How to Find Citations with Claude
Find research citations with Claude and ToolRouter. Trace academic reference chains.
Tool
Claude follows citation chains through multi-step investigation. Get the references for a seminal paper, identify the most-cited sources, then trace those backward to find the foundational work. The conversation naturally builds a citation map that reveals the intellectual lineage of ideas in any field.
Connect ToolRouter to Claude
1Go to Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector
2Enter the details below and click Add
Name
ToolRouterURL
https://api.toolrouter.com/mcp3Done — works on Claude chat, desktop, and mobile
Steps
Once connected (see setup above), use the Academic Research tool:
- Ask Claude: "Get the details and citations for this paper using academic-research" and provide the paper ID or title
- Claude returns the paper metadata and reference list
- Ask: "Which of its references are most cited?"
- Follow the citation chain to related papers
Example Prompt
Try this with Claude using the Academic Research tool
Get the full citation list for the "Attention Is All You Need" paper. Which of its references are the most influential?
Tips
- Use citation chains to discover seminal papers you might have missed
- Ask Claude to identify the most-cited references to find foundational work
- Build a citation map by following references recursively