# OpenAlex Academic Research Scraper (`gentle_cloud/openalex-research-scraper`) Actor

Search and extract academic paper metadata from the OpenAlex API. Supports keyword search, author search, institution filter, and citation analysis. Free, no API key required. 250M+ scholarly works.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/gentle\_cloud/openalex-research-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Monkey Coder](https://apify.com/gentle_cloud) (community)
- **Categories:** Jobs, Other, Automation
- **Stats:** 5 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

### 🔬 OpenAlex Academic Research Scraper

Search and extract academic paper metadata from the [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/) API — a free, open catalog of 250M+ scholarly works.

No API key required. Datacenter IP friendly.

### 🔥 How it works

1. **Keyword Search**: Enter keywords to search paper titles, abstracts, and full text
2. **Author Search**: Find all papers by a specific author
3. **Institution Search**: Filter papers by affiliated institution
4. Apply filters: year range, open access only
5. Click **Save & Start** to begin extraction
6. Results are exported as structured JSON

### 📋 Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Description |
|-----------|------|-------------|
| **Search Mode** | Select | Keyword Search / Author Search / Institution Search |
| **Search Query** | Text | Keywords to search for (e.g., "machine learning") |
| **Author Name** | Text | Author to search (Author mode only) |
| **Institution Name** | Text | Institution to filter by (Institution mode only) |
| **Year From** | Number | Filter papers from this year |
| **Year To** | Number | Filter papers until this year |
| **Open Access Only** | Boolean | Only return freely available papers |
| **Max Results** | Number | Number of papers to retrieve (1-500) |

### 📊 Output Fields

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `id` | String | OpenAlex unique identifier |
| `doi` | String | Digital Object Identifier |
| `title` | String | Paper title |
| `publication_year` | Number | Year published |
| `cited_by_count` | Number | Total citations |
| `is_open_access` | Boolean | Whether freely available |
| `journal_name` | String | Journal or conference name |
| `authors` | Array | List of authors with names and institutions |
| `keywords` | Array | Paper keywords |
| `institutions` | Array | Affiliated institutions |
| `sdgs` | Array | UN Sustainable Development Goals |
| `fetched_at` | String | Timestamp of data extraction |

### 🚀 Result JSON Example

```json
[
  {
    "id": "https://openalex.org/W2122410182",
    "doi": "https://doi.org/10.1016/0004-3702(95)00020-8",
    "title": "Artificial intelligence: A modern approach",
    "publication_year": 1995,
    "cited_by_count": 22209,
    "journal_name": "Artificial Intelligence",
    "is_open_access": false,
    "authors": [
      {
        "name": "Stuart Russell",
        "orcid": "https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5000-0000",
        "position": "first"
      }
    ],
    "keywords": ["artificial intelligence", "machine learning"],
    "institutions": [
      {
        "name": "University of California, Berkeley",
        "country_code": "US",
        "type": "education"
      }
    ],
    "fetched_at": "2026-03-28T12:30:00Z"
  }
]
```

### 💡 Use Cases

- **Academic Research**: Discover papers on specific topics
- **Citation Analysis**: Track influential papers and research trends
- **Institutional Research**: Analyze research output of universities
- **Literature Review**: Build comprehensive bibliographies
- **Research Trends**: Identify emerging topics and hot areas

### 📊 Data Source

This Actor uses the [OpenAlex API](https://openalex.org/) — a fully open, free catalog of scholarly works with 250M+ works, 12M+ authors, and 100K+ institutions.

- **No API key required**
- **Rate limit**: ~10 requests/second (polite pool with email)
- **Coverage**: All academic disciplines
- **Data freshness**: Updated weekly

### 🔗 Related Actors

- [ArXiv Paper Search](https://apify.com/gentle_cloud/arxiv-paper-search) — Search physics, math, CS papers on arXiv
- [Hacker News Scraper](https://apify.com/gentle_cloud/hacker-news-scraper) — Scrape tech news and discussions

### ⚙️ Maintenance

This Actor is actively maintained. For issues or feature requests, please contact the developer.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Select the search mode

## `query` (type: `string`):

Keywords to search for in paper titles, abstracts, and full text

## `author` (type: `string`):

Author name to search (used in Author Search mode)

## `institution` (type: `string`):

Institution name to filter by (used in Institution Search mode)

## `year_from` (type: `integer`):

Filter papers published from this year onwards

## `year_to` (type: `integer`):

Filter papers published up to this year

## `open_access_only` (type: `boolean`):

Only return papers that are freely available

## `include_references` (type: `boolean`):

Include referenced works in output

## `max_results` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of papers to retrieve (1-500)

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "machine learning",
  "institution": "Stanford University",
  "year_from": 2020,
  "year_to": 2026,
  "open_access_only": false,
  "include_references": false,
  "max_results": 50
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "mode": "search",
    "query": "machine learning",
    "author": "",
    "institution": "Stanford University",
    "year_from": 2020,
    "year_to": 2026,
    "max_results": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("gentle_cloud/openalex-research-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "mode": "search",
    "query": "machine learning",
    "author": "",
    "institution": "Stanford University",
    "year_from": 2020,
    "year_to": 2026,
    "max_results": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("gentle_cloud/openalex-research-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "machine learning",
  "author": "",
  "institution": "Stanford University",
  "year_from": 2020,
  "year_to": 2026,
  "max_results": 50
}' |
apify call gentle_cloud/openalex-research-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,gentle_cloud/openalex-research-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/tzoCech0SOVqEasTu/builds/zHgtXQFSGOZmTo0yt/openapi.json