Perplexity Academic Search

Overview

A specialized academic search skill built on Perplexity's Academic Mode. This skill comes pre-configured with optimal settings for scholarly research:

•Academic mode enabled by default - Prioritizes peer-reviewed sources
•Curated academic domains - Nature, Science, Cell, NEJM, PubMed, arXiv, etc.
•High context size - Maximum detail for comprehensive literature searches
•Date filtering - Focus on recent research (configurable)

For general web search, use perplexity-search instead. For full Perplexity features, see .claude/docs/perplexity-best-practices.md.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

•Searching for peer-reviewed academic papers
•Finding recent scientific publications
•Conducting literature reviews
•Verifying claims against scholarly sources
•Discovering research in specific academic domains
•Supporting systematic reviews

Do not use for:

•General web searches (use perplexity-search)
•Technical documentation (use --preset technical)
•News and current events (use --preset news)
•Non-academic fact-checking

Quick Start

Setup

Uses the same API keys as perplexity-search:

bash

# In .env file - Direct API (preferred)
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=pplx-your-key-here

# OR OpenRouter fallback
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-your-key-here

Note: Academic mode requires Direct Perplexity API. OpenRouter has limited feature support.

Basic Usage

bash

# Simple academic search (academic mode auto-enabled)
python scripts/perplexity_academic.py "CRISPR gene editing clinical trials"

# With date filter for recent research
python scripts/perplexity_academic.py "transformer architecture improvements" --recent 2023

# Medical/clinical research
python scripts/perplexity_academic.py "mRNA vaccine mechanisms" --domain medical

# With Pro Search for complex analysis
python scripts/perplexity_academic.py "Compare BERT vs GPT architectures" --pro

# Save results with citations
python scripts/perplexity_academic.py "gut microbiome Parkinson's" --output results.json

Pre-Configured Settings

This skill automatically applies:

Setting	Value	Purpose
`search_mode`	`academic`	Prioritize peer-reviewed sources
`context_size`	`high`	Maximum detail for research
`model`	`sonar-pro`	Best balance of quality/cost
`max_tokens`	`4000`	Comprehensive responses

Default Academic Domains

When no --domain specified, searches across (16 domains, under API limit of 20):

code

arxiv.org, nature.com, science.org, cell.com,
nih.gov, pubmed.gov, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, pnas.org,
sciencedirect.com, springer.com, wiley.com, plos.org,
biorxiv.org, medrxiv.org, .edu, .gov

CLI Options

code

Usage: perplexity_academic.py <query> [options]

Positional:
  query                    Academic search query

Domain Presets:
  --domain DOMAIN         Domain preset: general, medical, biomedical,
                          cs, physics, chemistry, social (default: general)

Date Filtering:
  --recent YEAR           Only papers from this year onwards
  --date-after DATE       Specific start date (YYYY-MM-DD)
  --date-before DATE      Specific end date (YYYY-MM-DD)

Search Mode:
  --pro                   Enable Pro Search (multi-step reasoning)

Output:
  --output FILE           Save results to JSON file
  --verbose               Show detailed information
  --citations-only        Output only citations (for BibTeX generation)

Domain Presets

Preset	Domains	Best For
`general`	All academic domains	Broad literature search
`medical`	nih.gov, pubmed.gov, nejm.org, lancet.com, bmj.com	Clinical research
`biomedical`	nature.com, cell.com, pnas.org, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov	Life sciences
`cs`	arxiv.org, acm.org, ieee.org	Computer science
`physics`	arxiv.org, aps.org, iop.org	Physics
`chemistry`	acs.org, rsc.org, nature.com/nchem	Chemistry
`social`	.edu, jstor.org, ssrn.com	Social sciences

bash

# Medical/clinical research
python scripts/perplexity_academic.py "diabetes treatment RCT" --domain medical

# Computer science papers
python scripts/perplexity_academic.py "transformer attention mechanisms" --domain cs

# Broad academic search
python scripts/perplexity_academic.py "climate change impacts" --domain general

Programmatic Usage

python

from scripts.perplexity_academic import academic_search

# Simple search
result = academic_search("What are recent advances in CRISPR?")

# With domain preset and date filter
result = academic_search(
    query="CAR-T therapy clinical outcomes",
    domain_preset="medical",
    recent_year=2023,
    verbose=True
)

# Pro Search for synthesis
result = academic_search(
    query="Compare mRNA vs viral vector vaccines",
    pro=True
)

if result["success"]:
    print(result["answer"])
    print("\nCitations:")
    for citation in result.get("citations", []):
        print(f"  - {citation}")
else:
    print(f"Error: {result['error']}")

Integration with Research Agents

This skill is the primary search tool for research agents:

Agent	Recommended Usage
`academic-researcher`	Default search tool
`literature-reviewer`	With `--pro` for synthesis
`fact-checker`	Verify claims against scholarly sources
`research-synthesizer`	Multiple queries, cross-reference

Agent Configuration Example

In agent definitions, reference this skill:

yaml

skills: perplexity-academic

Or invoke programmatically:

python

from scripts.perplexity_academic import academic_search

# In literature-reviewer agent
findings = academic_search(
    query="systematic review methodology guidelines",
    domain_preset="medical",
    recent_year=2020
)

Common Use Cases

Literature Search

bash

# Find recent papers on a topic
python scripts/perplexity_academic.py \
  "machine learning for drug discovery" \
  --recent 2023 \
  --domain biomedical

Citation Discovery

bash

# Find papers to cite
python scripts/perplexity_academic.py \
  "transformer architecture attention mechanisms" \
  --domain cs \
  --citations-only

Research Verification

bash

# Verify a claim against literature
python scripts/perplexity_academic.py \
  "Is intermittent fasting effective for type 2 diabetes?" \
  --domain medical \
  --recent 2020

Systematic Review Support

bash

# Find RCTs in date range
python scripts/perplexity_academic.py \
  "randomized controlled trials SGLT2 inhibitors" \
  --domain medical \
  --date-after 2020-01-01 \
  --date-before 2024-12-31 \
  --pro

Output Format

Results include:

json

{
  "success": true,
  "query": "Original query",
  "answer": "Synthesized response with inline citations",
  "citations": [
    {
      "number": 1,
      "url": "https://nature.com/...",
      "title": "Paper title if available"
    }
  ],
  "model": "sonar-pro",
  "search_mode": "academic",
  "domain_preset": "general",
  "usage": {
    "input_tokens": 150,
    "output_tokens": 1200
  }
}

Cost Considerations

Academic searches use higher context which increases cost:

Query Type	Approximate Cost
Simple academic query	$0.003-0.005
Pro Search academic	$0.025-0.050
Deep research query	$0.050+

Tips to manage costs:

•Use specific, focused queries
•Reserve --pro for complex synthesis needs
•Use --recent to limit search scope
•Batch related queries together

Troubleshooting

Academic Mode Not Working

Issue: Results don't prioritize scholarly sources

Cause: Using OpenRouter backend

Solution: Configure direct Perplexity API:

bash

PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=pplx-your-key-here

No Recent Papers Found

Issue: Results are older than expected

Solution:

•Check --recent year is reasonable (not future)
•Topic may have limited recent publications
•Try broader query terms

Missing Citations

Issue: Response lacks source citations

Solution:

•Ensure using direct Perplexity API
•Academic mode should always return citations
•Check API key is valid

Dependencies

Same as perplexity-search:

bash

uv pip install requests python-dotenv

Related Resources

•General search: .claude/skills/perplexity-search/SKILL.md
•Best practices: .claude/docs/perplexity-best-practices.md
•Perplexity API docs: https://docs.perplexity.ai/