Analyzed URL
https://scholar-sidekick.com/
Measured 2 weeks ago
AI-Ready Score
Good
out of 100
Token Savings
Score Breakdown
Emerging protocols
3 of 6 detectedWell-known endpoints AI agents look for. Detected here means an agent can discover and connect to your service automatically.
-
OAuth Protected Resource RFC 9728
/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource -
OAuth Discovery RFC 8414
/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server- issuer: https://scholar-sidekick.com
-
MCP Server Card SEP-1649 draft
/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json- name: scholar-sidekick
- v0.8.0
- 3 tool(s)
- 1 resource(s)
-
A2A Agent Card A2A v1.0
/.well-known/agent-card.json- name: Scholar Sidekick
- v0.8.0
- 2 capabilities
- 6 skill(s)
-
API Catalog RFC 9727
/.well-known/api-catalog -
Agent Skills index Discovery RFC v0.2.0 draft
/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json
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What we measured Content ratio: 0.1% (121 content chars / 134127 HTML bytes)
Your page has a low ratio of actual content to total HTML. Much of the page weight is markup, scripts, or styles rather than content.
How to implement
Move CSS to external stylesheets, remove inline styles, minimize JavaScript, and ensure the HTML focuses on content structure.
What we measured 10/375 elements with inline styles (2.7%)
Many elements have inline style attributes. These add noise for AI agents extracting content.
How to implement
Move all inline styles to CSS classes in your stylesheet. Use utility CSS frameworks like Tailwind if you need many unique styles.
Integrations [Zotero](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/zotero)[Obsidian](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/obsidian)[ChatGPT app](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/chatgpt)[MCP server](https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp)[Gemini extension](https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-gemini)[VS Code](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/vscode)[Browser extension](https://scholar-sidekick.com/extension)[Command line (CLI)](https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli)[All integrations](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations)
Scholar Sidekick - Citations, Clean & Fast
[Skip to content](https://scholar-sidekick.com/#main)
[](https://scholar-sidekick.com/)
[Help](https://scholar-sidekick.com/help)
Tools
[Citation Verifier](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-verifier)[Identifier Detector](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-detector)[DOI Lookup](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-lookup)[PubMed ID Converter](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/pubmed-id-converter)[DOI to BibTeX](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-bibtex)[DOI to RIS](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-ris)[Open Access Checker](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/open-access-checker)[Retraction Checker](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/retraction-checker)[Style Comparator](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-style-comparator)[Identifier Validator](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-validator)[All tools](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools)
Use Cases
[Talk Prep](https://scholar-sidekick.com/talks)[Grants](https://scholar-sidekick.com/grants)[Posters](https://scholar-sidekick.com/posters)
Integrations
[Zotero](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/zotero)[Obsidian](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/obsidian)[ChatGPT app](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/chatgpt)[MCP server](https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp)[Gemini extension](https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-gemini)[VS Code](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/vscode)[Browser extension](https://scholar-sidekick.com/extension)[Command line (CLI)](https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli)[All integrations](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations)
[API Docs](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs)[Citation Integrity](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity)[Status](https://status.scholar-sidekick.com/)[Account](https://scholar-sidekick.com/account)
# Format-perfect citations from ADS bibcodeDOI
Paste the link or ID on the front of a paper — a DOI (the doi.org link), PMID (PubMed ID), PMCID (PubMed Central ID), arXiv ID, ADS bibcode (NASA astrophysics), ISBN, ISSN, or eISSN — and get a formatted citation in seconds.
Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, CSE, Chicago, Harvard, or any of 10,000+ CSL (Citation Style Language) styles. Export to BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, CSL JSON, and more — ready to copy or drop straight into Zotero, EndNote, or Mendeley.
[Format a citation ↓](https://scholar-sidekick.com/#formatter)
Or pick a focused job: [verify a citation](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-verifier) · [check open access](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/open-access-checker) · [check for retraction](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/retraction-checker) · [see all 10 free tools →](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools)
## How it works
1. 1### Paste
Drop in a DOI, PMID, PMCID, arXiv ID, ADS bibcode, ISBN, ISSN, or a link to a paper.
2. 2### Pick a style
Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, CSE, or any of 10,000+ CSL styles.
3. 3### Copy or export
Copy the formatted citation, or export to BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, or CSL JSON for Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and more.
10,000+ citation styles · 9 export formats · 8 identifier types
## For developers and AI agents
Scholar Sidekick is also a public REST API and an open-source MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. Build it into your reference manager, your editorial pipeline, or your AI agent — no key required for light use.
curl -X POST \\
https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/format \\
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \\
-d '{"text":"10.1038/nphys1170","style":"vancouver"}'
Copy
[Citation API](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-api) · [API docs](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs) · [OpenAPI spec](https://scholar-sidekick.com/openapi/openapi.yml) · [Postman collection](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs#postman) · [MCP server](https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp) · [CLI](https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli)
MCP lets Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor call Scholar Sidekick directly. The `scholar` CLI (`npm i -g scholar-sidekick-cli`) brings the same tools to your terminal and shell scripts.
## Why Scholar Sidekick
Scholar Sidekick is a stateless, identifier-first citation API and tool set. It complements reference managers like Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote rather than replacing them, and skips the click-throughs and style menus of in-browser builders like ZoteroBib and Cite This For Me.
Free, with no account
Every web tool is free to use with no sign-up. The public REST API and open-source MCP server are free for light use too — a free key only raises the rate limit.
Built for AI agents
A public REST API and an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server let Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor call it directly. Output is deterministic and version-pinned, so the same input gives the same bytes.
10,000+ styles, 9 export formats
Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, and CSE built in, plus any Citation Style Language style (Chicago, Harvard, Nature, BMJ, Lancet…). Export to BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, CSL JSON, CSV, and more.
Integrity checks most tools skip
Check retraction status (Retraction Watch + Crossref), open access (Unpaywall), and whether a claimed citation is real — catching the real-DOI / invented-title fabrication pattern a plain lookup misses.
Fabricated references are now common enough to matter: a 2026 analysis in *The Lancet* (Topaz et al.) found about **1 in 277** recent biomedical papers contains a fabricated reference — and the dominant pattern, a real DOI paired with an invented title, slips past a plain link check. [How Scholar Sidekick catches it →](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity)
See the honest, source-cited [tool comparisons](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare) — including [vs Zotero](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-zotero) · [vs EndNote](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-endnote) · [best AI citation verifier](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/best-ai-citation-verifier) — or the [pricing and rate-limit tiers](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs#pricing).
## Pricing
Every web tool is free with no account. The REST API and MCP server are free for light, anonymous use; for a monthly quota and higher rate limits, paid tiers are billed through RapidAPI. Every tier has the full feature set — only the monthly request quota and per-IP burst allowance scale with price.
| Plan | Price | Requests / month | Per-IP burst | Best for |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| BASIC | Free | 500 | 1× (base) | Trying the API, hobby scripts, low-volume agents |
| PRO | $9 / mo | 10,000 | 2× | Indie apps, research tooling, steady production use |
| ULTRA | $49 / mo | 100,000 | 4× | High-traffic apps and batch citation pipelines |
| MEGA | $199 / mo | 500,000 | 8× | Platforms and bulk bibliography processing at scale |
Responses carry IETF `RateLimit-*` and legacy `X-RateLimit-*` headers, plus `Retry-After` on HTTP 429. Past the monthly quota, requests are billed per-request (BASIC/PRO $0.001, ULTRA $0.0008, MEGA $0.0005 each) — never hard-cut mid-month. [Full pricing](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs#pricing) · [manage plans on RapidAPI](https://rapidapi.com/scholar-sidekick-scholar-sidekick-api/api/scholar-sidekick).
## Frequently asked questions
Is Scholar Sidekick a free citation formatter?
Yes. Scholar Sidekick is a free online citation formatter: paste a DOI, PMID, ISBN, or other identifier and get a formatted citation in Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, CSE, or any of 10,000+ CSL styles. No account is needed, and there is no paywall on the web tools. Unlike most free formatters, it also exports to BibTeX, RIS, and EndNote and can check retraction, open-access, and citation-fabrication status.
Which identifiers can I paste into Scholar Sidekick?
A DOI, PMID (PubMed ID), PMCID (PubMed Central ID), arXiv ID, ADS bibcode, ISBN, ISSN, or eISSN. You can also paste a link to a paper and Scholar Sidekick detects the identifier automatically.
Which citation styles are supported?
Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, and CSE are built in, plus any of 10,000+ Citation Style Language (CSL) styles, including Chicago, Harvard, MLA, Nature, BMJ, and Lancet.
What formats can I export to?
Scholar Sidekick exports to nine formats, including BibTeX, RIS, EndNote XML, CSL JSON, and CSV - ready to copy or import into Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote.
Is Scholar Sidekick free?
Yes. The web tools are free to use with no account, with rate limits for fair use. The public REST API and MCP server are free for light use too; for a monthly quota and higher limits, a free RapidAPI key (the BASIC tier) is available.
Does Scholar Sidekick have an API or AI integration?
Yes. Scholar Sidekick is also a public REST API and an open-source MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, so tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor can call it directly, and you can build it into a reference manager, editorial pipeline, or AI agent.
Can it check retractions and open access, or verify a citation?
Yes. Dedicated tools check retraction status (via Retraction Watch and Crossref), open-access availability (via Unpaywall), and whether a citation is real by cross-checking a claimed title against the paper at its identifier to catch fabricated references.
## Available On
[AlternativeTo](https://alternativeto.net/software/scholar-sidekick/) · [ChatGPT](https://chatgpt.com/apps/scholar-sidekick/asdk_app_6a1cfe08d3a081919ed00f619418c457) · [Cursor Directory](https://cursor.directory/plugins/scholar-sidekick) · [Gemini](https://geminicli.com/extensions/?name=mlavascholar-sidekick-gemini) · [Glama](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/mlava/scholar-sidekick-mcp) · [Goose](https://goose-docs.ai/extensions/detail?id=scholar-sidekick) · [LobeHub](https://lobehub.com/mcp/mlavercombe-scholar-sidekick-mcp) · [MCP Registry](https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers?search=scholar-sidekick) · [Smithery](https://smithery.ai/servers/scholar-sidekick/scholar-sidekick-mcp)
Last updated: June 17, 2026
Upload this file as /index.md on your server so AI agents can access a clean version of your page. You can also configure Accept: text/markdown content negotiation to serve it automatically.
Our recommendation
# Scholar Sidekick > Paste a DOI, PMID, ISBN, or arXiv ID and get a clean citation in Vancouver, APA, IEEE, or any of 10,000+ styles. Export to BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, and more. ## Documentation - [Help](https://scholar-sidekick.com/help) - [API Docs](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs) ## Main - [Scholar Sidekick - Citations, Clean & Fast](https://scholar-sidekick.com/): Paste a DOI, PMID, ISBN, or arXiv ID and get a clean citation in Vancouver, APA, IEEE, or any of 10,000+ styles. Export… - [Citation Verifier](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-verifier) - [Identifier Detector](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-detector) - [DOI Lookup](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-lookup) - [PubMed ID Converter](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/pubmed-id-converter) - [DOI to BibTeX](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-bibtex) - [DOI to RIS](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-ris) - [Open Access Checker](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/open-access-checker) - [Retraction Checker](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/retraction-checker) ## Legal - [Privacy](https://scholar-sidekick.com/legal/privacy) - [Terms](https://scholar-sidekick.com/legal/terms) - [API Terms](https://scholar-sidekick.com/legal/api-terms) ## Support - [Help](https://scholar-sidekick.com/help)
Full llms.txt requires domain-wide analysis (coming soon)
Upload this file to https://scholar-sidekick.com/llms.txt at the root of your domain. AI agents like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity check this file to understand your site structure.
This site already has a llms.txt file.
Valid format# Scholar Sidekick
> Citation resolver, formatter, and exporter API for scholarly identifiers. Resolves DOI, PMID, ISBN, arXiv IDs, and more into formatted citations and reference-manager export formats.
Scholar Sidekick resolves scholarly identifiers into normalized bibliographic metadata and formatted citations. It supports multiple citation styles and export formats for integration with reference managers and research workflows.
## When to Use This (for AI Agents)
Use Scholar Sidekick when a user supplies a scholarly identifier (DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, ISSN, arXiv ID, ADS bibcode, or WHO IRIS URL) and wants to:
- format a citation in a named style → `POST /api/format`
- export a reference-manager file (BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, …) → `POST /api/export`
- check whether a paper is retracted → `POST /api/retraction-check`
- check whether a paper is open access → `POST /api/oa-check`
- verify a claimed citation is real, catching the real-DOI / invented-title fabrication pattern → `POST /api/verify`
Prefer `/api/verify` over a plain lookup when the question is "is this citation real?". No API key is needed for the free tier — call the REST API directly or connect the MCP server. Scholar Sidekick resolves known identifiers; it does not search for papers by topic, so pair it with a literature-search tool for discovery.
## Developer Resources
Every developer artifact is brand-prefixed so name-based lookup ("scholar-sidekick developer resources", "scholar-sidekick API docs", "scholar-sidekick OpenAPI", "scholar-sidekick MCP server", "scholar-sidekick authentication") resolves to a predictable URL. The single hub page below indexes all of them.
- Scholar Sidekick Developer Resources (hub): https://scholar-sidekick.com/developers (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/developers.md) — one page indexing the REST API, OpenAPI spec, authentication, MCP server, CLI, editor extensions, changelog, status, and source code
- Scholar Sidekick Citation API (overview): https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-api (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-api.md) — landing overview of the free citation API / DOI resolver API: what it does, a quickstart call, AI-agent access, and how it compares to calling Crossref or OpenAlex directly; links into /docs for the full reference
- Scholar Sidekick API Docs: https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs.md) — endpoint reference: parameters, headers, caching, and rate limits
- Scholar Sidekick OpenAPI Spec (YAML): https://scholar-sidekick.com/openapi/openapi.yml — full OpenAPI 3.1 contract in YAML
- Scholar Sidekick OpenAPI Spec (JSON): https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/openapi — the same OpenAPI 3.1 contract served as JSON
- Scholar Sidekick OpenAPI Spec (canonical .well-known): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/openapi.yaml — OpenAPI 3.1 spec at the standard discovery path
- Scholar Sidekick RapidAPI OpenAPI Spec: https://scholar-sidekick.com/openapi/rapidapi/openapi.yml — OpenAPI variant describing the RapidAPI-gateway surface
- Scholar Sidekick MCP Server Guide: https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp.md) — install and configure the MCP server for Claude, Cursor, and other clients
- Scholar Sidekick MCP Server Card (SEP-1649): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json — machine-readable MCP capability card (tools, prompts, resources)
- Scholar Sidekick MCP Apps Endpoint (no-auth, OpenAI Apps SDK): https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/apps/mcp — connectable Streamable-HTTP MCP with no credential; exposes verify_citation, format_citation, check_retraction and an interactive ui://widget/scholar-citation.html citation card (text/html;profile=mcp-app)
- Scholar Sidekick CLI (npm): https://www.npmjs.com/package/scholar-sidekick-cli — terminal client (`scholar`) over the REST API; `npm i -g scholar-sidekick-cli`, no key required for the free tier
- Scholar Sidekick VS Code Extension (VS Code Marketplace): https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=scholar-sidekick.scholar-sidekick-vscode — lints a `.bib` for fabricated citations, retractions, and open-access status; also on Open VSX for Cursor/Positron/Windsurf/VSCodium: https://open-vsx.org/extension/scholar-sidekick/scholar-sidekick-vscode
- Scholar Sidekick Gemini extension (GitHub): https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-gemini — Gemini CLI extension / Antigravity plugin wrapping the MCP server (6 tools) + CLI (`/scholar:*` commands); pure config, no key required; install: `gemini extensions install https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-gemini`; listed in the official Gemini CLI gallery: https://geminicli.com/extensions/?name=mlavascholar-sidekick-gemini
- Scholar Sidekick ChatGPT App (OpenAI Apps SDK): https://chatgpt.com/apps/scholar-sidekick/asdk_app_6a1cfe08d3a081919ed00f619418c457 — installable app inside ChatGPT exposing verify_citation, format_citation, check_retraction with an interactive citation card; free, no sign-in or API key; on-site overview: https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/chatgpt (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/chatgpt.md); backed by the no-auth endpoint https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/apps/mcp
- Scholar Sidekick WebMCP (in-browser, experimental): https://scholar-sidekick.com — when opened in a browser with the experimental in-browser Model Context API (Chrome's `navigator.modelContext` / WebMCP; https://developer.chrome.com/docs/ai/webmcp), the page registers Scholar Sidekick's six tools to the in-browser AI agent, which call the same same-origin REST API as the hosted MCP server; no install, no key; self-disables where WebMCP is unsupported
- Scholar Sidekick Authentication: https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs#pricing — anonymous access with no key at the lowest rate-limit tier; for higher limits create a free first-party key (`ssk_…`) at https://scholar-sidekick.com/account and send it as `Authorization: Bearer ssk_…`; RapidAPI gateway (`X-RapidAPI-Key`) for paid/managed tiers; no OAuth/OIDC
- Scholar Sidekick Rate Limits: https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs#pricing — sliding-window per-IP burst protection plus monthly quotas (plan tiers: anonymous, free, pro, ultra, mega); responses include `RateLimit-*` + `X-RateLimit-*` headers and `Retry-After` on 429
- Scholar Sidekick Agent Card: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent-card.json (alias: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent.json) — agent discovery card mapping skills to REST + MCP, identifiers, formats, and auth
- Scholar Sidekick Agent Skills Index: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json — discovery index of installable agent skills with SHA-256 digests
- Scholar Sidekick API Catalog (RFC 9727): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/api-catalog — RFC 9727 linkset of all machine-readable API resources
- Scholar Sidekick Sources Manifest: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/sources.json — data-source resolver chain, fallback order, and transform_version
- Scholar Sidekick AI Plugin Manifest: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/ai-plugin.json — ChatGPT / agent plugin manifest pointing at the OpenAPI spec
- Scholar Sidekick Changelog: https://scholar-sidekick.com/changelog (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/changelog.md) — `transform_version` / `verify_version` bumps tagged output-affecting, verdict-affecting, breaking, or non-breaking
- Scholar Sidekick Engineering Principles: https://scholar-sidekick.com/engineering-principles (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/engineering-principles.md) — determinism, contract stability, spec fidelity, and reproducibility design notes
- Scholar Sidekick Verification Kit: https://scholar-sidekick.com/verification (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/verification.md) — copy-paste curl commands that prove reproducibility, provenance headers, and edge-case behaviour
- Scholar Sidekick Status Page: https://status.scholar-sidekick.com — rolling uptime and incident history for the public API; headline reflects Scholar Sidekick's own availability, upstream metadata-source health is a separate informational section
- Scholar Sidekick Agent Guide: https://scholar-sidekick.com/AGENTS.md — integration guide for coding agents (MCP + REST)
- Scholar Sidekick Postman Workspace: https://www.postman.com/scholar-sidekick/scholar-sidekick/overview — ready-to-run Postman collection for the REST API
- Scholar Sidekick GitHub - MCP Server: https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-mcp — source for the scholar-sidekick-mcp server
- Scholar Sidekick GitHub - CLI: https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli — source for the `scholar` CLI
- Scholar Sidekick GitHub - VS Code Extension: https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-vscode — source for the VS Code / Open VSX extension
- Scholar Sidekick GitHub - Gemini extension: https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-gemini — source for the Gemini CLI extension / Antigravity plugin
- Scholar Sidekick GitHub - Agent Skills: https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills — source for the public agent-skills hub
- Scholar Sidekick Agent Skills (skills.sh directory): https://www.skills.sh/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills — install all Scholar Sidekick agent skills via skills.sh
- Scholar Sidekick Agent Skills - REST API skill (skills.sh): https://www.skills.sh/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills/scholar-sidekick-api — the zero-install REST API skill on skills.sh
- Scholar Sidekick Agent Skills - CLI skill (skills.sh): https://www.skills.sh/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills/scholar-sidekick-cli — the `scholar` terminal-command skill on skills.sh
- Scholar Sidekick API Terms: https://scholar-sidekick.com/legal/api-terms — terms of use for the public API
## Supported Identifier Types
- DOI (e.g., 10.1038/nphys1170)
- PMID (PubMed ID, e.g., PMID: 30049270)
- PMCID (PubMed Central ID)
- ISBN (e.g., 9780192854087)
- ISSN / eISSN
- arXiv ID (e.g., arXiv:2301.07041)
- ADS bibcode (NASA Astrophysics Data System)
- WHO IRIS URL
## API Base URL
https://scholar-sidekick.com
## Authentication
Anonymous access works with no key at the lowest rate-limit tier. For higher limits, create a free first-party API key (`ssk_…`) at https://scholar-sidekick.com/account and send it as `Authorization: Bearer ssk_…`. The API is also available on RapidAPI (`X-RapidAPI-Key`) for paid/managed tiers. No OAuth/OIDC.
## Endpoints
### POST /api/format
Resolve one or more identifiers and return formatted citations.
Request body (JSON):
- `text` (string): A single identifier or free-text string containing identifiers.
- OR `lines` (string[]): An array of identifiers to resolve in batch.
- `style` (string, optional): Citation style ID. Builtin styles: vancouver, ama, apa, ieee, cse. Also supports thousands of CSL styles (e.g., harvard, chicago, nature, lancet). Defaults to vancouver.
- `output` (string, optional): "json" or "text". Defaults to json.
Response (200, JSON):
- `citation`: Formatted citation string (HTML or plain text).
- `styleUsed`: The style that was actually applied.
- `items`: Array of resolved CSL-JSON bibliographic items.
### POST /api/format/stream
Streaming variant of /api/format. Returns NDJSON (one JSON object per line) via `application/x-ndjson`. Useful for large batch requests.
Request body (JSON):
- `lines` (string[]): Array of identifiers.
- `style` (string, optional): Citation style ID.
### POST /api/export
Export resolved citations in reference-manager-friendly formats.
Request body (JSON):
- `text` (string) OR `items` (CSL-JSON[]): Input identifiers or pre-resolved items.
- `format` (string, required): One of: txt, ris, bibtex, csl-json, endnote-xml, refworks, nbib, rdf, csv.
- `style` (string, optional): Citation style ID.
Response: Plain text body in the requested format.
### POST /api/format-items
Format pre-resolved CSL-JSON items without re-resolving identifiers.
Request body (JSON):
- `items` (CSL-JSON[]): Array of CSL-JSON bibliographic items.
- `style` (string, optional): Citation style ID.
- `output` (string, optional): "json" or "text".
### GET /api/csl/styles
Discover available CSL citation styles. Supports search and pagination via query parameters.
### GET /api/health
Service liveness check. Returns `{ "status": "ok", "time": "<ISO timestamp>" }`.
### POST /api/retraction-check
Check a single work's retraction / correction / expression-of-concern status, sourced from Crossref `updated-by` (Retraction Watch).
Request body (JSON):
- `id` (string, required): A DOI, PMID, PMCID, arXiv ID, or ADS bibcode (non-DOI inputs are resolved to a DOI before lookup).
Response (200, JSON): the resolved DOI, the source identifier (when different), and a `result` object (or `null` when no DOI could be resolved).
### POST /api/oa-check
Check a single work's open-access status, sourced from Unpaywall.
Request body (JSON):
- `id` (string, required): A DOI or other identifier (resolved to a DOI before lookup).
Response (200, JSON): OA status (gold/green/hybrid/bronze/closed), the best legal landing/PDF URL, license, and version when available.
### POST /api/verify
Check whether a *claimed* citation matches the record at its identifier — catches the dominant fabrication pattern (real DOI + invented title) that a plain lookup misses.
Request body (JSON):
- `claimed` (object, required): a claimed citation with one identifier, e.g. `{ "title": "...", "authors": [{ "family": "..." }], "year": 2026, "container": "...", "doi": "..." }`.
Response (200, JSON): `verdict` (`matched | mismatch | ambiguous | not_found`), a `confidence` tier (`high | medium | low`), and a per-field similarity diff. Returns 200 on every produced verdict; 4xx/5xx only for protocol errors.
## Export Formats
- `ris` - Research Information Systems (compatible with EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley)
- `bibtex` - BibTeX (compatible with LaTeX, Overleaf, JabRef)
- `csl-json` - CSL-JSON (raw structured metadata)
- `endnote-xml` - EndNote XML
- `refworks` - RefWorks tagged format
- `nbib` - NBIB / MEDLINE format
- `rdf` - Bibliographic RDF
- `csv` - Comma-separated values
- `txt` - Formatted plain text citation
## Rate Limiting
The API uses sliding-window rate limiting. Rate limit status is communicated via standard headers: `X-RateLimit-Limit`, `X-RateLimit-Remaining`, `X-RateLimit-Reset`, `Retry-After`. Plan tiers: anonymous, free, pro, ultra, mega.
## Error Responses
Errors return JSON: `{ "ok": false, "code": "<ERROR_CODE>", "error": "<message>" }`
Common codes: BAD_REQUEST (400), UNAUTHORIZED (401), RATE_LIMITED (429), MAINTENANCE (503).
## OpenAPI Specification
Full OpenAPI 3.1 spec: https://scholar-sidekick.com/openapi/openapi.yml
Also exposed under the canonical discovery path: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/openapi.yaml
## Provenance & determinism
Scholar Sidekick exposes machine-readable provenance and reproducibility metadata at canonical `.well-known` paths so AI agents can verify data sources, fallback order, and output stability before integrating.
- Data source manifest (resolver chain, fallback order, network safety, `transform_version`): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/sources.json
- ChatGPT / agent plugin manifest (points at the OpenAPI spec): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/ai-plugin.json
- OpenAPI 3.1 spec at the discovery path: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/openapi.yaml
- API catalog (RFC 9727 linkset): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/api-catalog
- MCP server card (SEP-1649): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json (also at https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/mcp)
- Agent skills discovery index (with SHA-256 digests): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json
- Agent discovery card (skills mapped to REST + MCP, identifiers, formats, auth, links): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent-card.json (also at https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent.json)
- Machine-readable pricing: https://scholar-sidekick.com/pricing.md — plan tiers, rate-limit allowances, and quotas in machine-readable form
Every API response includes the `x-scholar-transform-version` header. Identical inputs (identifier + style + format) at a fixed `transform_version` produce byte-identical output. The constant is bumped when normalisation, formatter, or resolver-chain changes could alter that.
Self-verification kit (copy-paste curl commands that prove the determinism, provenance, and edge-case claims): https://scholar-sidekick.com/verification (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/verification.md)
Changelog (transform_version / verify_version bumps, each tagged output-affecting, verdict-affecting, breaking, or non-breaking): https://scholar-sidekick.com/changelog (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/changelog.md)
Status page (rolling uptime + incident history for the public API; headline reflects Scholar Sidekick's own availability, upstream metadata-source health is a separate informational section): https://status.scholar-sidekick.com
## Documentation
- [Full content (all pages)](https://scholar-sidekick.com/llms-full.txt): Single-file aggregation of all site pages (kept under the 200,000-character agent single-request budget)
- [Full content — tool comparisons](https://scholar-sidekick.com/llms-full-comparisons.txt): Companion split of the tool-by-tool comparison sections, linked from llms-full.txt
- [Scoped context: REST API](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs/llms.txt): Per-area llms.txt for just the REST API
- [Scoped context: MCP server](https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp/llms.txt): Per-area llms.txt for just the MCP server
- [Scoped context: web tools](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/llms.txt): Per-area llms.txt for just the free web tools
- [Citation API overview](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-api.md): Free citation API / DOI resolver API — what it does, quickstart, AI-agent access, vs. Crossref/OpenAlex
- [API Docs](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs.md): Endpoints, parameters, headers, caching, rate limits
- [MCP Server Setup](https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp.md): Install and configure the MCP server for Claude, Cursor, and others
- [Command-line CLI](https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli) ([npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/scholar-sidekick-cli)): Terminal client (`scholar`) wrapping the REST API — resolve, format (10,000+ styles), export (BibTeX / RIS / EndNote), and run retraction / open-access / fabrication checks from the command line or shell scripts. `npm i -g scholar-sidekick-cli`, no key required for the free tier.
- [Agent Skills (skills.sh)](https://www.skills.sh/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills): Install the Scholar Sidekick agent skills for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, and other agents — `npx skills add mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills` (the zero-install [`scholar-sidekick-api` REST skill](https://www.skills.sh/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills/scholar-sidekick-api), the `scholar-sidekick-mcp` skill, plus the [`scholar-sidekick-cli` skill](https://www.skills.sh/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills/scholar-sidekick-cli) for the `scholar` terminal command)
- [Browser Extension](https://scholar-sidekick.com/extension): Free Chrome / Firefox / Edge extension. Right-click any DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, arXiv ID, ADS bibcode, or scholarly URL on any web page to format it as a citation in Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, CSE, or any of 10,000+ CSL styles
- [Integrations](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations.md)): First-party integrations bringing identifier-first formatting, retraction checks, open-access lookup, and citation verification into existing workflows — Obsidian, Zotero, a VS Code / editor extension, a browser extension, and an MCP server.
- [Obsidian plugin](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/obsidian) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/obsidian.md)): Replace a DOI / PMID / ISBN / arXiv / ADS / PMCID in a note with a formatted citation. Eleven commands incl. per-note BibTeX / RIS export, retraction and open-access checks, and a verifier. 10,000+ CSL styles. Free, no key; in the Obsidian community store.
- [Zotero plugin](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/zotero) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/zotero.md)): Verify a bibliography before importing into Zotero — check every entry of a .bib / .ris for claimed-vs-resolved mismatches (the AI-fabrication pattern), retractions, and open-access copies, then import only the clean items. Zotero 7-9, free, no key.
- [VS Code extension](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/vscode) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/vscode.md)): Lint a .bib inside VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, or Positron for fabrication mismatches, retractions, and open-access status as inline diagnostics. The verify layer Quarto and Zotero lack. On the VS Code Marketplace (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=scholar-sidekick.scholar-sidekick-vscode) and Open VSX (https://open-vsx.org/extension/scholar-sidekick/scholar-sidekick-vscode). Free, no key.
- [Help & Limits](https://scholar-sidekick.com/help.md): Supported identifiers, styles, exports, caching, and rate limits
- [Scholarly Glossary](https://scholar-sidekick.com/glossary.md): Plain-language definitions of DOI, PMID, BibTeX, RIS, CSL, open access, retraction, and other terms
- [Scholar Sidekick Explainer](https://scholar-sidekick.com/explainer.md): A moment-of-need citation formatter - what it is, what it isn't, when it's useful.
- [Agent Guide](https://scholar-sidekick.com/AGENTS.md): Integration guide for coding agents (MCP + REST)
- [Sitemap](https://scholar-sidekick.com/sitemap.md): Full site map for agents
- [API Terms](https://scholar-sidekick.com/legal/api-terms): Terms of use for the API
## Comparisons
Honest, source-cited comparisons against adjacent reference managers and citation APIs — where each alternative wins, where Scholar Sidekick wins, and how to use both together. Full prose: https://scholar-sidekick.com/llms-full-comparisons.txt
- [Comparisons index](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare.md)): all available comparisons
- [Best AI Citation Verifier in 2026](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/best-ai-citation-verifier) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/best-ai-citation-verifier.md)): ten AI citation verifiers that catch fabricated DOIs, compared
- [Scholar Sidekick vs Zotero](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-zotero) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-zotero.md)): reference manager vs stateless citation API
- [Scholar Sidekick vs ZoteroBib](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-zoterobib) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-zoterobib.md)): in-browser bibliography builder vs citation API
- [Scholar Sidekick vs Scribbr](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-scribbr) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-scribbr.md)): source-accuracy vs style-accuracy
- [Citation MCP Servers Compared](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/citation-mcp-servers) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/citation-mcp-servers.md)): the five citation MCP servers AI assistants cite
- [Scholar Sidekick vs EndNote](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-endnote) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-endnote.md)): stateless citation API vs enterprise reference manager
- [Scholar Sidekick vs MyBib](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-mybib) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-mybib.md)): identifier-first registry resolution vs URL-first builder
- [Scholar Sidekick vs Cite This For Me](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-citethisforme) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-citethisforme.md)): identifier-first API vs URL-paste bibliography
## Example Usage
Resolve a DOI to a Vancouver-style citation:
```
POST /api/format
Content-Type: application/json
{ "text": "10.1056/nejmoa2033700", "style": "vancouver", "output": "text" }
```
Export multiple identifiers as BibTeX:
```
POST /api/export
Content-Type: application/json
{ "lines": ["10.1038/nphys1170", "PMID: 30049270"], "format": "bibtex" }
```
## Optional
- [Privacy Policy](https://scholar-sidekick.com/legal/privacy): data handling, minimal logs, scrubbed telemetry
- [Accessibility](https://scholar-sidekick.com/accessibility): WCAG compliance statement and known limitations
- [Engineering Principles](https://scholar-sidekick.com/engineering-principles) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/engineering-principles.md)): determinism, contract stability, spec fidelity, reproducibility via `transform_version`
- [Verification](https://scholar-sidekick.com/verification) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/verification.md)): copy-paste curl commands that verify reproducibility, provenance headers, and edge cases against the live API
- [Changelog](https://scholar-sidekick.com/changelog) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/changelog.md)): public record of `transform_version` / `verify_version` bumps, each tagged by impact
- [Status](https://status.scholar-sidekick.com): rolling uptime and incident history for the public API (Scholar Sidekick's own availability; upstream metadata-source health is a separate informational section)
- [Citation integrity in the age of AI](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity.md)): how LLM citation fabrication works (1-in-277 biomedical papers, Topaz et al., Lancet 2026), why simple DOI checks miss it, and how /api/verify catches it — with an inline demo and a validation set with downloadable JSON receipts
- [AI evaluator bias in citation-tool recommendations](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity/ai-evaluator-bias) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity/ai-evaluator-bias.md)): four major AI search engines, asked to recommend citation infrastructure, all omitted a verifiable identifier-first option and admitted it when pushed — verbatim admissions plus a tool-agnostic evaluation checklist
- [A verified citation can still be wrong](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity/verified-citations-can-still-be-wrong) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity/verified-citations-can-still-be-wrong.md)): why "verified" hides two questions — does the cited work exist vs does the identifier you publish resolve to it — how title-matching and identifier-resolution disagree (a real DOI can point to the wrong paper), the matched/mismatch/ambiguous/not_found verdict vocabulary, and a checklist to verify a citation properly
- [Citation Verifier (web tool)](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-verifier) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-verifier.md)): paste a title + identifier; see verdict (matched / mismatch / ambiguous / not_found), per-field diff, candidates, and provenance. Same backend as POST /api/verify and the MCP `verifyCitation` tool
- [DOI to BibTeX](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-bibtex) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-bibtex.md)): single identifier to a BibTeX entry. Backend: POST /api/export, format=bibtex
- [DOI to RIS](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-ris) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-ris.md)): same surface, RIS output for EndNote / Zotero / Mendeley / RefWorks
- [DOI Lookup](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-lookup) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-lookup.md)): resolve one identifier and inspect its structured metadata
- [PMID / PMCID / DOI Converter](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/pubmed-id-converter) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/pubmed-id-converter.md)): swap between PubMed identifier types for the same paper
- [Identifier Detector](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-detector) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-detector.md)): bulk-extract every DOI / PMID / PMCID / arXiv / ISBN / ISSN / ADS bibcode from text
- [Identifier Validator](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-validator) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-validator.md)): single-ID well-formedness and resolvability check (no metadata fetch)
- [Citation Style Comparator](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-style-comparator) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-style-comparator.md)): render the same paper in 10,000+ CSL styles side by side
- [Open Access Checker](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/open-access-checker) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/open-access-checker.md)): Unpaywall-backed free-copy check. Backend: POST /api/oa-check, MCP `checkOpenAccess`
- [Retraction Checker](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/retraction-checker) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/retraction-checker.md)): Retraction Watch via Crossref. Backend: POST /api/retraction-check, MCP `checkRetraction`
- [Explainer](https://scholar-sidekick.com/explainer): how Scholar Sidekick fits into research workflows
Semantic HTML
Has <main>
Clean heading hierarchy
14 semantic elements, 45 divs (ratio: 24%)
2/2 images with meaningful alt text
Avg div depth: 2.1, max: 4
Content Efficiency
100% token reduction (HTML→Markdown)
Content ratio: 0.1% (121 content chars / 134127 HTML bytes)
10/375 elements with inline styles (2.7%)
HTML size: 131KB
AI Discoverability
llms.txt exists and is valid
robots.txt exists
All major AI bots allowed
Sitemap found
Structured Data
JSON-LD found: WebPage, BreadcrumbList, Organization, WebSite, SoftwareApplication, Service, FAQPage
All OG tags present
Meta description: 154 chars
Canonical URL present
lang="en"
Accessibility
Content available without JavaScript
Page size: 131KB
Main content starts at 22% of HTML
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"@type": "EntryPoint",
"urlTemplate": "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/oa-check",
"httpMethod": "POST",
"contentType": "application/json",
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"@type": "EntryPoint",
"urlTemplate": "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/verify",
"httpMethod": "POST",
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"markdown": "Integrations\n\n[Zotero](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/zotero)[Obsidian](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/obsidian)[ChatGPT app](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/chatgpt)[MCP server](https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp)[Gemini extension](https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-gemini)[VS Code](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/vscode)[Browser extension](https://scholar-sidekick.com/extension)[Command line (CLI)](https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli)[All integrations](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations)\n",
"fullPageMarkdown": "Scholar Sidekick - Citations, Clean & Fast\n\n[Skip to content](https://scholar-sidekick.com/#main)\n\n[](https://scholar-sidekick.com/)\n\n[Help](https://scholar-sidekick.com/help)\n\nTools\n\n[Citation Verifier](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-verifier)[Identifier Detector](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-detector)[DOI Lookup](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-lookup)[PubMed ID Converter](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/pubmed-id-converter)[DOI to BibTeX](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-bibtex)[DOI to RIS](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-ris)[Open Access Checker](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/open-access-checker)[Retraction Checker](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/retraction-checker)[Style Comparator](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-style-comparator)[Identifier Validator](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-validator)[All tools](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools)\n\nUse Cases\n\n[Talk Prep](https://scholar-sidekick.com/talks)[Grants](https://scholar-sidekick.com/grants)[Posters](https://scholar-sidekick.com/posters)\n\nIntegrations\n\n[Zotero](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/zotero)[Obsidian](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/obsidian)[ChatGPT app](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/chatgpt)[MCP server](https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp)[Gemini extension](https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-gemini)[VS Code](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/vscode)[Browser extension](https://scholar-sidekick.com/extension)[Command line (CLI)](https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli)[All integrations](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations)\n\n[API Docs](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs)[Citation Integrity](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity)[Status](https://status.scholar-sidekick.com/)[Account](https://scholar-sidekick.com/account)\n\n# Format-perfect citations from ADS bibcodeDOI\n\nPaste the link or ID on the front of a paper — a DOI (the doi.org link), PMID (PubMed ID), PMCID (PubMed Central ID), arXiv ID, ADS bibcode (NASA astrophysics), ISBN, ISSN, or eISSN — and get a formatted citation in seconds.\n\nVancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, CSE, Chicago, Harvard, or any of 10,000+ CSL (Citation Style Language) styles. Export to BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, CSL JSON, and more — ready to copy or drop straight into Zotero, EndNote, or Mendeley.\n\n[Format a citation ↓](https://scholar-sidekick.com/#formatter)\n\nOr pick a focused job: [verify a citation](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-verifier) · [check open access](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/open-access-checker) · [check for retraction](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/retraction-checker) · [see all 10 free tools →](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools)\n\n## How it works\n\n1. 1### Paste\n\n Drop in a DOI, PMID, PMCID, arXiv ID, ADS bibcode, ISBN, ISSN, or a link to a paper.\n\n2. 2### Pick a style\n\n Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, CSE, or any of 10,000+ CSL styles.\n\n3. 3### Copy or export\n\n Copy the formatted citation, or export to BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, or CSL JSON for Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and more.\n\n10,000+ citation styles · 9 export formats · 8 identifier types\n\n## For developers and AI agents\n\nScholar Sidekick is also a public REST API and an open-source MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. Build it into your reference manager, your editorial pipeline, or your AI agent — no key required for light use.\n\ncurl -X POST \\\\\n https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/format \\\\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\\\n -d '{\"text\":\"10.1038/nphys1170\",\"style\":\"vancouver\"}'\n\nCopy\n\n[Citation API](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-api) · [API docs](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs) · [OpenAPI spec](https://scholar-sidekick.com/openapi/openapi.yml) · [Postman collection](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs#postman) · [MCP server](https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp) · [CLI](https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli)\n\nMCP lets Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor call Scholar Sidekick directly. The `scholar` CLI (`npm i -g scholar-sidekick-cli`) brings the same tools to your terminal and shell scripts.\n\n## Why Scholar Sidekick\n\nScholar Sidekick is a stateless, identifier-first citation API and tool set. It complements reference managers like Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote rather than replacing them, and skips the click-throughs and style menus of in-browser builders like ZoteroBib and Cite This For Me.\n\nFree, with no account\n\nEvery web tool is free to use with no sign-up. The public REST API and open-source MCP server are free for light use too — a free key only raises the rate limit.\n\nBuilt for AI agents\n\nA public REST API and an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server let Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor call it directly. Output is deterministic and version-pinned, so the same input gives the same bytes.\n\n10,000+ styles, 9 export formats\n\nVancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, and CSE built in, plus any Citation Style Language style (Chicago, Harvard, Nature, BMJ, Lancet…). Export to BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, CSL JSON, CSV, and more.\n\nIntegrity checks most tools skip\n\nCheck retraction status (Retraction Watch + Crossref), open access (Unpaywall), and whether a claimed citation is real — catching the real-DOI / invented-title fabrication pattern a plain lookup misses.\n\nFabricated references are now common enough to matter: a 2026 analysis in *The Lancet* (Topaz et al.) found about **1 in 277** recent biomedical papers contains a fabricated reference — and the dominant pattern, a real DOI paired with an invented title, slips past a plain link check. [How Scholar Sidekick catches it →](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity)\n\nSee the honest, source-cited [tool comparisons](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare) — including [vs Zotero](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-zotero) · [vs EndNote](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-endnote) · [best AI citation verifier](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/best-ai-citation-verifier) — or the [pricing and rate-limit tiers](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs#pricing).\n\n## Pricing\n\nEvery web tool is free with no account. The REST API and MCP server are free for light, anonymous use; for a monthly quota and higher rate limits, paid tiers are billed through RapidAPI. Every tier has the full feature set — only the monthly request quota and per-IP burst allowance scale with price.\n\n| Plan | Price | Requests / month | Per-IP burst | Best for |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| BASIC | Free | 500 | 1× (base) | Trying the API, hobby scripts, low-volume agents |\n| PRO | $9 / mo | 10,000 | 2× | Indie apps, research tooling, steady production use |\n| ULTRA | $49 / mo | 100,000 | 4× | High-traffic apps and batch citation pipelines |\n| MEGA | $199 / mo | 500,000 | 8× | Platforms and bulk bibliography processing at scale |\n\nResponses carry IETF `RateLimit-*` and legacy `X-RateLimit-*` headers, plus `Retry-After` on HTTP 429. Past the monthly quota, requests are billed per-request (BASIC/PRO $0.001, ULTRA $0.0008, MEGA $0.0005 each) — never hard-cut mid-month. [Full pricing](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs#pricing) · [manage plans on RapidAPI](https://rapidapi.com/scholar-sidekick-scholar-sidekick-api/api/scholar-sidekick).\n\n## Frequently asked questions\n\nIs Scholar Sidekick a free citation formatter?\n\nYes. Scholar Sidekick is a free online citation formatter: paste a DOI, PMID, ISBN, or other identifier and get a formatted citation in Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, CSE, or any of 10,000+ CSL styles. No account is needed, and there is no paywall on the web tools. Unlike most free formatters, it also exports to BibTeX, RIS, and EndNote and can check retraction, open-access, and citation-fabrication status.\n\nWhich identifiers can I paste into Scholar Sidekick?\n\nA DOI, PMID (PubMed ID), PMCID (PubMed Central ID), arXiv ID, ADS bibcode, ISBN, ISSN, or eISSN. You can also paste a link to a paper and Scholar Sidekick detects the identifier automatically.\n\nWhich citation styles are supported?\n\nVancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, and CSE are built in, plus any of 10,000+ Citation Style Language (CSL) styles, including Chicago, Harvard, MLA, Nature, BMJ, and Lancet.\n\nWhat formats can I export to?\n\nScholar Sidekick exports to nine formats, including BibTeX, RIS, EndNote XML, CSL JSON, and CSV - ready to copy or import into Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote.\n\nIs Scholar Sidekick free?\n\nYes. The web tools are free to use with no account, with rate limits for fair use. The public REST API and MCP server are free for light use too; for a monthly quota and higher limits, a free RapidAPI key (the BASIC tier) is available.\n\nDoes Scholar Sidekick have an API or AI integration?\n\nYes. Scholar Sidekick is also a public REST API and an open-source MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, so tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor can call it directly, and you can build it into a reference manager, editorial pipeline, or AI agent.\n\nCan it check retractions and open access, or verify a citation?\n\nYes. Dedicated tools check retraction status (via Retraction Watch and Crossref), open-access availability (via Unpaywall), and whether a citation is real by cross-checking a claimed title against the paper at its identifier to catch fabricated references.\n\n## Available On\n\n[AlternativeTo](https://alternativeto.net/software/scholar-sidekick/) · [ChatGPT](https://chatgpt.com/apps/scholar-sidekick/asdk_app_6a1cfe08d3a081919ed00f619418c457) · [Cursor Directory](https://cursor.directory/plugins/scholar-sidekick) · [Gemini](https://geminicli.com/extensions/?name=mlavascholar-sidekick-gemini) · [Glama](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/mlava/scholar-sidekick-mcp) · [Goose](https://goose-docs.ai/extensions/detail?id=scholar-sidekick) · [LobeHub](https://lobehub.com/mcp/mlavercombe-scholar-sidekick-mcp) · [MCP Registry](https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers?search=scholar-sidekick) · [Smithery](https://smithery.ai/servers/scholar-sidekick/scholar-sidekick-mcp)\n\nLast updated: June 17, 2026\n",
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"llmsTxtPreview": "# Scholar Sidekick\n\n> Paste a DOI, PMID, ISBN, or arXiv ID and get a clean citation in Vancouver, APA, IEEE, or any of 10,000+ styles. Export to BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, and more.\n\n## Documentation\n- [Help](https://scholar-sidekick.com/help)\n- [API Docs](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs)\n\n## Main\n- [Scholar Sidekick - Citations, Clean & Fast](https://scholar-sidekick.com/): Paste a DOI, PMID, ISBN, or arXiv ID and get a clean citation in Vancouver, APA, IEEE, or any of 10,000+ styles. Export…\n- [Citation Verifier](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-verifier)\n- [Identifier Detector](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-detector)\n- [DOI Lookup](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-lookup)\n- [PubMed ID Converter](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/pubmed-id-converter)\n- [DOI to BibTeX](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-bibtex)\n- [DOI to RIS](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-ris)\n- [Open Access Checker](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/open-access-checker)\n- [Retraction Checker](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/retraction-checker)\n\n## Legal\n- [Privacy](https://scholar-sidekick.com/legal/privacy)\n- [Terms](https://scholar-sidekick.com/legal/terms)\n- [API Terms](https://scholar-sidekick.com/legal/api-terms)\n\n## Support\n- [Help](https://scholar-sidekick.com/help)\n\n",
"llmsTxtExisting": "# Scholar Sidekick\n\n> Citation resolver, formatter, and exporter API for scholarly identifiers. Resolves DOI, PMID, ISBN, arXiv IDs, and more into formatted citations and reference-manager export formats.\n\nScholar Sidekick resolves scholarly identifiers into normalized bibliographic metadata and formatted citations. It supports multiple citation styles and export formats for integration with reference managers and research workflows.\n\n## When to Use This (for AI Agents)\n\nUse Scholar Sidekick when a user supplies a scholarly identifier (DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, ISSN, arXiv ID, ADS bibcode, or WHO IRIS URL) and wants to:\n\n- format a citation in a named style → `POST /api/format`\n- export a reference-manager file (BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, …) → `POST /api/export`\n- check whether a paper is retracted → `POST /api/retraction-check`\n- check whether a paper is open access → `POST /api/oa-check`\n- verify a claimed citation is real, catching the real-DOI / invented-title fabrication pattern → `POST /api/verify`\n\nPrefer `/api/verify` over a plain lookup when the question is \"is this citation real?\". No API key is needed for the free tier — call the REST API directly or connect the MCP server. Scholar Sidekick resolves known identifiers; it does not search for papers by topic, so pair it with a literature-search tool for discovery.\n\n## Developer Resources\n\nEvery developer artifact is brand-prefixed so name-based lookup (\"scholar-sidekick developer resources\", \"scholar-sidekick API docs\", \"scholar-sidekick OpenAPI\", \"scholar-sidekick MCP server\", \"scholar-sidekick authentication\") resolves to a predictable URL. The single hub page below indexes all of them.\n\n- Scholar Sidekick Developer Resources (hub): https://scholar-sidekick.com/developers (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/developers.md) — one page indexing the REST API, OpenAPI spec, authentication, MCP server, CLI, editor extensions, changelog, status, and source code\n- Scholar Sidekick Citation API (overview): https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-api (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-api.md) — landing overview of the free citation API / DOI resolver API: what it does, a quickstart call, AI-agent access, and how it compares to calling Crossref or OpenAlex directly; links into /docs for the full reference\n- Scholar Sidekick API Docs: https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs.md) — endpoint reference: parameters, headers, caching, and rate limits\n- Scholar Sidekick OpenAPI Spec (YAML): https://scholar-sidekick.com/openapi/openapi.yml — full OpenAPI 3.1 contract in YAML\n- Scholar Sidekick OpenAPI Spec (JSON): https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/openapi — the same OpenAPI 3.1 contract served as JSON\n- Scholar Sidekick OpenAPI Spec (canonical .well-known): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/openapi.yaml — OpenAPI 3.1 spec at the standard discovery path\n- Scholar Sidekick RapidAPI OpenAPI Spec: https://scholar-sidekick.com/openapi/rapidapi/openapi.yml — OpenAPI variant describing the RapidAPI-gateway surface\n- Scholar Sidekick MCP Server Guide: https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp.md) — install and configure the MCP server for Claude, Cursor, and other clients\n- Scholar Sidekick MCP Server Card (SEP-1649): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json — machine-readable MCP capability card (tools, prompts, resources)\n- Scholar Sidekick MCP Apps Endpoint (no-auth, OpenAI Apps SDK): https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/apps/mcp — connectable Streamable-HTTP MCP with no credential; exposes verify_citation, format_citation, check_retraction and an interactive ui://widget/scholar-citation.html citation card (text/html;profile=mcp-app)\n- Scholar Sidekick CLI (npm): https://www.npmjs.com/package/scholar-sidekick-cli — terminal client (`scholar`) over the REST API; `npm i -g scholar-sidekick-cli`, no key required for the free tier\n- Scholar Sidekick VS Code Extension (VS Code Marketplace): https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=scholar-sidekick.scholar-sidekick-vscode — lints a `.bib` for fabricated citations, retractions, and open-access status; also on Open VSX for Cursor/Positron/Windsurf/VSCodium: https://open-vsx.org/extension/scholar-sidekick/scholar-sidekick-vscode\n- Scholar Sidekick Gemini extension (GitHub): https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-gemini — Gemini CLI extension / Antigravity plugin wrapping the MCP server (6 tools) + CLI (`/scholar:*` commands); pure config, no key required; install: `gemini extensions install https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-gemini`; listed in the official Gemini CLI gallery: https://geminicli.com/extensions/?name=mlavascholar-sidekick-gemini\n- Scholar Sidekick ChatGPT App (OpenAI Apps SDK): https://chatgpt.com/apps/scholar-sidekick/asdk_app_6a1cfe08d3a081919ed00f619418c457 — installable app inside ChatGPT exposing verify_citation, format_citation, check_retraction with an interactive citation card; free, no sign-in or API key; on-site overview: https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/chatgpt (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/chatgpt.md); backed by the no-auth endpoint https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/apps/mcp\n- Scholar Sidekick WebMCP (in-browser, experimental): https://scholar-sidekick.com — when opened in a browser with the experimental in-browser Model Context API (Chrome's `navigator.modelContext` / WebMCP; https://developer.chrome.com/docs/ai/webmcp), the page registers Scholar Sidekick's six tools to the in-browser AI agent, which call the same same-origin REST API as the hosted MCP server; no install, no key; self-disables where WebMCP is unsupported\n- Scholar Sidekick Authentication: https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs#pricing — anonymous access with no key at the lowest rate-limit tier; for higher limits create a free first-party key (`ssk_…`) at https://scholar-sidekick.com/account and send it as `Authorization: Bearer ssk_…`; RapidAPI gateway (`X-RapidAPI-Key`) for paid/managed tiers; no OAuth/OIDC\n- Scholar Sidekick Rate Limits: https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs#pricing — sliding-window per-IP burst protection plus monthly quotas (plan tiers: anonymous, free, pro, ultra, mega); responses include `RateLimit-*` + `X-RateLimit-*` headers and `Retry-After` on 429\n- Scholar Sidekick Agent Card: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent-card.json (alias: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent.json) — agent discovery card mapping skills to REST + MCP, identifiers, formats, and auth\n- Scholar Sidekick Agent Skills Index: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json — discovery index of installable agent skills with SHA-256 digests\n- Scholar Sidekick API Catalog (RFC 9727): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/api-catalog — RFC 9727 linkset of all machine-readable API resources\n- Scholar Sidekick Sources Manifest: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/sources.json — data-source resolver chain, fallback order, and transform_version\n- Scholar Sidekick AI Plugin Manifest: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/ai-plugin.json — ChatGPT / agent plugin manifest pointing at the OpenAPI spec\n- Scholar Sidekick Changelog: https://scholar-sidekick.com/changelog (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/changelog.md) — `transform_version` / `verify_version` bumps tagged output-affecting, verdict-affecting, breaking, or non-breaking\n- Scholar Sidekick Engineering Principles: https://scholar-sidekick.com/engineering-principles (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/engineering-principles.md) — determinism, contract stability, spec fidelity, and reproducibility design notes\n- Scholar Sidekick Verification Kit: https://scholar-sidekick.com/verification (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/verification.md) — copy-paste curl commands that prove reproducibility, provenance headers, and edge-case behaviour\n- Scholar Sidekick Status Page: https://status.scholar-sidekick.com — rolling uptime and incident history for the public API; headline reflects Scholar Sidekick's own availability, upstream metadata-source health is a separate informational section\n- Scholar Sidekick Agent Guide: https://scholar-sidekick.com/AGENTS.md — integration guide for coding agents (MCP + REST)\n- Scholar Sidekick Postman Workspace: https://www.postman.com/scholar-sidekick/scholar-sidekick/overview — ready-to-run Postman collection for the REST API\n- Scholar Sidekick GitHub - MCP Server: https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-mcp — source for the scholar-sidekick-mcp server\n- Scholar Sidekick GitHub - CLI: https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli — source for the `scholar` CLI\n- Scholar Sidekick GitHub - VS Code Extension: https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-vscode — source for the VS Code / Open VSX extension\n- Scholar Sidekick GitHub - Gemini extension: https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-gemini — source for the Gemini CLI extension / Antigravity plugin\n- Scholar Sidekick GitHub - Agent Skills: https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills — source for the public agent-skills hub\n- Scholar Sidekick Agent Skills (skills.sh directory): https://www.skills.sh/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills — install all Scholar Sidekick agent skills via skills.sh\n- Scholar Sidekick Agent Skills - REST API skill (skills.sh): https://www.skills.sh/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills/scholar-sidekick-api — the zero-install REST API skill on skills.sh\n- Scholar Sidekick Agent Skills - CLI skill (skills.sh): https://www.skills.sh/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills/scholar-sidekick-cli — the `scholar` terminal-command skill on skills.sh\n- Scholar Sidekick API Terms: https://scholar-sidekick.com/legal/api-terms — terms of use for the public API\n\n## Supported Identifier Types\n\n- DOI (e.g., 10.1038/nphys1170)\n- PMID (PubMed ID, e.g., PMID: 30049270)\n- PMCID (PubMed Central ID)\n- ISBN (e.g., 9780192854087)\n- ISSN / eISSN\n- arXiv ID (e.g., arXiv:2301.07041)\n- ADS bibcode (NASA Astrophysics Data System)\n- WHO IRIS URL\n\n## API Base URL\n\nhttps://scholar-sidekick.com\n\n## Authentication\n\nAnonymous access works with no key at the lowest rate-limit tier. For higher limits, create a free first-party API key (`ssk_…`) at https://scholar-sidekick.com/account and send it as `Authorization: Bearer ssk_…`. The API is also available on RapidAPI (`X-RapidAPI-Key`) for paid/managed tiers. No OAuth/OIDC.\n\n## Endpoints\n\n### POST /api/format\nResolve one or more identifiers and return formatted citations.\n\nRequest body (JSON):\n- `text` (string): A single identifier or free-text string containing identifiers.\n- OR `lines` (string[]): An array of identifiers to resolve in batch.\n- `style` (string, optional): Citation style ID. Builtin styles: vancouver, ama, apa, ieee, cse. Also supports thousands of CSL styles (e.g., harvard, chicago, nature, lancet). Defaults to vancouver.\n- `output` (string, optional): \"json\" or \"text\". Defaults to json.\n\nResponse (200, JSON):\n- `citation`: Formatted citation string (HTML or plain text).\n- `styleUsed`: The style that was actually applied.\n- `items`: Array of resolved CSL-JSON bibliographic items.\n\n### POST /api/format/stream\nStreaming variant of /api/format. Returns NDJSON (one JSON object per line) via `application/x-ndjson`. Useful for large batch requests.\n\nRequest body (JSON):\n- `lines` (string[]): Array of identifiers.\n- `style` (string, optional): Citation style ID.\n\n### POST /api/export\nExport resolved citations in reference-manager-friendly formats.\n\nRequest body (JSON):\n- `text` (string) OR `items` (CSL-JSON[]): Input identifiers or pre-resolved items.\n- `format` (string, required): One of: txt, ris, bibtex, csl-json, endnote-xml, refworks, nbib, rdf, csv.\n- `style` (string, optional): Citation style ID.\n\nResponse: Plain text body in the requested format.\n\n### POST /api/format-items\nFormat pre-resolved CSL-JSON items without re-resolving identifiers.\n\nRequest body (JSON):\n- `items` (CSL-JSON[]): Array of CSL-JSON bibliographic items.\n- `style` (string, optional): Citation style ID.\n- `output` (string, optional): \"json\" or \"text\".\n\n### GET /api/csl/styles\nDiscover available CSL citation styles. Supports search and pagination via query parameters.\n\n### GET /api/health\nService liveness check. Returns `{ \"status\": \"ok\", \"time\": \"<ISO timestamp>\" }`.\n\n### POST /api/retraction-check\nCheck a single work's retraction / correction / expression-of-concern status, sourced from Crossref `updated-by` (Retraction Watch).\n\nRequest body (JSON):\n- `id` (string, required): A DOI, PMID, PMCID, arXiv ID, or ADS bibcode (non-DOI inputs are resolved to a DOI before lookup).\n\nResponse (200, JSON): the resolved DOI, the source identifier (when different), and a `result` object (or `null` when no DOI could be resolved).\n\n### POST /api/oa-check\nCheck a single work's open-access status, sourced from Unpaywall.\n\nRequest body (JSON):\n- `id` (string, required): A DOI or other identifier (resolved to a DOI before lookup).\n\nResponse (200, JSON): OA status (gold/green/hybrid/bronze/closed), the best legal landing/PDF URL, license, and version when available.\n\n### POST /api/verify\nCheck whether a *claimed* citation matches the record at its identifier — catches the dominant fabrication pattern (real DOI + invented title) that a plain lookup misses.\n\nRequest body (JSON):\n- `claimed` (object, required): a claimed citation with one identifier, e.g. `{ \"title\": \"...\", \"authors\": [{ \"family\": \"...\" }], \"year\": 2026, \"container\": \"...\", \"doi\": \"...\" }`.\n\nResponse (200, JSON): `verdict` (`matched | mismatch | ambiguous | not_found`), a `confidence` tier (`high | medium | low`), and a per-field similarity diff. Returns 200 on every produced verdict; 4xx/5xx only for protocol errors.\n\n## Export Formats\n\n- `ris` - Research Information Systems (compatible with EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley)\n- `bibtex` - BibTeX (compatible with LaTeX, Overleaf, JabRef)\n- `csl-json` - CSL-JSON (raw structured metadata)\n- `endnote-xml` - EndNote XML\n- `refworks` - RefWorks tagged format\n- `nbib` - NBIB / MEDLINE format\n- `rdf` - Bibliographic RDF\n- `csv` - Comma-separated values\n- `txt` - Formatted plain text citation\n\n## Rate Limiting\n\nThe API uses sliding-window rate limiting. Rate limit status is communicated via standard headers: `X-RateLimit-Limit`, `X-RateLimit-Remaining`, `X-RateLimit-Reset`, `Retry-After`. Plan tiers: anonymous, free, pro, ultra, mega.\n\n## Error Responses\n\nErrors return JSON: `{ \"ok\": false, \"code\": \"<ERROR_CODE>\", \"error\": \"<message>\" }`\n\nCommon codes: BAD_REQUEST (400), UNAUTHORIZED (401), RATE_LIMITED (429), MAINTENANCE (503).\n\n## OpenAPI Specification\n\nFull OpenAPI 3.1 spec: https://scholar-sidekick.com/openapi/openapi.yml\n\nAlso exposed under the canonical discovery path: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/openapi.yaml\n\n## Provenance & determinism\n\nScholar Sidekick exposes machine-readable provenance and reproducibility metadata at canonical `.well-known` paths so AI agents can verify data sources, fallback order, and output stability before integrating.\n\n- Data source manifest (resolver chain, fallback order, network safety, `transform_version`): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/sources.json\n- ChatGPT / agent plugin manifest (points at the OpenAPI spec): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/ai-plugin.json\n- OpenAPI 3.1 spec at the discovery path: https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/openapi.yaml\n- API catalog (RFC 9727 linkset): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/api-catalog\n- MCP server card (SEP-1649): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json (also at https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/mcp)\n- Agent skills discovery index (with SHA-256 digests): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json\n- Agent discovery card (skills mapped to REST + MCP, identifiers, formats, auth, links): https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent-card.json (also at https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent.json)\n- Machine-readable pricing: https://scholar-sidekick.com/pricing.md — plan tiers, rate-limit allowances, and quotas in machine-readable form\n\nEvery API response includes the `x-scholar-transform-version` header. Identical inputs (identifier + style + format) at a fixed `transform_version` produce byte-identical output. The constant is bumped when normalisation, formatter, or resolver-chain changes could alter that.\n\nSelf-verification kit (copy-paste curl commands that prove the determinism, provenance, and edge-case claims): https://scholar-sidekick.com/verification (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/verification.md)\n\nChangelog (transform_version / verify_version bumps, each tagged output-affecting, verdict-affecting, breaking, or non-breaking): https://scholar-sidekick.com/changelog (markdown: https://scholar-sidekick.com/changelog.md)\n\nStatus page (rolling uptime + incident history for the public API; headline reflects Scholar Sidekick's own availability, upstream metadata-source health is a separate informational section): https://status.scholar-sidekick.com\n\n## Documentation\n\n- [Full content (all pages)](https://scholar-sidekick.com/llms-full.txt): Single-file aggregation of all site pages (kept under the 200,000-character agent single-request budget)\n- [Full content — tool comparisons](https://scholar-sidekick.com/llms-full-comparisons.txt): Companion split of the tool-by-tool comparison sections, linked from llms-full.txt\n- [Scoped context: REST API](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs/llms.txt): Per-area llms.txt for just the REST API\n- [Scoped context: MCP server](https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp/llms.txt): Per-area llms.txt for just the MCP server\n- [Scoped context: web tools](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/llms.txt): Per-area llms.txt for just the free web tools\n- [Citation API overview](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-api.md): Free citation API / DOI resolver API — what it does, quickstart, AI-agent access, vs. Crossref/OpenAlex\n- [API Docs](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs.md): Endpoints, parameters, headers, caching, rate limits\n- [MCP Server Setup](https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp.md): Install and configure the MCP server for Claude, Cursor, and others\n- [Command-line CLI](https://github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli) ([npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/scholar-sidekick-cli)): Terminal client (`scholar`) wrapping the REST API — resolve, format (10,000+ styles), export (BibTeX / RIS / EndNote), and run retraction / open-access / fabrication checks from the command line or shell scripts. `npm i -g scholar-sidekick-cli`, no key required for the free tier.\n- [Agent Skills (skills.sh)](https://www.skills.sh/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills): Install the Scholar Sidekick agent skills for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, and other agents — `npx skills add mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills` (the zero-install [`scholar-sidekick-api` REST skill](https://www.skills.sh/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills/scholar-sidekick-api), the `scholar-sidekick-mcp` skill, plus the [`scholar-sidekick-cli` skill](https://www.skills.sh/mlava/scholar-sidekick-skills/scholar-sidekick-cli) for the `scholar` terminal command)\n- [Browser Extension](https://scholar-sidekick.com/extension): Free Chrome / Firefox / Edge extension. Right-click any DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, arXiv ID, ADS bibcode, or scholarly URL on any web page to format it as a citation in Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, CSE, or any of 10,000+ CSL styles\n- [Integrations](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations.md)): First-party integrations bringing identifier-first formatting, retraction checks, open-access lookup, and citation verification into existing workflows — Obsidian, Zotero, a VS Code / editor extension, a browser extension, and an MCP server.\n- [Obsidian plugin](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/obsidian) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/obsidian.md)): Replace a DOI / PMID / ISBN / arXiv / ADS / PMCID in a note with a formatted citation. Eleven commands incl. per-note BibTeX / RIS export, retraction and open-access checks, and a verifier. 10,000+ CSL styles. Free, no key; in the Obsidian community store.\n- [Zotero plugin](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/zotero) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/zotero.md)): Verify a bibliography before importing into Zotero — check every entry of a .bib / .ris for claimed-vs-resolved mismatches (the AI-fabrication pattern), retractions, and open-access copies, then import only the clean items. Zotero 7-9, free, no key.\n- [VS Code extension](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/vscode) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/integrations/vscode.md)): Lint a .bib inside VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, or Positron for fabrication mismatches, retractions, and open-access status as inline diagnostics. The verify layer Quarto and Zotero lack. On the VS Code Marketplace (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=scholar-sidekick.scholar-sidekick-vscode) and Open VSX (https://open-vsx.org/extension/scholar-sidekick/scholar-sidekick-vscode). Free, no key.\n- [Help & Limits](https://scholar-sidekick.com/help.md): Supported identifiers, styles, exports, caching, and rate limits\n- [Scholarly Glossary](https://scholar-sidekick.com/glossary.md): Plain-language definitions of DOI, PMID, BibTeX, RIS, CSL, open access, retraction, and other terms\n- [Scholar Sidekick Explainer](https://scholar-sidekick.com/explainer.md): A moment-of-need citation formatter - what it is, what it isn't, when it's useful.\n- [Agent Guide](https://scholar-sidekick.com/AGENTS.md): Integration guide for coding agents (MCP + REST)\n- [Sitemap](https://scholar-sidekick.com/sitemap.md): Full site map for agents\n- [API Terms](https://scholar-sidekick.com/legal/api-terms): Terms of use for the API\n\n## Comparisons\n\nHonest, source-cited comparisons against adjacent reference managers and citation APIs — where each alternative wins, where Scholar Sidekick wins, and how to use both together. Full prose: https://scholar-sidekick.com/llms-full-comparisons.txt\n\n- [Comparisons index](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare.md)): all available comparisons\n- [Best AI Citation Verifier in 2026](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/best-ai-citation-verifier) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/best-ai-citation-verifier.md)): ten AI citation verifiers that catch fabricated DOIs, compared\n- [Scholar Sidekick vs Zotero](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-zotero) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-zotero.md)): reference manager vs stateless citation API\n- [Scholar Sidekick vs ZoteroBib](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-zoterobib) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-zoterobib.md)): in-browser bibliography builder vs citation API\n- [Scholar Sidekick vs Scribbr](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-scribbr) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-scribbr.md)): source-accuracy vs style-accuracy\n- [Citation MCP Servers Compared](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/citation-mcp-servers) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/citation-mcp-servers.md)): the five citation MCP servers AI assistants cite\n- [Scholar Sidekick vs EndNote](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-endnote) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-endnote.md)): stateless citation API vs enterprise reference manager\n- [Scholar Sidekick vs MyBib](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-mybib) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-mybib.md)): identifier-first registry resolution vs URL-first builder\n- [Scholar Sidekick vs Cite This For Me](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-citethisforme) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-citethisforme.md)): identifier-first API vs URL-paste bibliography\n\n## Example Usage\n\nResolve a DOI to a Vancouver-style citation:\n\n```\nPOST /api/format\nContent-Type: application/json\n\n{ \"text\": \"10.1056/nejmoa2033700\", \"style\": \"vancouver\", \"output\": \"text\" }\n```\n\nExport multiple identifiers as BibTeX:\n\n```\nPOST /api/export\nContent-Type: application/json\n\n{ \"lines\": [\"10.1038/nphys1170\", \"PMID: 30049270\"], \"format\": \"bibtex\" }\n```\n\n## Optional\n\n- [Privacy Policy](https://scholar-sidekick.com/legal/privacy): data handling, minimal logs, scrubbed telemetry\n- [Accessibility](https://scholar-sidekick.com/accessibility): WCAG compliance statement and known limitations\n- [Engineering Principles](https://scholar-sidekick.com/engineering-principles) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/engineering-principles.md)): determinism, contract stability, spec fidelity, reproducibility via `transform_version`\n- [Verification](https://scholar-sidekick.com/verification) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/verification.md)): copy-paste curl commands that verify reproducibility, provenance headers, and edge cases against the live API\n- [Changelog](https://scholar-sidekick.com/changelog) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/changelog.md)): public record of `transform_version` / `verify_version` bumps, each tagged by impact\n- [Status](https://status.scholar-sidekick.com): rolling uptime and incident history for the public API (Scholar Sidekick's own availability; upstream metadata-source health is a separate informational section)\n- [Citation integrity in the age of AI](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity.md)): how LLM citation fabrication works (1-in-277 biomedical papers, Topaz et al., Lancet 2026), why simple DOI checks miss it, and how /api/verify catches it — with an inline demo and a validation set with downloadable JSON receipts\n- [AI evaluator bias in citation-tool recommendations](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity/ai-evaluator-bias) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity/ai-evaluator-bias.md)): four major AI search engines, asked to recommend citation infrastructure, all omitted a verifiable identifier-first option and admitted it when pushed — verbatim admissions plus a tool-agnostic evaluation checklist\n- [A verified citation can still be wrong](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity/verified-citations-can-still-be-wrong) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity/verified-citations-can-still-be-wrong.md)): why \"verified\" hides two questions — does the cited work exist vs does the identifier you publish resolve to it — how title-matching and identifier-resolution disagree (a real DOI can point to the wrong paper), the matched/mismatch/ambiguous/not_found verdict vocabulary, and a checklist to verify a citation properly\n- [Citation Verifier (web tool)](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-verifier) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-verifier.md)): paste a title + identifier; see verdict (matched / mismatch / ambiguous / not_found), per-field diff, candidates, and provenance. Same backend as POST /api/verify and the MCP `verifyCitation` tool\n- [DOI to BibTeX](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-bibtex) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-bibtex.md)): single identifier to a BibTeX entry. Backend: POST /api/export, format=bibtex\n- [DOI to RIS](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-ris) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-to-ris.md)): same surface, RIS output for EndNote / Zotero / Mendeley / RefWorks\n- [DOI Lookup](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-lookup) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/doi-lookup.md)): resolve one identifier and inspect its structured metadata\n- [PMID / PMCID / DOI Converter](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/pubmed-id-converter) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/pubmed-id-converter.md)): swap between PubMed identifier types for the same paper\n- [Identifier Detector](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-detector) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-detector.md)): bulk-extract every DOI / PMID / PMCID / arXiv / ISBN / ISSN / ADS bibcode from text\n- [Identifier Validator](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-validator) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/identifier-validator.md)): single-ID well-formedness and resolvability check (no metadata fetch)\n- [Citation Style Comparator](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-style-comparator) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-style-comparator.md)): render the same paper in 10,000+ CSL styles side by side\n- [Open Access Checker](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/open-access-checker) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/open-access-checker.md)): Unpaywall-backed free-copy check. Backend: POST /api/oa-check, MCP `checkOpenAccess`\n- [Retraction Checker](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/retraction-checker) ([markdown](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/retraction-checker.md)): Retraction Watch via Crossref. Backend: POST /api/retraction-check, MCP `checkRetraction`\n- [Explainer](https://scholar-sidekick.com/explainer): how Scholar Sidekick fits into research workflows",
"emergingProtocols": {
"oauthDiscovery": {
"exists": true,
"url": "https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server",
"issuer": "https://scholar-sidekick.com",
"authorizationEndpoint": null,
"tokenEndpoint": null,
"grantTypesSupported": null,
"scopesSupported": null
},
"mcpServerCard": {
"exists": true,
"url": "https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/mcp.json",
"name": "scholar-sidekick",
"version": "0.8.0",
"description": "Citation resolver, formatter, exporter, and verifier for academic identifiers (DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, ISSN, arXiv, ADS, WHO IRIS).",
"transport": null,
"tools": 3,
"resources": 1,
"prompts": null
},
"a2aAgentCard": {
"exists": true,
"url": "https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent.json",
"name": "Scholar Sidekick",
"version": "0.8.0",
"description": "Citation resolver, formatter, exporter, and verifier for scholarly identifiers (DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, ISSN, arXiv, ADS, WHO IRIS). Available as a public REST API and a stdio MCP server.",
"capabilities": 2,
"skills": 6,
"endpoint": "https://scholar-sidekick.com"
},
"count": 3
},
"snippets": []
}
Use our API to get this programmatically (coming soon)
This JSON is for internal use — unlike the Markdown and llms.txt files, it's not meant to be uploaded to your site. Save it as a baseline to track your score over time, share it with your dev team, or integrate it into your CI/CD pipeline.
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