# Research Square Scraper (`dadhalfdev/researchsquare-scraper`) Actor

Scrape scientific preprints from researchsquare.com. Filter by title, author, abstract, subject area, publication status, article type, journal, and dates, or paste a URL.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/dadhalfdev/researchsquare-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Marco Rodrigues](https://apify.com/dadhalfdev) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## 📄 Research Square Scraper

Want [Research Square](https://www.researchsquare.com/browse) scientific preprints in a spreadsheet? This scraper makes it easy.

Use **structured filters** — better for AI agents — **or** paste an **`input_url`**. When `input_url` is set it overrides the filters.

Research Square hosts over 480,000 public preprints across biology, medicine, physics, and engineering. This actor returns up to 2000 rows per run.

### 💡 Perfect for...

- **Researchers:** Track new preprints by title, author, abstract, subject area, or journal.
- **Dashboards:** Monitor peer-review status (`under-review`, `in-revision`, `published-in-journal`).
- **Literature reviews:** Slice preprints by date range and article type.
- **Data analysts:** Export structured rows with DOIs and public article links.
- **🤖 AI Agents:** Power Claude, Cursor, Codex, the Hermes Agent, and OpenClaw workflows with live Research Square results.
- **📚 RAG Systems:** Feed preprint titles, authors, journals, and DOIs into retrieval pipelines.
- **🔗 AI Workflows:** Plug into LangChain, AutoGPT, CrewAI, and similar stacks.

### ✨ Why you'll love this scraper

- 🔗 **Input URL or Filters:** Paste a Research Square browse or article URL, or pick the same filters as the site. `input_url` always wins when set.
- 🎯 **Website-Matched Filters:** Title, author, abstract, keyword, publication status, article type, subject area, journal, and date range.
- 🌐 **Preprint metadata:** Title, author list, journal, review status, version, DOI, and subject areas.

### 📦 What's inside the data?

`id`, `url`, `title`, `authors`, `author_list`, `posted`, `status`, `article_type`, `journal`, `journal_slug`, `version`, `doi`, `doi_url`, `subject_areas`

### 🚀 Quick start

**Option A:** paste `https://www.researchsquare.com/browse`.
**Option B:** enter a title keyword, subject area, or status and set `max_results`.

**Input Example (filters):**

```json
{
  "title": "cancer",
  "status": "posted",
  "max_results": 100
}
```

**Input Example (URL):**

```json
{
  "input_url": "https://www.researchsquare.com/browse?title=crispr",
  "max_results": 100
}
```

**Output Example:**

```json
{
  "id": "rs-11068462",
  "url": "https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-11068462/v1",
  "title": "When the wild type hits the ceiling: identifiability of mutation–lineage interactions in pharmacogenomic panels",
  "authors": "Jun Bao, Tianyu Wang, Chao Song",
  "author_list": ["Jun Bao", "Tianyu Wang", "Chao Song"],
  "posted": "2026-10-13T18:18:23Z",
  "status": "under-review",
  "article_type": "Research Article",
  "journal": "BMC Bioinformatics",
  "journal_slug": "bmc-bioinformatics",
  "version": 1,
  "doi": "10.21203/rs.3.rs-11068462/v1",
  "doi_url": "https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-11068462/v1",
  "subject_areas": ["Biological sciences/Cell biology"]
}
```

**Output fields:**

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `id` | Research Square article identity (`rs-...`). |
| `url` | Public preprint page. |
| `title` | Preprint title. |
| `authors` | Comma-separated author names. |
| `author_list` | List of individual author names. |
| `posted` | Date and time the preprint was posted. |
| `status` | Review status (`posted`, `under-review`, `in-revision`, `published-in-journal`). |
| `article_type` | Article type such as Research Article or Systematic Review. |
| `journal` | Target or associated journal title. |
| `journal_slug` | Journal identifier slug. |
| `version` | Preprint version number. |
| `doi` | Digital Object Identifier. |
| `doi_url` | Full DOI resolver link. |
| `subject_areas` | Subject area classifications when shown. |

### 📋 Input reference

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|---------|-------------|
| `input_url` | string | No | — | Research Square browse or article URL. Overrides every filter. |
| `title` | string | No | — | Words in the preprint title. |
| `author` | string | No | — | Author name. |
| `abstract` | string | No | — | Words in the abstract. |
| `keyword` | string | No | — | Keyword filter. |
| `status` | dropdown | No | all | All, Posted, Under Review, Under Revision, Published. |
| `article_type` | dropdown | No | all | Research Article, Systematic Review, Case Report, Method Article, etc. |
| `subject_area` | string | No | — | Subject area name such as Cell Biology or Neuroscience. |
| `journal` | string | No | — | Journal slug such as scientific-reports. |
| `posted_after` | string | No | — | Earliest date (`YYYY-MM-DD`). |
| `posted_before` | string | No | — | Latest date (`YYYY-MM-DD`). |
| `max_results` | integer | No | `50` | Maximum rows (`1`–`2000`). |

# Actor input Schema

## `input_url` (type: `string`):

Paste a Research Square browse or article URL. Overrides every filter when set.

## `title` (type: `string`):

Search words in the preprint title.

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

Author name filter.

## `abstract` (type: `string`):

Search words in the abstract.

## `keyword` (type: `string`):

Author-supplied keyword filter.

## `status` (type: `string`):

Same Publication Status filter as the Browse page.

## `article_type` (type: `string`):

Same Article Type filter as the Browse page.

## `subject_area` (type: `string`):

Subject area name such as Cell Biology, Neuroscience, Microbiology, or General Medicine.

## `journal` (type: `string`):

Journal slug such as nature-communications, scientific-reports, or bmc-bioinformatics.

## `posted_after` (type: `string`):

Earliest posted date (YYYY-MM-DD).

## `posted_before` (type: `string`):

Latest posted date (YYYY-MM-DD).

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

How many preprints to return (1-2000).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "status": "all",
  "article_type": "",
  "max_results": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (type: `string`):

Table view of scraped preprints using the dataset overview view.

## `results` (type: `string`):

All scraped preprints from the default dataset without view transformation.

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("dadhalfdev/researchsquare-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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("dadhalfdev/researchsquare-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 '{}' |
apify call dadhalfdev/researchsquare-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,dadhalfdev/researchsquare-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/b6JeuWmH2AXOXJqsc/builds/EF3uZJ0zV0BJtACxK/openapi.json