Bio Research vs Scholar Sidekick
Bio Research is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by Anthropic. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Claude: knowledge-work-plugins). Scholar Sidekick is an MCP server published by mlava. Marketplaces we read that list it: 2 (Official MCP Registry, Community GitHub marketplaces). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-18. This pair was picked by a reader, not by our comparison rule, so search engines are asked not to index the page.
Where each is published
| Marketplace |   Scholar Sidekick | |
|---|---|---|
| Claude: knowledge-work-plugins | Listed Version: 1.2.0 Forks (GitHub): 3 391 Stars (GitHub): 30 009 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.8.13 Downloads/month (npm): 660 Downloads/week (npm): 140 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 11 Not marked · First seen |
Each figure is the marketplace's own and is never added up across marketplaces. A marketplace that publishes no figure shows none: no number is not zero.
The facts side by side
| Fact | Bio Research | Scholar Sidekick |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it (differs) | 1 (worse) | 2 (better) |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 30 009 (better) | 11 (worse) |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 3 391 (better) | 0 (worse) |
| Last release (differs) | Not published | 2026-10-16 |
| Where it runs (differs) | Installs as a plugin bundle | Remote server or your machine |
| Transport (differs) | Not stated | Streamable HTTP |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for | Not published | Not published |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | 17 | 2 |
| Licence (differs) | Not stated | MIT |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins | github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-mcp |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 0 | 5 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Endpoint at the last check (differs) | no remote endpoint we check | Responded 3 days ago |
Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. Where the data itself says which value is better (more marketplaces, a larger figure of the same marketplace, a fresher release, a verified mark on a marketplace that lists both), the better one is also marked green with ▲ and the worse one red with ▼. Where it runs, the transport, the tools, the settings, hooks, the bundle's parts, the licence and the week's changes are marked only as different: more or fewer is not better in itself.
What each says it does
Bio Research
Connect to preclinical research tools and databases (literature search, genomics analysis, target prioritization) to accelerate early-stage life sciences R&D
Scholar Sidekick
Catch AI-fabricated citations (real DOI + fake title). Retraction, open-access, 10,000+ CSL styles.
How to run each
Bio Research As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
/plugin install bio-research@knowledge-work-pluginsScholar Sidekick As a remote MCP server
claude mcp add --transport http scholar-sidekick-mcp https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/mcpCommands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Only Scholar Sidekick has a remote endpoint we check. How we check endpoints
Tools each declares
Neither the marketplaces of Bio Research nor its endpoint list any tools, so we do not compare tools.
Settings each asks for
Neither one's marketplaces publish the settings it asks for.
What it can do: Bio Research · What it can do: Scholar Sidekick · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Data comes from public marketplace files in GitHub repositories of their authors. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.