NIH RePORTER Scraper for Grants and Principal Investigators

An efficient grant search tool designed to extract funded research projects, principal investigators, and award details seamlessly. The output can be exported to JSON, CSV, or Excel for easy analysis.

Use cases

• Grant prospecting: Search funded projects for specific topics like diabetes and keep track of award amounts alongside organizations.
• PI lists: Collect contact investigators and profile IDs quickly.
• State filters: Limit searches to specific organization state codes such as AL or WA.
• Fiscal year cuts: Pull data for a single year or multiple years without manual paging.
• Scheduled refresh: Run recurring searches to track updates whenever project lists change.
• Research desks: Gather capped samples of public awards for literature or funding scans.

What data does this scraper extract?

Each run saves structured information per funded project, including nested organization and investigator details.

Field	Type	Description
appl_id	integer	Application ID
fiscal_year	integer	Fiscal year of the award
organization	object	Performing organization, including name, city, state, and identifiers
award_amount	integer	Award amount in US dollars
principal_investigators	array	Investigators associated with the project
project_title	string	Project title
scrapedAt	string	UTC timestamp when the row was saved
error	string	Recorded only if a request encounters an issue

Output example

{
  "appl_id": 10996093,
  "fiscal_year": 2025,
  "organization": {
    "org_name": "UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM",
    "org_city": "BIRMINGHAM",
    "org_country": "UNITED STATES",
    "org_state": "AL",
    "dept_type": "INTERNAL MEDICINE/MEDICINE",
    "primary_duns": "063690705",
    "primary_uei": "YND4PLMC9AN7",
    "org_fips": "US"
  },
  "award_amount": 160324,
  "principal_investigators": [
    {
      "profile_id": 12435328,
      "first_name": "Caroline",
      "middle_name": "A",
      "last_name": "Presley",
      "is_contact_pi": true,
      "full_name": "Caroline A Presley",
      "title": "ASSISTANT PROFESSOR"
    }
  ],
  "project_title": "Mindfulness-Based Diabetes Education for adults with elevated diabetes distress",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-12T00:00:00+00:00"
}

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchText	string	diabetes	Keywords matched across project fields
fiscalYears	array	[2025]	List of fiscal years to include
orgStates	string list	empty	Organization state codes, one per line
maxItems	integer	100	Maximum number of rows to collect per run
timeoutSecs	integer	300	Maximum run duration in seconds

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Related Tools

If you plan to map or join these rows, a geocoding pass or a quick CSV cleanup are the usual next steps. BigiByte also builds scrapers for other open-data portals when you need them as a separate job.

Need another city's open data, a scheduled monitor, or a custom pipeline? BigiByte builds custom scrapers and APIs: https://bigibyte.com

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Is web scraping legal?

Web scraping publicly available directories and registries is generally permissible, provided you adhere to standard ethical guidelines and data privacy regulations. Here are a few important considerations:

• Personal Data: If your extracted dataset includes personal details (such as names or professional profiles), ensure compliance with relevant regional privacy frameworks like GDPR or CCPA. Collect and store personal data strictly when you have a legitimate, transparent purpose.
• Copyright & Content: Do not republish or redistribute protected textual content or proprietary assets without proper authorization.
• Usage Conduct: Respect recommended pacing and rate guidelines to ensure smooth, uninterrupted operations.
• Legal Disclaimer: This guidance is for informational purposes and does not constitute formal legal advice. When in doubt regarding specific compliance requirements, consult a qualified legal professional.

To learn more, read Apify's guide: Is web scraping legal?