---
title: Scholar Sidekick - Citations, Clean & Fast
description: Paste a DOI, PMID, ISBN, or arXiv ID and get a clean citation in Vancouver, APA, IEEE, or any of 10,000+ styles. Export to BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, and more.
doc_version: "1.1"
last_updated: "2026-05-17"
---

# Format-perfect citations from a DOI, PMID, ISBN, arXiv ID, ADS bibcode, ISSN, or eISSN

> HTML version: https://scholar-sidekick.com/

Paste the link or ID on the front of a paper — a DOI (the doi.org link), PMID (PubMed ID), PMCID (PubMed Central ID), arXiv ID, ADS bibcode (NASA astrophysics), ISBN, ISSN, or eISSN — and get a formatted citation in seconds.

Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, CSE, Chicago, Harvard, or any of 10,000+ CSL (Citation Style Language) styles. Export to BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, CSL JSON, and more — ready to copy or drop straight into Zotero, EndNote, or Mendeley.

## How it works

1. **Paste** — Drop in a DOI, PMID, PMCID, arXiv ID, ADS bibcode, ISBN, ISSN, or a link to a paper.
2. **Pick a style** — Vancouver, APA, AMA, IEEE, CSE, or any of 10,000+ CSL styles.
3. **Copy or export** — Copy the formatted citation, or export to BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, or CSL JSON for Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and more.

10,000+ citation styles · 9 export formats · 8 identifier types

## Or pick a focused job

- [Verify a citation](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/citation-verifier) — catches real-DOI/fake-title fabrications.
- [Check open access](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/open-access-checker) — best legal free URL via Unpaywall.
- [Check for retraction](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools/retraction-checker) — Crossref + Retraction Watch.
- [See all 10 free tools](https://scholar-sidekick.com/tools).

## For developers and AI agents

Scholar Sidekick is also a public REST API and an open-source MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. Build it into your reference manager, your editorial pipeline, or your AI agent — no key required for light use.

```bash
curl -X POST https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/format \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text":"10.1038/nphys1170","style":"vancouver"}'
```

- [API docs](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs.md)
- [OpenAPI spec](https://scholar-sidekick.com/openapi.yaml)
- [Postman collection](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs#postman)
- [MCP server](https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp.md)

MCP lets Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor call Scholar Sidekick directly.

## Compare

- [vs Zotero](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-zotero.md) | [vs ZoteroBib](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-zoterobib.md) | [vs Scribbr](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-scribbr.md)
- [vs EndNote](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-endnote.md) | [vs MyBib](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-mybib.md) | [vs Cite This For Me](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/scholar-sidekick-vs-citethisforme.md)
- [Best AI citation verifier](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/best-ai-citation-verifier.md) | [Citation MCP servers](https://scholar-sidekick.com/compare/citation-mcp-servers.md)

## Discovery for agents

- API catalog (RFC 9727): [/.well-known/api-catalog](https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/api-catalog)
- MCP server card: [/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json](https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json)
- Agent skills index: [/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json](https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json)
- OpenAPI spec: [/openapi.yaml](https://scholar-sidekick.com/openapi.yaml)
- Data sources & determinism: [/.well-known/sources.json](https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/sources.json)
- Plugin manifest: [/.well-known/ai-plugin.json](https://scholar-sidekick.com/.well-known/ai-plugin.json)
- Long-form description: [/llms.txt](https://scholar-sidekick.com/llms.txt) (full: [/llms-full.txt](https://scholar-sidekick.com/llms-full.txt))
- Coding-agent guide: [/AGENTS.md](https://scholar-sidekick.com/AGENTS.md)

## More

- [Help & limits](https://scholar-sidekick.com/help.md) | [Glossary](https://scholar-sidekick.com/glossary.md)
- [Citation integrity](https://scholar-sidekick.com/citation-integrity) | [Engineering principles](https://scholar-sidekick.com/engineering-principles)

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](https://scholar-sidekick.com/sitemap.md) for all pages.