compare_journals`	issns (2–4)	Side-by-side comparison of 2–4 journals on trust, quartile, indexing and cost.
`check_citations`	references	Paste a reference list; each citation is verified against Crossref, OpenAlex and the Retraction Watch database — flags fabricated, unresolvable and retracted references.

Claude (web & desktop)

Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, then paste the endpoint URL. No authentication is needed — leave the OAuth fields empty.

https://pubscope.org/api/mcp

Claude Code (CLI)

claude mcp add --transport http pubscope https://pubscope.org/api/mcp

Cursor

Settings → MCP → Add new MCP server, or add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pubscope": {
      "url": "https://pubscope.org/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

code --add-mcp '{"name":"pubscope","type":"http","url":"https://pubscope.org/api/mcp"}'

Any other MCP client

Clients that only speak stdio can bridge to the remote server with mcp-remote:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pubscope": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://pubscope.org/api/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Things to try

“Find Q1 open-access journals on medical image segmentation and compare the top three.”
“Is Medical Image Analysis indexed in Web of Science? What's its trust score?”
“Here's my reference list — check every citation for fabrication and retractions.”
“Compare 1361-8415 and 1533-7928 on cost and indexing.”

Fair use & data

The server is free and unauthenticated, with per-IP rate limits to keep it available for everyone. Every fact it returns comes from the same verifiable third-party sources documented on our methodology page — Scimago (SJR), DOAJ, Web of Science membership records, OpenAlex, Crossref and the Retraction Watch database. Nothing is fabricated, and absence from an index is never presented as a risk verdict. For higher-volume or commercial access, get in touch.