# Literature Search Europepmc

Search Europe PMC for scientific literature and download open-access full texts and PDFs.

- Repository: https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills (3377 stars)
- Category: Data and ML
- License: Apache-2.0
- Last updated: 2026-10-23
- Runs scripts: yes, review before use

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill literature-search-europepmc -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill literature-search-europepmc -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill literature-search-europepmc -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill literature-search-europepmc -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Search Europe PMC for scientific literature and download open-access full texts and PDFs. Retrieve full-text XML/plain text by PMCID, get citation lists and bibliography.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Europe PMC Database

A skill for searching, downloading, and exploring open-access papers from
[Europe PMC](https://europepmc.org/), a comprehensive, free life-science
literature database with over 43 million abstracts and 9 million full-text
articles.

## Prerequisites

1.  **`uv`**: Read the `uv` skill and follow its Setup instructions to ensure
    `uv` is installed and on PATH.
2.  **User Notification**: If .licenses/literature_search_europepmc_LICENSE.txt
    does not already exist in the workspace root directory then (1) prominently
    notify the user to check the terms at https://europepmc.org/ and to always
    check the license of the papers retrieved by the skill for any restrictions,
    then (2) create the file recording the notification text and timestamp.

## Core Rules

-   **Open Access Only**: This skill exclusively searches open-access content.
    The script automatically appends `OPEN_ACCESS:y` to every search query. Do
    NOT remove or override this filter.
-   **NEVER run python3 or python3 -c directly**: the system Python does not
    necessarily have all key dependencies. Do not attempt to pip install or
    create new venvs.
-   **Use the Wrapper**: ALWAYS use the provided script rather than calling the
    API directly. The script handles rate limiting (1 req/s) and errors.
-   **Output Files**: All subcommands require `--output` to write results to a
    file. Read the output file separately to avoid context overflow.
-   **List Sources.** If this skill is used, ensure this is mentioned in the
    output AND list the URLs of all papers that were used in producing the
    output.

## Utility Scripts

All commands are subcommands of `scripts/europepmc_api.py`. Rate limiting and
retries are handled automatically.

### 1. Search (`search`)

Search Europe PMC by query. Supports DOI lookup, keyword search, author search,
PMID lookup, and the full
[Europe PMC search syntax](https://europepmc.org/searchsyntax).

The rest: https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/literature_search_europepmc/SKILL.md