Get articles that cite a given PubMed article (PMID). Useful for forward citation tracking.
AI agents call get_citations to retrieve information from Mcp Pubmed without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool queries the PubMed database to fetch citation metadata. It has no side effects, does not modify data, execute code, or remove information. It is purely informational retrieval, consistent with other Read category tools on the same server (search_articles, get_article, get_related).
From the tool's definition The tool 'get_citations' retrieves articles that cite a given PubMed article. The description states it is 'useful for forward citation tracking' — a read-only operation that queries bibliographic data without modifying, executing, or deleting anything.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Get articles that cite a given PubMed article (PMID). Useful for forward citation tracking. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Mcp Pubmed MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Mcp Pubmed MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get_citations: 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 Mcp Pubmed. Nothing to install.
get_citations is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the get_citations 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.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for get_citations. 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.
get_citations is provided by the Mcp Pubmed MCP server (petrefiedthunder/mcp-pubmed). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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Type a name, get the same breakdown: verified identity, auth posture, risk grade, capabilities, recommended policy.
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