Clarivate Plc, a leading global provider of transformative intelligence, today announced Nexus Connect, an AI gateway to universities' academic resources and services. Nexus Connect is designed to meet users wherever they work—as a connector inside leading general-purpose AI chat agents, such as ChatGPT or Claude.
As AI chat agents increasingly serve as the primary workspace for students and researchers, the Model Context Protocol (MCP) has emerged as a powerful open standard to ground AI responses in trusted content. Nexus Connect addresses the risk of libraries being sidelined by providing a unified institutional layer that ensures licensed resources and services are surfaced with visibility and control. This solution joins Clarivate Nexus Extend, a browser-based academic assistant, as part of a growing suite of tools designed to keep libraries at the center of research and learning.
AI Integration: Acts as a connector for general-purpose AI agents like ChatGPT and Claude using the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
Institutional Control: Gives libraries visibility and control over how their licensed resources are surfaced in AI environments.
Unified Presence: Consolidates Clarivate content, library resources, and third-party academic services into a single institutional presence.
Early Access: A broad early access program is scheduled for July 2026, following initial deployment at five universities in North America and APAC.
Core Functionality: Includes entitlement-based access, configurable scope, and institutional branding.
Security Standards: Built with enterprise-grade security and privacy protocols to meet strict academic requirements.
Nexus Connect is the latest example of a strategic approach to academic AI—embedding transformative intelligence into products while connecting users to curated, trusted data. By providing a unified layer, institutions can maintain their identity and ensure students and researchers are interacting with authoritative sources.
"Libraries are where trusted knowledge lives, and our goal is to make sure that remains true in AI environments," said Oren Beit-Arie, Senior Vice President, Strategy & Innovation, Academia & Government at Clarivate. "We are providing institutions with a unified layer that keeps their resources and identity in front of students and researchers. Alongside Nexus Extend, it keeps libraries at the center of research and learning."
The platform launches with two primary use cases for early adopter partners: academic discovery and end-user library services. Powered by Primo, Alma, and the Clarivate Central Discovery Index (CDI), these features allow users to search library collections and manage accounts—such as renewals and holds—directly within their chat interface.
In practice, a student using ChatGPT or Claude can search an entire library collection, access a specific e-book, or place a hold on a physical copy without ever leaving the conversation. Shirley Wong, University Librarian at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, noted: "Our priority is to bring AI to users in a way they can trust, grounded in the library's resources and expertise. MCP lets us do that, by building trusted AI services within our institutional environment."
About Clarivate
Clarivate is a leading global provider of transformative intelligence. We offer enriched data, insights & analytics, workflow solutions and expert services in the areas of Academia & Government, Intellectual Property and Life Sciences & Healthcare.
TechIntelPro empowers B2B technology decision-makers with the latest industry trends, deep insights, leadership perspectives and actionable intelligence to drive both organizational and professional milestones—and thrive on the tech pulse.