# OpenAlex Scraper: Scholarly Works & Citations (`naimurhasanrwd/openalex-works-scraper`) Actor

Search scholarly works via the open OpenAlex catalogue: title, authors, institutions, citation counts, open-access status and reconstructed abstracts. No login, no proxy, no browser.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/naimurhasanrwd/openalex-works-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Naimur Hasan](https://apify.com/naimurhasanrwd) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 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?

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

Searches scholarly works in OpenAlex, the open catalogue of papers, authors and
institutions. No login, no proxy, no browser.

### Input

| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `query` | string | Required. Full-text search. Default `permafrost carbon feedback`. |
| `fromYear` | integer | Optional earliest publication year. |
| `openAccessOnly` | boolean | Restrict to works with a free full text. Default `false`. |
| `includeAbstract` | boolean | Rebuild the abstract. Default `true`. |
| `maxItems` | integer | Cap on works. Default `50`. |

### Output

One row per work: `title`, `doi`, `openAlexId`, `publicationYear`,
`publicationDate`, `type`, `firstAuthor`, `authors`, `authorCount`,
`institutions`, `venue`, `citedByCount`, `isOpenAccess`, `openAccessStatus`,
`openAccessUrl`, `isRetracted`, `topic`, `referencedWorksCount`, and
`abstract` when requested.

### Notes

- **Abstracts are shipped as an inverted index, not as text.** OpenAlex stores
  `{word: [positions]}` for licensing reasons; this Actor rebuilds the prose
  from it. A word appearing at several positions is placed at each of them, and
  gaps in the index are skipped rather than becoming `undefined`.
- DOIs come back as full `https://doi.org/…` URLs. They are reduced to the bare
  DOI so the column joins against Crossref, DataCite and publisher exports
  without further cleaning.
- Institutions are deduplicated across authorships — a paper with ten authors
  from one university lists that university once.
- Paging uses OpenAlex's cursor rather than page numbers, which is the only
  method that works past the 10,000th result.

# Actor input Schema

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

Full-text search across titles, abstracts and full text

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

Only include works published in or after this year

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

Restrict to works with a free full text

## `includeAbstract` (type: `boolean`):

Rebuild the abstract from the inverted index OpenAlex ships

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

Cap on works returned. OpenAlex pages 200 at most per request.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "permafrost carbon feedback",
  "openAccessOnly": false,
  "includeAbstract": true,
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Every scholarly work the run matched.

# 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 = {
    "query": "permafrost carbon feedback"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("naimurhasanrwd/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 = { "query": "permafrost carbon feedback" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("naimurhasanrwd/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 '{
  "query": "permafrost carbon feedback"
}' |
apify call naimurhasanrwd/openalex-works-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,naimurhasanrwd/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/y241j6Lzf7t8JTrxu/builds/PkdTTNZhkZSkka3cT/openapi.json