Altmetric MCP Server

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI agents to access Altmetric APIs for tracking the attention and reach of research outputs across news outlets, policy documents, social media, and other online platforms.

Altmetric monitors where research is being discussed beyond traditional academic citations - from mainstream media coverage to policy citations, patent references, and social media engagement - providing a comprehensive view of real-world research impact.

There are two ways to connect:

• Hosted server (recommended) - point your AI client at https://mcp.altmetric.com/mcp and sign in with your Altmetric account. No API keys to copy or store, and you automatically get the tools for whatever you have access to (Explorer, Details Page, or both). Start here.
• Run locally - run the server on your own machine with your own API keys, over stdio. For offline use or when you'd rather manage keys directly. See Run locally with your own API keys below.

What access you need

The server works with access to either one of Altmetric's APIs on its own - the Details Page API or the Explorer API - and gives you the tools for whichever you have. To get the full potential of Altmetric, having both is strongly recommended, because they answer different questions:

• Details Page API - the attention for a specific research output, looked up by identifier (DOI, PubMed ID, etc.), and a search of recent attention by timeframe.
• Explorer API - searching, filtering and aggregating research outputs, mentions, audience demographics and journals across the whole Altmetric database, and across your own institution's outputs.

With only one, you get only that API's tools. See Tools for which tools come with each API, and request API access if you're missing one.

Connect to the hosted server (recommended)

The easiest way to use Altmetric in your AI client is the hosted server at https://mcp.altmetric.com/mcp. Point your client at that URL and sign in with your Altmetric account when prompted - the client runs a standard OAuth flow in your browser, so there are no API keys to copy or store. You get exactly the tools your account has access to.

Claude Desktop

1. Open Settings → Customize → Connectors and click Add custom connector.
2. Name it Altmetric and enter the URL https://mcp.altmetric.com/mcp.
3. Click Add, then Connect, and sign in when the browser window opens.

Verify by asking Claude: "Use the Altmetric tools to look up the attention score for DOI 10.1038/nature12373"

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http altmetric https://mcp.altmetric.com/mcp

Then run /mcp inside Claude Code, select altmetric, and authenticate - a browser window opens for sign-in.

Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global) or .cursor/mcp.json (per project):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Altmetric": {
      "url": "https://mcp.altmetric.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Cursor runs a browser sign-in the first time the server is used.

VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Add to .vscode/mcp.json (VS Code 1.101 or later):

{
  "servers": {
    "Altmetric": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.altmetric.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Open the Command Palette, run MCP: List Servers, select Altmetric, and start it; sign in when prompted.

ChatGPT

Open Settings → Connectors → Advanced and turn on Developer mode, then Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, enter https://mcp.altmetric.com/mcp, and complete the OAuth sign-in. Requires a paid plan (Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, or Edu); custom connectors aren't available on the free tier. All Altmetric tools are read-only, so the read-only restriction on Plus/Pro plans doesn't limit them.

Other MCP clients

Any client that supports the Streamable HTTP transport with OAuth ca

... View full README on GitHub