# Unpaywall

> Use this tool when you need to access free scholarly articles and retrieve publication metadata, solving the problem of paywall barriers to academic research. It takes search queries as input and returns open access versions of academic papers, along with detailed bibliographic information. Ideal for researchers, students, and academics conducting literature reviews, research projects, or educational pursuits.

Canonical page: https://skillsregistry.net/skills/elliotpadfield-unpaywall  
JSON: https://api.skillsregistry.net/v1/skills/elliotpadfield-unpaywall

## Description

This MCP server provides access to Unpaywall's open database of free scholarly articles, enabling AI assistants to find open access versions of academic papers and retrieve publication metadata. Built by ElliotPadfield, it integrates with Unpaywall's REST API to search for freely available PDFs of research papers that would otherwise be behind paywalls, along with detailed bibliographic information including DOIs, publication venues, and author details. The implementation is particularly useful for researchers, students, and academics who need to locate open access versions of scientific literature for literature reviews, research projects, or educational purposes without subscription barriers.

## Trust

- **Trust score (0–1):** 0.97
- **Verification tier:** verified
- **Last scanned:** 2026-09-28

## Facts

- **Version:** 1.0.0
- **Skill type:** atomic
- **Execution layer:** mcp-remote
- **Runtime environment:** api
- **Category:** database
- **Updated:** 2026-09-28

## Source

- **Source listing:** [PulseMCP](https://www.pulsemcp.com/servers/elliotpadfield-unpaywall)
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/elliotpadfield/unpaywall-mcp>

## Use it

Resolve this record through the SkillsRegistry MCP server (no auth, read-only):

```
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user skillsregistry https://api.skillsregistry.net/mcp
```

```json
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get_skill",
    "arguments": {
      "slug": "elliotpadfield-unpaywall"
    }
  }
}
```

REST: `GET https://api.skillsregistry.net/v1/skills/elliotpadfield-unpaywall` · pull for local use: `GET https://api.skillsregistry.net/v1/skills/elliotpadfield-unpaywall/pull`

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SkillsRegistry indexes agent skills from public registries and GitHub. Skills we have analysed are scanned with Circle-IR and scored on six dimensions; each listing states its scan coverage. More: https://skillsregistry.net/llms.txt