📚 OpenCitations Scraper

Collect bibliographic metadata and citation networks from OpenCitations in minutes without coding. Perfect for researchers, academics, and data scientists who need to download citation data as CSV, access citation counts, or track research impact across publication networks. Extract citation relationships, author metadata, and journal information without building custom code.

The OpenCitations Scraper collects bibliographic metadata and citation counts from OpenCitations, up to 1,000,000 records per run, with no setup required.

✨ What Does It Do

• 📝 Citation OCI - Unique identifier for each citation relationship, so you can deduplicate and reference citations across databases
• 👤 Citing and Cited Entities - Identifiers for the publications creating and receiving citations, so you can map research influence networks
• 📅 Creation Date - When the citation relationship was first recorded, so you can track how citations accumulate over time
• 📊 Self-Citation Flags - Boolean indicators for author and journal self-citations, so you can filter for independent research citations only
• 📚 Bibliographic Metadata - Author names, publication dates, titles, and venue information for complete publication context
• 🏢 Publisher and Type Information - Publisher name and publication type, so you can segment research by publication channel

🔧 Input

• DOI - Digital Object Identifier (e.g., 10.1016/j.jmb.2005.08.075), the primary identifier for academic publications on OpenCitations
• PMID - PubMed ID for biomedical publications if you don't have a DOI available
• OMID - OpenCitations Meta Identifier (e.g., omid:br/06140242082) to search using OpenCitations internal identifiers
• Search Type - Choose between citations to find incoming citations or references to find outgoing references
• Include Metadata - Enable to collect detailed metadata like authors, publication date, and venue for each citation
• Max Items - Limit the number of results to collect. Free users can collect up to 100 results per run. Paid users can collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Example input:

{
  "doi": "10.1016/j.jmb.2005.08.075",
  "searchType": "citations",
  "includeMetadata": true,
  "maxItems": 500
}

📊 Output

Each citation includes up to 20 data fields. Download as JSON, CSV, or Excel file.

📝 OCI	👤 Citing Entity	👤 Cited Entity
📅 Creation Date	⏱️ Timespan	📊 Journal Self-Citation
📊 Author Self-Citation	📚 Title	👥 Authors
📅 Publication Date	📖 Volume	📄 Issue
📍 Venue	🏷️ Publication Type	📄 Page
🏢 Publisher	✏️ Editor	⏰ Timestamp
❌ Error	🔗 Work ID

💎 Why Choose the OpenCitations Scraper?

Feature	Our Actor	Similar Tools
Citation collection from OpenCitations	✔️	❌
Support for multiple identifier types (DOI, PMID, OMID)	✔️	❌
Metadata enrichment (authors, dates, venue)	✔️	Partial
Self-citation detection (author and journal)	✔️	❌
Incoming and outgoing citation search	✔️	❌
Up to 1,000,000 results per run	✔️	❌
CSV, JSON, and Excel export	✔️	✔️
No coding required	✔️	❌
Deduplication of citation relationships	✔️	❌
Batch identifier support	✔️	❌
Real-time progress monitoring	✔️	Partial
Free tier with 100 results	✔️	✔️

📋 How to Use

No technical skills required. Follow these simple steps:

1. Sign Up: Create a free account with $5 credit
2. Find the Tool: Search for "OpenCitations Scraper" in the Apify Store and configure your input
3. Run It: Click "Start" and watch your results appear

That's it. No coding, no setup, no complicated configuration. Now you can export your data in CSV, Excel, or JSON format.

🎯 Business Use Cases

• 📊 Academic Researchers - Track citation networks for a published paper to understand research impact, identify influential citing works, and map how your research influences the field
• 💼 Literature Review Teams - Collect all citations and references for a topic to accelerate systematic reviews, identify research gaps, and build comprehensive citation networks without manual searching
• 🔬 Institutional Analysts - Analyze citation patterns across your institution's publications to measure research output, benchmark impact against competitors, and identify high-impact research areas for future funding

❓ FAQ

🔍 How does it work? The OpenCitations Scraper queries OpenCitations using a DOI, PMID, or OMID and retrieves citations (incoming) or references (outgoing). Optionally, it enriches each result with detailed bibliographic metadata like author names, publication dates, and venue information.

📊 How accurate is the citation data? OpenCitations aggregates data from Crossref, PubMed, and other authoritative sources. The accuracy depends on the completeness of data in these sources. Metadata enrichment is optional and fetched in real-time from OpenCitations.

📅 Can I schedule this to run automatically? Yes. Once you've configured your input parameters, you can schedule the actor to run daily, weekly, or on a custom schedule using Apify's automation features.

⚖️ Is scraping OpenCitations legal? Yes. OpenCitations is a freely available, non-profit, open-access service. The data collected is public and the service explicitly allows automated access. Always verify compliance with local laws and OpenCitations' terms of service.

🛡️ Will OpenCitations block me? No. OpenCitations explicitly supports automated access and does not implement blocking measures. The actor uses standard, respectful requests that comply with their usage guidelines.

⚡ How long does a typical run take? A run typically takes 1-3 minutes for 100 results, 5-15 minutes for 500 results, and 20-60 minutes for 1,000+ results. Speed depends on whether metadata enrichment is enabled and OpenCitations response times.

⚠️ Are there any limits? Free users can collect up to 100 results per run. Paid users can collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

🔗 Integrate OpenCitations Scraper with any app

• Make - Automate workflows
• Zapier - Connect 5000+ apps
• GitHub - Version control integration
• Slack - Get notifications
• Airbyte - Data pipelines
• Google Drive - Export to spreadsheets

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🚀 Ready to Start?

Create a free account with $5 credit and collect your first 100 results for free. No coding, no setup.

🆘 Need Help?

• Check the FAQ section above for common questions
• Visit the Apify support page for documentation and tutorials
• Contact us to request a new scraper, propose a custom project, or report an issue at Tally contact form

⚠️ Disclaimer

This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by OpenCitations or any of its subsidiaries. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.