browse_search

The browse_search tool searches for academic papers across multiple platforms simultaneously. It supports querying 19+ academic databases with flexible filtering options.

Basic Usage

Search a single platform:

browse_search([
    {"searcher": "arxiv", "query": "machine learning", "max_results": 5}
])

Search multiple platforms simultaneously:

browse_search([
    {"searcher": "arxiv", "query": "deep learning", "max_results": 5},
    {"searcher": "pubmed", "query": "cancer immunotherapy", "max_results": 3},
    {"searcher": "semantic", "query": "climate change", "max_results": 4}
])

Search all enabled platforms:

browse_search([
    {"query": "quantum computing", "max_results": 10}
])

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
query	string	Yes	-	Search query (1-500 characters)
searcher	string	No	all	Search platform (omit to search all platforms)
max_results	integer	No	10	Number of results (1-100)
year	string	No	-	Year filter (Semantic Scholar only)
fetch_details	boolean	No	true	Fetch paper details (IACR only)
kwargs	object	No	-	Additional parameters (CrossRef only)

Available Searchers

Free Data Sources (No API Key Required)

Searcher	Description
arxiv	Physics, math, computer science preprints
pubmed	MEDLINE biomedical literature
pmc	PubMed Central full-text repository
biorxiv	Biology preprint server
medrxiv	Health sciences preprint server
semantic	Semantic Scholar AI-powered search
crossref	CrossRef DOI metadata
google_scholar	Google Scholar search
core	CORE open access aggregator
iacr	IACR cryptography preprints

Paid Data Sources (Require API Key)

Searcher	API Key Variable
ieee	IEEE_API_KEY
scopus	SCOPUS_API_KEY
springer	SPRINGER_API_KEY
sciencedirect	SCIENCEDIRECT_API_KEY

Search Examples

Single Platform Search

# Search for machine learning papers on arXiv
browse_search([
    {"searcher": "arxiv", "query": "machine learning", "max_results": 5}
])

# Search for biomedical papers on PubMed Central
browse_search([
    {"searcher": "pmc", "query": "cancer treatment", "max_results": 5}
])

# Search for open access papers on CORE
browse_search([
    {"searcher": "core", "query": "climate change", "max_results": 5}
])

Multi-Platform Search

# Search multiple platforms simultaneously
browse_search([
    {"searcher": "arxiv", "query": "deep learning", "max_results": 5},
    {"searcher": "pubmed", "query": "cancer immunotherapy", "max_results": 3},
    {"searcher": "pmc", "query": "diabetes treatment", "max_results": 3}
])

Platform-Specific Parameters

Semantic Scholar with Year Filter:

browse_search([
    {"searcher": "semantic", "query": "climate change", "max_results": 4, "year": "2020-2023"}
])

Year filter formats:

• Single year: "2019"
• Year range: "2016-2020"
• From year onwards: "2010-"
• Up to year: "-2015"

CrossRef with Additional Filters:

browse_search([
    {
        "searcher": "crossref",
        "query": "deep learning",
        "max_results": 5,
        "kwargs": {
            "filter": "from-pub-date:2020,has-full-text:true",
            "sort": "relevance",
            "order": "desc"
        }
    }
])

IACR without Fetching Details:

browse_search([
    {"searcher": "iacr", "query": "cryptography", "max_results": 10, "fetch_details": false}
])

Paid Data Sources

# Search IEEE Xplore (requires IEEE_API_KEY)
browse_search([
    {"searcher": "ieee", "query": "neural networks", "max_results": 5}
])

# Search Springer Link (requires SPRINGER_API_KEY)
browse_search([
    {"searcher": "springer", "query": "quantum computing", "max_results": 5}
])

# Search Scopus (requires SCOPUS_API_KEY)
browse_search([
    {"searcher": "scopus", "query": "artificial intelligence", "max_results": 5}
])

Response Format

Results are returned as formatted text:

Source: 'arxiv'
Paper ID: '2303.08774'
Title: GPT-4 Technical Report
Authors: OpenAI
Abstract: We report the development of GPT-4, a large-scale...
Published Date: 2023-03-15
URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.08774
DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2303.08774
Categories: cs.CL; cs.AI

Input Validation

The tool validates input before searching:

• query: Must be 1-500 characters, cannot be empty or whitespace only
• max_results: Must be between 1 and 100
• searcher: Must be one of the enabled data sources (if specified)
• year: Must match format YYYY, YYYY-YYYY, YYYY-, or -YYYY

:::tip Best Practice Specify the searcher parameter to target specific platforms. Omitting it will search all enabled platforms, which may be slower and return more results than needed. :::

Error Handling

If a search fails, the tool continues with other searches and returns partial results. Common errors:

• Invalid searcher: Returns list of available searchers
• Empty query: Returns validation error
• API rate limit: Returns error for that data source, continues with others
• Network timeout: Returns error for that data source, continues with others

Next Steps

• browse_download - Download paper PDFs
• browse_read - Extract paper text
• MCP Configuration - Configure data sources and API keys