Research ConnectScholarly access broker

About Research Connect

Research Connect is a scholarly access broker for AI tools. Your AI tool finds the articles. Research Connect checks which of them you can read, and fetches the full text with the access you already have.

What it does

It checks your access with your institution. With the browser extension, it fetches an article in your own browser, with your own access, when your AI tool asks for it. It does not host or resell publisher content.

Get the browser extension · Open your dashboard

How it finds an article

Research Connect tries five routes, in this order, and stops at the first that delivers.

  1. Publisher -- The publisher's own machine interface.
  2. Link -- A machine-readable link straight to the text.
  3. PubMed Central -- The free copy, where one exists.
  4. OpenAlex -- A text made from the open-access PDF, for open-access articles only, and only when nothing above it worked.
  5. Your browser -- Your own signed-in sessions, through the browser extension. Only when nothing above worked.

Set it up by hand

If Research Connect is not in your AI tool's own list of connectors, add it yourself. Find your AI tool below and follow its steps.

ChatGPT
  1. In ChatGPT -> Settings -> Connectors -> "Add connector", enter the Research Connect MCP URL: https://research-connect.oliveturn.com/mcp
  2. Authorize the connection in the browser window that opens: choose "Create login or sign in" to use an email account, or "Proceed with no login" to get a code account, which needs no email. Then you can choose your institution there. This tells Research Connect which institution to check access with; it does not sign you in at that institution -- your browser does that on the publisher's page when an article asks for it.
  3. Install and pair the Research Connect browser extension (from the browser extension store or the Research Connect website) so publisher pages can be fetched with your access; run pair_extension and open the pairing link.
  4. Optional: sign in with an email account to manage connectors on the Research Connect website -- enable/disable them, add your own private MCP servers, and attach skill docs.
Claude
  1. In Claude -> Settings -> Connectors -> "Add custom connector", paste the Research Connect MCP URL: https://research-connect.oliveturn.com/mcp
  2. Authorize the connection in the browser window that opens: choose "Create login or sign in" to use an email account, or "Proceed with no login" to get a code account, which needs no email. Then you can choose your institution there. This tells Research Connect which institution to check access with; it does not sign you in at that institution -- your browser does that on the publisher's page when an article asks for it.
  3. Install and pair the Research Connect browser extension (from the browser extension store or the Research Connect website) so publisher pages can be fetched with your access; run pair_extension and open the pairing link.
  4. Optional: sign in with an email account to manage connectors on the Research Connect website -- enable/disable them, add your own private MCP servers, and attach skill docs.
Cursor
  1. In Cursor -> Settings -> MCP -> "Add server", add the Research Connect MCP URL: https://research-connect.oliveturn.com/mcp
  2. Authorize the connection in the browser window that opens: choose "Create login or sign in" to use an email account, or "Proceed with no login" to get a code account, which needs no email. Then you can choose your institution there. This tells Research Connect which institution to check access with; it does not sign you in at that institution -- your browser does that on the publisher's page when an article asks for it.
  3. Install and pair the Research Connect browser extension (from the browser extension store or the Research Connect website) so publisher pages can be fetched with your access; run pair_extension and open the pairing link.
  4. Optional: sign in with an email account to manage connectors on the Research Connect website -- enable/disable them, add your own private MCP servers, and attach skill docs.
VS Code
  1. In VS Code -> MCP servers -> "Add server", add the Research Connect MCP URL: https://research-connect.oliveturn.com/mcp
  2. Authorize the connection in the browser window that opens: choose "Create login or sign in" to use an email account, or "Proceed with no login" to get a code account, which needs no email. Then you can choose your institution there. This tells Research Connect which institution to check access with; it does not sign you in at that institution -- your browser does that on the publisher's page when an article asks for it.
  3. Install and pair the Research Connect browser extension (from the browser extension store or the Research Connect website) so publisher pages can be fetched with your access; run pair_extension and open the pairing link.
  4. Optional: sign in with an email account to manage connectors on the Research Connect website -- enable/disable them, add your own private MCP servers, and attach skill docs.
Another AI tool
  1. Add the Research Connect MCP connector in your AI client using the MCP URL: https://research-connect.oliveturn.com/mcp
  2. Authorize the connection in the browser window that opens: choose "Create login or sign in" to use an email account, or "Proceed with no login" to get a code account, which needs no email. Then you can choose your institution there. This tells Research Connect which institution to check access with; it does not sign you in at that institution -- your browser does that on the publisher's page when an article asks for it.
  3. Install and pair the Research Connect browser extension (from the browser extension store or the Research Connect website) so publisher pages can be fetched with your access; run pair_extension and open the pairing link.
  4. Optional: sign in with an email account to manage connectors on the Research Connect website -- enable/disable them, add your own private MCP servers, and attach skill docs.

Support

Write to contact@oliveturn.com, or send feedback.

For libraries and publishers

Research Connect reports usage in the COUNTER format. Read the guide to the usage reports.