crossref.journals.lookup

Get metadata for an academic journal by its ISSN — title, publisher, subject areas, and DOI coverage counts (current, backfile, total). Useful for verifying a journal's publisher or gauging its publication volume. Data: api.crossref.org (CrossRef REST API), no auth required.

SERVERApibase SOURCEapibase-mcp-client

Low RISK CLASS

Category Read

Parameters 11 required

Recommended Allowedsee the rule below

Registry record Grade F, identity unverified Pull the record →

This record as markdown: /tools/io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase/crossref.journals.lookup.md

WHAT IT DOES

What crossref.journals.lookup does on Apibase

AI agents call crossref.journals.lookup to retrieve information from Apibase without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`issn`	string	Yes	Journal ISSN in NNNN-NNNN format (e.g. 0028-0836 for Nature)

Parameters from the server's own tool schema.

RISK

Why crossref.journals.lookup is rated Low

Retrieves publicly available journal metadata without modification or side effects.

From the tool's definition Get metadata for academic journal by ISSN — title, publisher, subject areas.

Attacks that exploit this kind of access

RECOMMENDED RULE

The rule that runs crossref.journals.lookup safely

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Apibase, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For crossref.journals.lookup, this is the rule to start with:

crossref.journals.lookup Allowed

crossref.journals.lookup is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

View as policy code

policy.json

{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "crossref.journals.lookup": {}
  }
}

ALLOW ONLY THIS TOOL → Instant setup, no code required.

The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Apibase, apply this rule, and every crossref.journals.lookup call is checked against it from then on.

FAQ

Questions about crossref.journals.lookup

What does the crossref.journals.lookup tool do? +

What parameters does crossref.journals.lookup accept? +

crossref.journals.lookup accepts 1 parameter: issn. Required: issn. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.

How do I enforce a policy on crossref.journals.lookup? +

Register the Apibase MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for crossref.journals.lookup: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Apibase. Nothing to install.

What risk level is crossref.journals.lookup? +

crossref.journals.lookup is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.

Can I rate-limit crossref.journals.lookup? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the crossref.journals.lookup rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.

How do I block crossref.journals.lookup completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for crossref.journals.lookup. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.

What MCP server provides crossref.journals.lookup? +

crossref.journals.lookup is provided by the Apibase MCP server (apibase-mcp-client). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

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