# OpenAlex Scraper API – Papers, Citations & OA (`fluyeporlaweb/openalex-works-scraper`) Actor

OpenAlex scraper for scholarly works via API: title, year, citations, OA status, DOI, topics. CC0, no author names. No login. RAG-ready JSON, MCP.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/fluyeporlaweb/openalex-works-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Pablo Navarro](https://apify.com/fluyeporlaweb) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, News, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.60 / 1,000 works

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## OpenAlex Scraper API – Papers, Citations & OA

**OpenAlex scraper** for **scholarly works** via the OpenAlex API: **title, year, citation count, open-access status, DOI and topics**. CC0, no author names. No login. RAG-ready JSON, MCP-ready.

### What does it do?

- Search OpenAlex works by free-text query.
- Optional `fromYear` filter and `maxItems` cap.
- Return OpenAlex id, title, year, cited_by count, type, DOI, OA flag/URL and topics.
- Author names are omitted on purpose.

### Use cases

- **Citation research**: find highly cited works on a topic.
- **OA discovery**: filter open-access papers for RAG corpora.
- **Bibliometrics**: export JSON/CSV for dashboards.
- **AI agents**: scholarly search via Apify MCP without scraping publisher HTML.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `query` | Search query. Example: retrieval augmented generation |
| `fromYear` | Optional minimum publication year. Example: 2020 |
| `maxItems` | Max works. Example: 50 |

Example input:

```json
{
  "query": "retrieval augmented generation",
  "fromYear": 2020,
  "maxItems": 15
}
```

### Output

Real output (sample from a prior run on 27 Oct 2026, Europe/Madrid):

```json
[
  {
    "openalexId": "https://openalex.org/W4410705984",
    "title": "Corrective Retrieval Augmented Generation",
    "publicationYear": 2025,
    "citedByCount": 177,
    "type": "preprint",
    "doi": "10.2139/ssrn.5267341",
    "isOa": true,
    "oaUrl": "https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5267341",
    "topics": [
      "Topic Modeling",
      "Information Retrieval and Search Behavior",
      "Multimodal Machine Learning Applications"
    ],
    "url": "https://openalex.org/W4410705984"
  },
  {
    "openalexId": "https://openalex.org/W4389519118",
    "title": "Active Retrieval Augmented Generation",
    "publicationYear": 2023,
    "citedByCount": 492,
    "type": "conference-paper",
    "doi": "10.18653/v1/2023.emnlp-main.495",
    "isOa": true,
    "oaUrl": "https://aclanthology.org/2023.emnlp-main.495.pdf",
    "topics": [
      "Topic Modeling",
      "Information Retrieval and Search Behavior",
      "Natural Language Processing Techniques"
    ],
    "url": "https://openalex.org/W4389519118"
  }
]
```

Export as JSON, CSV or Excel, read through the API, or send to Google Sheets, Make, Zapier, n8n or webhooks. You can also run this Actor from AI agents through the Apify MCP server.

### Pricing

Pay per event: **$0.60 per 1,000 works plus $0.00005 per run start.** There is no extra platform usage charge beyond Apify’s normal platform fees if any apply to your plan.

### FAQ

**Are authors included?** No. This Actor omits author names; use OpenAlex directly if you need them.

**License?** OpenAlex data is CC0. Cite OpenAlex when redistributing.

**Can AI agents use it?** Yes. JSON is suited to RAG pipelines and MCP clients.

### Data source and license

Source: [OpenAlex API](https://docs.openalex.org/). Data CC0. Not affiliated with OurResearch / OpenAlex.

This Actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by the data source. You are responsible for using the data in line with the source's license and terms.

# Actor input Schema

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

OpenAlex search. Example: retrieval augmented generation

## `fromYear` (type: `integer`):

Optional lower bound. Example: 2023

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Example: 50

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `items` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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("fluyeporlaweb/openalex-works-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("fluyeporlaweb/openalex-works-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 fluyeporlaweb/openalex-works-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,fluyeporlaweb/openalex-works-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/upbKpr0qKadHqX5g6/builds/MOnFEebkl47UOODvR/openapi.json