# Europe PMC Scraper | Biomedical Papers, Abstracts & Citations (`muzafferkadir/europepmc-scraper`) Actor

Scrape biomedical & life-science papers from Europe PMC by keyword: title, abstract, authors, journal, publication date, citation counts, DOI/PMID/PMCID and open-access status. Free API, no API key.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/muzafferkadir/europepmc-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Muzaffer Kadir YILMAZ](https://apify.com/muzafferkadir) (community)
- **Categories:** Education, AI, News
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.50 / 1,000 papers

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

## Europe PMC Scraper

Scrape **biomedical & life-science literature** from **Europe PMC** by keyword — **title, abstract, authors, journal, publication date, citation counts, DOI/PMID/PMCID, and open-access status**. Built on the **official Europe PMC REST API**: no API key or setup needed.

Search a topic like `cancer immunotherapy`, get a clean, dated list of matching papers — ready to export to CSV, Excel, or JSON, or to power a literature-monitoring pipeline.

### Features

- **Official, reliable source** — reads the public Europe PMC REST API.
- **Rich metadata** — abstracts, author lists, journal info, citation counts, and cross-reference IDs (DOI, PMID, PMCID) in every row.
- **Filter that matters** — restrict by publication year and to open-access papers only.
- **Sort your way** — by relevance, newest first, or most cited.
- **Monitoring-ready** — schedule it on your keywords and catch new publications as they land.

### Use cases

- **Literature reviews** — build datasets of papers on a topic, with abstracts and citations.
- **Research monitoring** — schedule daily/weekly to track new publications in your field.
- **Bibliometrics** — analyze citation counts and open-access rates across a corpus.
- **Reference enrichment** — resolve DOI/PMID/PMCID for a set of search terms.

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `searchQueries` | string\[] | Search queries, e.g. `cancer immunotherapy`, `CRISPR`. |
| `fromYear` | integer | Only papers published in/after this year. |
| `openAccessOnly` | boolean | Only open-access papers. Default `false`. |
| `sortBy` | enum | `relevance`, `date` (newest), or `citations` (most cited). |
| `maxItems` | integer | Max papers per query. Default 100. |

#### Example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": ["cancer immunotherapy", "CRISPR"],
  "fromYear": 2024,
  "openAccessOnly": true,
  "sortBy": "citations",
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

### Output

```json
{
  "id": "40000000",
  "source": "MED",
  "pmid": "40000000",
  "pmcid": "PMC11111111",
  "doi": "10.1000/example.2024.001",
  "title": "Advances in cancer immunotherapy",
  "authors": "Doe J, Smith A, Lee K.",
  "journal": "Nature Reviews Cancer",
  "pubYear": "2024",
  "firstPublicationDate": "2024-03-15",
  "abstract": "This review summarizes recent advances in ...",
  "citedByCount": 42,
  "isOpenAccess": true,
  "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/40000000",
  "query": "cancer immunotherapy",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-11T19:00:00.000Z"
}
```

Download the dataset as **JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML**, or pull it via the Apify API.

### Pricing

Pay-per-event: **$0.01 per run start** (per GB of run memory) plus **$0.50 per 1,000 papers**. You only pay for papers actually returned. See the **Pricing** tab for current rates.

### FAQ

**Do I need an API key?**
No. The Europe PMC REST API is public and free; this Actor packages it into clean, filtered rows with article links.

**Which literature does it cover?**
Europe PMC indexes biomedical and life-science literature, including PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, preprints, and patents.

**Can I get only open-access papers?**
Yes — enable `openAccessOnly` to add the `OPEN_ACCESS:y` filter.

**Can I monitor for new papers?**
Yes — schedule the Actor (e.g. daily) with your keywords and `sortBy: "date"`.

### Disclaimer

This Actor uses the **public Europe PMC REST API**. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Europe PMC, EMBL-EBI, or any publisher. The data is public; you are responsible for how you use it.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Search queries (required). E.g. "cancer immunotherapy", "CRISPR".

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

Only papers published in/after this year (added to the query as PUB_YEAR).

## `openAccessOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Only open-access papers (adds OPEN_ACCESS:y).

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

How to order results within each query.

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

Max papers per query.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional. Leave empty for most runs.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "cancer immunotherapy"
  ],
  "openAccessOnly": false,
  "sortBy": "relevance",
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "cancer immunotherapy"
    ],
    "maxItems": 100
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("muzafferkadir/europepmc-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 = {
    "searchQueries": ["cancer immunotherapy"],
    "maxItems": 100,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("muzafferkadir/europepmc-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 '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "cancer immunotherapy"
  ],
  "maxItems": 100
}' |
apify call muzafferkadir/europepmc-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,muzafferkadir/europepmc-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/QzIQ6NpVJHWH6VgkO/builds/Mua6PXVPh5b0Fi3a3/openapi.json