# Academic Research

> This skill should be used for academic paper search, literature reviews, and research synthesis. Combines Exa MCP (research_paper category, arxiv.org filtering) with arxiv-mcp-server for paper discovery, download, and deep analysis. Use when searching for papers, conducting literature reviews, analyzing research trends, or synthesizing findings across multiple papers. Use when this capability is needed.

- Skill: `tomevault-io/academic-research` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/academic-research`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/academic-research/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Product & Planning
- Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/academic-research

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# Academic Research

This skill provides comprehensive guidance for academic paper search, literature reviews, and research synthesis using Exa MCP and arxiv-mcp-server.

## When to Use This Skill

- Searching for academic papers on a topic
- Conducting literature reviews
- Finding papers by specific authors
- Discovering recent research in a field
- Downloading and analyzing arXiv papers
- Synthesizing findings across multiple papers
- Tracking citation networks and influential papers
- Researching state-of-the-art methods in AI/ML

## Available Tools

### Exa MCP Server (Web Search with Academic Filtering)

**Tools**: `mcp__exa__web_search_exa`, `mcp__exa__get_code_context_exa`, `mcp__exa__deep_search_exa`

**Key Parameters for Academic Search**:
- `category: "research_paper"` - Filter results to academic papers
- `includeDomains: ["arxiv.org"]` - Restrict to arXiv
- `startPublishedDate` / `endPublishedDate` - Filter by publication date

### ArXiv MCP Server (Paper Search, Download, Analysis)

**Tools**: `search_papers`, `download_paper`, `list_papers`, `read_paper`

**Capabilities**:
- Search arXiv by keyword, author, or category
- Download papers locally (~/.arxiv-papers)
- Read paper content directly
- Deep paper analysis with built-in prompts

## Core Workflows

### Workflow 1: Quick Paper Discovery

**Use case**: Find papers on a specific topic quickly

```
Step 1: Use Exa with research_paper category
mcp__exa__web_search_exa({
  query: "transformer attention mechanisms survey",
  category: "research_paper",
  numResults: 10
})

Step 2: Review titles and abstracts
Step 3: Note arXiv IDs for deeper analysis
```

### Workflow 2: ArXiv-Focused Search

**Use case**: Search specifically within arXiv

```
Step 1: Use arxiv MCP search_papers
search_papers({
  query: "large language models reasoning",
  max_results: 20,
  sort_by: "relevance"
})

Step 2: Download papers
download_paper({ arxiv_id: "2301.00234" })

Step 3: Read and analyze
read_paper({ arxiv_id: "2301.00234" })
```

### Workflow 3: Comprehensive Literature Review

```
Step 1: Broad discovery with Exa (category: "research_paper")
Step 2: Identify key papers and authors
Step 3: Deep dive with arXiv MCP (download + read_paper)
Step 4: Synthesize findings by methodology/approach
```

### Workflow 4: Recent Developments Tracking

```
Step 1: Time-filtered Exa search
mcp__exa__web_search_exa({
  query: "multimodal large language models",
  category: "research_paper",
  startPublishedDate: "2024-01-01"
})

Step 2: Sort arXiv by submitted_date
search_papers({ query: "multimodal LLM", sort_by: "submitted_date" })
```

## ArXiv Categories Reference

| Category | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| cs.AI | Artificial Intelligence |
| cs.CL | Computation and Language (NLP) |
| cs.CV | Computer Vision |
| cs.LG | Machine Learning |
| cs.NE | Neural and Evolutionary Computing |
| stat.ML | Statistics - Machine Learning |
| cs.RO | Robotics |

## Academic Domain Filtering

For Exa searches, restrict to academic sources:

```
includeDomains: [
  "arxiv.org",
  "aclanthology.org",
  "openreview.net",
  "proceedings.mlr.press",
  "papers.nips.cc",
  "openaccess.thecvf.com"
]
```

## Tool Selection Guide

| Task | Primary Tool | Alternative |
|------|--------------|-------------|
| Broad topic search | Exa (research_paper) | arXiv search_papers |
| ArXiv-specific | arXiv search_papers | Exa with includeDomains |
| Download paper | arXiv download_paper | - |
| Full paper content | arXiv read_paper | - |
| Code implementations | Exa get_code_context | - |
| Very recent papers | arXiv (submitted_date) | Exa with date filter |

## Best Practices

1. **Start broad** with Exa's research_paper category, then narrow
2. **Use date filtering** for recent developments
3. **Download key papers** via arXiv MCP for persistent access
4. **Cross-reference** multiple search approaches
5. **Use technical terms** in queries for better results

## Reference Documentation

For detailed parameters and advanced usage:
- `references/exa-academic-search.md` - Exa parameters for academic search
- `references/arxiv-mcp-tools.md` - ArXiv MCP server tool reference

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<!-- tomevault:4.0:skill_md:2026-04-11 -->