Academic Research Skills — Use Cases, Install & Live Demo

Why use it

Key features

5 stage skills with handoffs (research → write → review → revise → finalize)
Citation-aware (BibTeX / arxiv IDs)
Outline-first drafting — no AI-blob prose
Self-review prompts the model to challenge itself
LaTeX + Markdown output
MIT, no telemetry

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

ready

Install

Pick your client

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "academic-research-skills-imbad": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Imbad0202/academic-research-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/academic-research"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Restart after saving.

~/.cursor/mcp.json · .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "academic-research-skills-imbad": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Imbad0202/academic-research-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/academic-research"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses the same mcpServers schema as Claude Desktop. Project config wins over global.

VS Code → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "academic-research-skills-imbad": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Imbad0202/academic-research-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/academic-research"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Click the MCP Servers icon in the Cline sidebar, then "Edit Configuration".

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "academic-research-skills-imbad": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Imbad0202/academic-research-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/academic-research"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop. Restart Windsurf to pick up changes.

~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "academic-research-skills-imbad",
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Imbad0202/academic-research-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/academic-research"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Continue uses an array of server objects rather than a map.

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "academic-research-skills-imbad": {
      "command": {
        "path": "git",
        "args": [
          "clone",
          "https://github.com/Imbad0202/academic-research-skills",
          "~/.claude/skills/academic-research"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to context_servers. Zed hot-reloads on save.

claude mcp add academic-research-skills-imbad -- git clone https://github.com/Imbad0202/academic-research-skills ~/.claude/skills/academic-research

One-liner. Verify with claude mcp list. Remove with claude mcp remove.

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use Academic Research Skills

Build a literature review from a blank doc to first draft

👤 Grad students starting a chapter ⏱ ~180 min intermediate

When to use: You have a topic and the dread of starting.

Prerequisites

Skill installed — git clone https://github.com/Imbad0202/academic-research-skills ~/.claude/skills/academic-research

Flow

Research

Use the research skill. Topic: 'multi-agent LLM systems for code'. Find 25 recent papers, categorize by approach, save bibliography.✓ Copied

→ Categorized list of 25 papers, .bib file written
Outline

Now use the write skill. Build an outline that organizes those papers into a coherent narrative.✓ Copied

→ Outline with section heads + which papers go where
Draft

Draft section 2 using only the papers in your outline. Cite inline with \cite{}.✓ Copied

→ Section drafted; citations resolve

Outcome: First draft of the lit review with proper citations, ready for revision.

Pitfalls

Research skill returns papers Claude hasn't actually read — Pair with arxiv-mcp-server so abstracts and full PDFs are pulled, not summarized from titles

Combine with: arxiv-mcp-server

Run the review skill on your own draft before showing your advisor

👤 Anyone wanting a tougher first read ⏱ ~60 min intermediate

When to use: You're done; you suspect rough patches you stopped seeing.

Flow

Adversarial review

Use the review skill. Read /paper/main.tex as a skeptical reviewer. Identify weakest 3 claims, missing citations, structural issues.✓ Copied

→ Per-claim critique
Revise

Use the revise skill to address the top 3 review items. Don't change anything else.✓ Copied

→ Targeted edits

Outcome: A draft that survives advisor review.

Pitfalls

Reviewer is too gentle — Pass --style harsh so the prompt encodes a tougher persona

Combine with: paperdebugger-mcp

Finalize for a specific journal/conference template

👤 Authors at the submission stage ⏱ ~30 min intermediate

When to use: You have a draft; the venue uses a specific LaTeX class.

Flow

Apply template

Use the finalize skill. Wrap /paper/main.tex into the IEEEtran template. Map abstract, sections, figures.✓ Copied

→ Templated source compiles
Compliance check

Verify formatting against the venue's policy (page limit, font sizes, margins).✓ Copied

→ Compliance report; flags if any

Outcome: Submittable document.

Pitfalls

Some venues require their own bibliography style — Skill checks .bst files and tells you if missing

Combinations

Pair with other MCPs for X10 leverage

academic-research-skills-imbad + arxiv-mcp-server

Pull real abstracts and PDFs to ground research

When researching, fetch full PDFs for top 10 papers via arxiv MCP.✓ Copied

academic-research-skills-imbad + paperdebugger-mcp

Use PaperDebugger's multi-agent reviewer for a tougher review

After self-review, run PaperDebugger reviewer for a second opinion.✓ Copied

Tools

What this MCP exposes

Tool	Inputs	When to call
research	topic, depth?, max_papers?	Stage 1
write	outline, papers, target_length	Stage 2 — drafting
review	draft_path, style?	Stage 3
revise	draft, review_items[]	Stage 4
finalize	draft_path, template	Stage 5

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota: Bound by LLM
Tokens per call: Lit review can be 50k+ tokens; full paper 100k+
Monetary: Free; LLM cost is yours
Tip: Stage by stage — don't try to do all five in one call

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Minimum scopes: filesystem-read filesystem-write

Credential storage: None

Data egress: LLM provider; arxiv if combined

AI-assisted writing rules vary by institution — check yours

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

Citations are fabricated

Always pair with arxiv MCP or another real-source fetcher; never let research run on title-only

Verify: Check each citation on Semantic Scholar

Drafts feel formulaic

Pass author voice samples via --voice voice.md

Finalize template fails to compile

Confirm \usepackage and template files are in the project root

Verify: `pdflatex` or `latexmk` runs cleanly

Alternatives

Academic Research Skills vs others

Alternative	When to use it instead	Tradeoff
PaperDebugger (MCP)	You want multi-agent paper review specifically	PaperDebugger is review-focused; this skill covers all 5 stages
Overleaf + Grammarly	Pure typesetting + light grammar check	No agent integration

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

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