OpenCitations Scraper

🚀 Automatically collect comprehensive citation and reference data from OpenCitations with our powerful data extraction tool.

Designed for researchers, academics, and data scientists, this tool extracts detailed citation networks and bibliographic metadata from OpenCitations—the world's largest open database of citation data. Get critical information like citation relationships, publication metadata, self-citation analysis, and more, all with no coding required.

Target Audience: Researchers, academics, data scientists, librarians, bibliometric analysts, research institutions
Primary Use Cases: Citation analysis, bibliometric research, publication impact studies, academic network mapping, research evaluation

What Does OpenCitations Scraper Do?

This tool collects citation and reference data from OpenCitations, supporting both incoming citations and outgoing references. It delivers:

• Citation relationships - Complete citation networks showing which papers cite which
• Publication metadata - Titles, authors, publication dates, venues, and publishers
• Self-citation analysis - Journal-level and author-level self-citation flags
• Citation timestamps - Creation dates and timespans between publications
• Open Citation Identifiers (OCI) - Unique identifiers for each citation relationship
• Multiple identifier support - Search by DOI, PubMed ID (PMID), or OpenCitations Meta ID (OMID)
• And more

Business Value: This data helps researchers understand citation patterns, measure research impact, identify influential publications, and analyze academic networks. Perfect for bibliometric studies, research evaluation, and academic intelligence gathering.

How to use the OpenCitations Scraper - Full Demo

Coming soon! Watch this space for a step-by-step video tutorial showing how easy it is to get started.

Input

To start collecting OpenCitations data, simply fill in the input form. You can search for citations and references based on:

• DOI (Digital Object Identifier) - The most common identifier for academic publications (e.g., 10.1016/j.jmb.2005.08.075)
• PMID (PubMed ID) - Numeric identifier for biomedical publications in PubMed (e.g., 16256135)
• OMID (OpenCitations Meta Identifier) - OpenCitations-specific identifier (e.g., omid:br/06140242082)
• Search Type - Choose between "citations" (incoming citations) or "references" (outgoing references)
• Include Metadata - Enable detailed metadata fetching for richer data (title, authors, venue, etc.)
• Max Items - Limit the number of results (free users: up to 100, paid users: up to 1,000,000)

Important: You must provide exactly one identifier (DOI, PMID, or OMID) to search.

Here's what the input configuration looks like in JSON:

{
    "doi": "10.1016/j.jmb.2005.08.075",
    "searchType": "citations",
    "includeMetadata": true,
    "maxItems": 10
}

Output

After the Actor finishes its run, you'll get a dataset with the output. The length of the dataset depends on the amount of results you've set. You can download those results as an Excel, HTML, XML, JSON, and CSV document.

Here's an example of scraped OpenCitations data you'll get if you search for citations to a publication:

{
    "oci": "061402613164-06140242082",
    "citing": "omid:br/061402613164 doi:10.1186/1743-422x-7-163 openalex:W2123373275 pmid:20637121",
    "cited": "omid:br/06140242082 doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2005.08.075 openalex:W2072062370 pmid:16256135",
    "creation": "2010-07-17",
    "timespan": "P4Y7M",
    "journalSelfCitation": false,
    "authorSelfCitation": false,
    "metadata": {
        "id": "doi:10.1186/1743-422x-7-163 openalex:W2123373275 pmid:20637121 omid:br/061402613164",
        "title": "The Use Of Genomic Signature Distance Between Bacteriophages And Their Hosts Displays Evolutionary Relationships And Phage Growth Cycle Determination",
        "authors": "Deschavanne, Patrick [omid:ra/061407633226]; DuBow, Michael S [omid:ra/061407633227]; Regeard, Christophe [omid:ra/061407633228]",
        "publicationDate": "2010-07-17",
        "issue": null,
        "volume": "7",
        "venue": "Virology Journal [issn:1743-422X openalex:S115714813 omid:br/0622051094]",
        "type": "journal article",
        "page": null,
        "publisher": "Springer Science And Business Media Llc [crossref:297 omid:ra/0610116006]",
        "editor": null
    },
    "scrapedTimestamp": "2025-12-12T14:43:23.926Z"
}

What You Get:

• OCI - Unique citation identifier for tracking relationships
• Citing/Cited Entities - Complete identifier strings with DOI, PMID, OMID, and OpenAlex IDs
• Creation Date - When the citation relationship was established
• Timespan - Duration between publication and citation
• Self-Citation Flags - Boolean indicators for journal and author self-citations
• Metadata - Complete publication details including title, authors, venue, publisher (when enabled)
• Scraped Timestamp - When the data was collected

Download Options: CSV, Excel, or JSON formats for easy analysis in your preferred tools

Why Choose the OpenCitations Scraper?

• ⚡ Fast & Efficient - Direct data access means no browser automation delays, getting results in seconds
• 📊 Comprehensive Data - Get both citation relationships and detailed publication metadata in one run
• 🔍 Flexible Search - Support for DOI, PMID, and OMID identifiers means you can search with whatever identifier you have
• 🎯 Precise Control - Choose between incoming citations or outgoing references based on your research needs
• 🛡️ Reliable - Built on OpenCitations' official data sources for consistent, accurate data
• 💡 Research-Ready - Data formatted for immediate use in bibliometric analysis, research evaluation, and academic studies

Time Savings: Instead of manually searching and copying citation data, get comprehensive citation networks in minutes. What would take hours of manual research is now automated.

Efficiency: Process hundreds or thousands of citation relationships automatically, with metadata enrichment, in a fraction of the time it would take manually.

How to Use

1. Sign Up: Create a free account w/ $5 credit (takes 2 minutes)
2. Find the Scraper: Visit the OpenCitations Scraper page on Apify
3. Set Input: Add your publication identifier (DOI, PMID, or OMID) and choose your search type
4. Run It: Click "Start" and let it collect your citation data
5. Download Data: Get your results in the "Dataset" tab as CSV, Excel, or JSON

Total Time: Less than 5 minutes from sign-up to downloaded data
No Technical Skills Required: Everything is point-and-click

Business Use Cases

Academic Researchers:

• Track citation networks for your publications
• Analyze citation patterns in your research field
• Identify influential papers and authors
• Measure research impact and visibility

Librarians & Information Specialists:

• Build comprehensive citation databases
• Support research evaluation and assessment
• Create bibliometric reports for institutions
• Map academic collaboration networks

Research Institutions:

• Evaluate publication impact across departments
• Track citation metrics for grant applications
• Analyze research trends and patterns
• Support tenure and promotion decisions

Data Scientists & Analysts:

• Build citation network graphs and visualizations
• Conduct bibliometric research and analysis
• Create datasets for machine learning projects
• Analyze academic publication trends

Publishers & Journals:

• Track citations to published articles
• Analyze citation patterns and trends
• Measure journal impact and influence
• Support editorial decision-making

Using OpenCitations Scraper with the Apify API

For advanced users who want to automate this process, you can control the scraper programmatically with the Apify API. This allows you to schedule regular data collection and integrate with your existing research tools.

• Node.js: Install the apify-client NPM package
• Python: Use the apify-client PyPI package
• See the Apify API reference for full details

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How does it work?
A: OpenCitations Scraper connects directly to OpenCitations to retrieve citation and reference data. Simply provide a publication identifier (DOI, PMID, or OMID) and choose whether to get incoming citations or outgoing references. The tool handles all the technical details automatically.

Q: How accurate is the data?
A: The data comes directly from OpenCitations, which is one of the most comprehensive open citation databases available. All data is sourced from their official data sources, ensuring accuracy and consistency.

Q: Can I schedule regular runs?
A: Yes! You can schedule the scraper to run automatically at regular intervals (daily, weekly, etc.) to track citation changes over time. This is perfect for monitoring research impact or tracking citation growth.

Q: What's the difference between citations and references?
A: Citations are incoming - they show which papers cite your target publication. References are outgoing - they show which papers your target publication cites. Choose based on whether you want to see who cited a paper or what a paper cited.

Q: What if I need help?
A: Our support team is here to help you get the most out of this tool. Contact us through the Apify platform for assistance.

Q: Is my data secure?
A: Yes, all data processing happens securely on Apify's platform. Your input parameters and results are protected and only accessible to you.

Q: Can I get metadata for citations?
A: Yes! Enable the "Include Metadata" option to get detailed information about citing publications, including titles, authors, publication dates, venues, and publishers. This requires additional data requests but provides much richer data.

Q: What identifiers can I use?
A: You can use DOI (most common), PMID (for biomedical publications), or OMID (OpenCitations-specific identifier). You only need one identifier to search.

Integrate OpenCitations Scraper with any app and automate your workflow

Last but not least, OpenCitations Scraper can be connected with almost any cloud service or web app thanks to integrations on the Apify platform.

These includes:

• Make
• Zapier
• Slack
• Airbyte
• GitHub
• Google Drive
• and much more.

Alternatively, you can use webhooks to carry out an action whenever an event occurs, e.g. get a notification whenever OpenCitations Scraper successfully finishes a run.

🔗 Recommended Actors

Looking for more data collection tools? Check out these related actors:

Actor	Description	Link
arXiv Scraper	Collects academic paper metadata and abstracts from arXiv	https://apify.com/parseforge/arxiv-scraper
PubMed Scraper	Extracts biomedical literature data from PubMed database	https://apify.com/parseforge/pubmed-scraper
Google Scholar Scraper	Collects academic publication data from Google Scholar	https://apify.com/parseforge/google-scholar-scraper
ResearchGate Scraper	Extracts researcher profiles and publication data from ResearchGate	https://apify.com/parseforge/researchgate-scraper
ORCID Scraper	Collects researcher profile and publication data from ORCID	https://apify.com/parseforge/orcid-scraper

Pro Tip: 💡 Browse our complete collection of data collection actors to find the perfect tool for your business needs.

Need Help? Our support team is here to help you get the most out of this tool.

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⚠️ 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.