Academic MCP for ChatGPT
Add ScholarMuse to ChatGPT as a custom MCP server and sign in once. ChatGPT can then check a reference list, search the literature and look up journals and grants in real sources.
How to connect ScholarMuse to ChatGPT
OpenAI documents this for ChatGPT on the web, on the Plugins page. Your plan and, in a workspace, your administrator’s settings decide whether the option to add a custom MCP server is available to you.
Step 1
Open the Plugins page
Go to this page in ChatGPT on the web, select the plus button, then Add custom MCP server.
https://chatgpt.com/pluginsStep 2
Enter the server address
Give it a name such as ScholarMuse and a short description. Under Connection, paste this address as the server URL. Choose OAuth for authentication, read the risk warning, select I understand and want to continue, then Create as a plugin.
https://scholarmuse.ai/mcpStep 3
Approve in your browser
A scholarmuse.ai window opens. Sign in, approve access and choose which discipline packs ChatGPT may use. There is no API key to create or paste.
Step 4
Use it in a chat
Install the plugin you just created and start a new chat. Type @ in the message box, select ScholarMuse, and ask it to list what it can do for your research.
What ChatGPT can look up once connected
People bring ChatGPT every kind of question, so this list covers a manuscript from the first search to the choice of journal, then adds funding, trials and official numbers.
Verify references
All disciplines · Crossref, OpenAlex
Search papers
All disciplines · OpenAlex, PubMed / Europe PMC, arXiv +5
Retraction checker
All disciplines · Retraction Watch, Crossref
Journal checker
All disciplines · OpenAlex, DOAJ
Scientific figure maker
All disciplines · Best-in-class figure model
Find funded grants
All disciplines · NIH RePORTER, NSF Awards, UKRI Gateway to Research
Clinical trials search
Life sciences & medicine · ClinicalTrials.gov
Economic & social statistics
All disciplines · FRED, World Bank, IMF +5
- Verify references
- References written from memory can be wrong or made up. Here each one is matched to a Crossref or OpenAlex record, and wrong years, pages and DOIs come back corrected.
- Search papers
- Answers to literature questions rest on records ChatGPT has just retrieved, each with a DOI you can open.
- Retraction checker
- Before you build an argument on a paper, ask whether it has been retracted or corrected.
- Journal checker
- When an invitation to submit arrives by email, ask ChatGPT about the journal: DOAJ listing, publishing fee and warning signs.
- Scientific figure maker
- Describe a mechanism or study design in the chat and get a labelled figure for a paper or a slide.
- Find funded grants
- See what NIH, NSF and UKRI have already funded on your topic, with investigators, amounts and abstracts.
- Clinical trials search
- Questions about trials are answered from ClinicalTrials.gov entries, with registration numbers.
- Economic & social statistics
- A figure in an introduction should come from the statistical agency that publishes it. ChatGPT fetches the series with its unit and source.
Things to ask ChatGPT
Verify references
You say to your agent
@scholarmuse Here are the 32 references from my review article. Tell me which ones you cannot find, and give the correct year and DOI where mine are wrong.
Journal checker
You say to your agent
I was invited to submit to the International Journal of Advanced Nursing Research. Is it listed in DOAJ, what does it charge, and is there anything I should worry about?
Find funded grants
You say to your agent
Which NSF and UKRI projects on coastal wetland carbon storage were funded since 2021? List the investigator, institution and amount, and say what the largest ones have in common.
Frequently asked questions
Ready to make your agent a better scholar?
Connect once. Papers, data and figures from 50+ sources, in the agent you already use.
Works with compatible AI agents
Data from OpenAlex · Crossref · PubMed · arXiv · NIH · UniProt · PDB · PubChem · NASA · World Bank · USGS · GBIF and more