ORCID Researcher Profile Scraper

ORCID Researcher Profile Scraper

Scrape ORCID researcher profiles by name, institution, or ORCID ID, up to a million per run. Every profile comes with employment, education, works, and identifiers. No API key or registration. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

ORCID's public API needs a client ID, OAuth, and rate limits that slow down bulk research. This reads the public researcher registry directly, filtered by keyword, institution, or exact ORCID ID, and returns each match in one fixed schema. It is the fastest way to build a clean dataset of researcher profiles for funding analysis, collaboration mapping, or talent discovery.

Who uses it	What they scrape ORCID for
Research offices	Which researchers at a given institution are active in a field
Grant consultants	Who has published on a topic and where they are affiliated
Recruiters	Which candidates have a verified ORCID record and publication history
Science analysts	How collaboration networks form across institutions and countries

What it does

This Actor collects ORCID researcher profiles by search query, institution, or ORCID ID, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🔎 Search by keyword: find researchers by name, topic, or free text, e.g. 'machine learning' or 'given-names:John AND family-name:Smith'.
• 🏛️ Filter by institution: pull every profile that lists a given affiliation, e.g. 'Stanford University'.
• 🆔 Look up by ORCID ID: fetch one exact profile by its 16-digit identifier, e.g. '0000-0001-2345-6789'.
• 📦 Bulk collection: set a maximum of up to 1,000,000 researchers per run, with pagination handled for you.
• 🧾 Flat row output: each profile is returned as one row with employment, education, works, and identifiers.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with ORCID data

🎓 Map a university's research output.

A research office sets the institution filter to their university name and collects every ORCID profile that lists it, then reviews the works and employment fields to build an internal expertise directory.

🤝 Find collaborators for a grant proposal.

A grant consultant searches by topic keyword, filters the results by institution, and shortlists researchers whose ORCID records show recent publications in that area.

🧑‍💼 Verify candidate credentials.

A recruiter looks up a candidate's ORCID ID and checks the employment and education history against the resume before scheduling an interview.

📊 Analyze collaboration networks.

A science analyst collects profiles by institution and cross-references the works and co-author identifiers to map how researchers connect across organizations.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	Reads the public ORCID registry directly, no registration or OAuth.
One fixed schema	Every profile is flattened into the same columns, ready for analysis.
Bulk by design	Collect up to a million profiles in a single run.
Three input modes	Search by keyword, institution, or exact ORCID ID.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets ORCID the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	ORCID Researcher Profile Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When ORCID changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from a search query, an institution name, or a specific ORCID ID, and set a maximum number of researchers to collect per run. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "query": "artificial intelligence"
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200,
  "query": "artificial intelligence"
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.0069 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.69
1,000 results	$6.90
10,000 results	$69.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the ORCID Researcher Profile Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to ORCID through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/orcid-researcher-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check your query syntax. ORCID search supports boolean operators and fielded searches. Try a simpler keyword first, then add filters. If you set an institution, make sure the name matches ORCID's affiliation strings exactly.

Why does the run stop before my maxItems limit?

The Actor stops when there are no more matching profiles. If you expected more results, broaden your query or remove the institution filter.

Why is the run slow?

ORCID's public search can be rate-limited. Large runs with many pages take time. Reduce maxItems or narrow the query to speed things up.

Why is my ORCID ID lookup returning the wrong profile?

Make sure the ID is exactly 16 digits, including the hyphens, e.g. '0000-0001-2345-6789'. A missing or extra digit will cause a mismatch.

Why are some profile fields empty?

ORCID profiles are self-maintained. If a researcher has not filled in employment, education, or works, those fields will be empty in the output.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an ORCID API key?	No. This Actor reads the public ORCID registry directly, so you do not need to register an application or manage OAuth tokens.
How many profiles can I collect in one run?	You can set the maximum number of researchers up to 1,000,000 per run. The Actor paginates through results until it reaches that limit or runs out of matches.
Can I search by institution?	Yes. Use the institution input to filter profiles by affiliation name. If you set both a query and an institution, the institution overrides the query.
Can I look up one specific researcher?	Yes. Enter the 16-digit ORCID ID in the orcidId field, and the Actor will return that exact profile.
What search syntax does the query field support?	The query field accepts ORCID's public search syntax, including boolean operators and fielded searches like 'given-names:John AND family-name:Smith' or 'affiliation-org-name:"Stanford"'.
What format is the output?	Each researcher is returned as one flat row with columns for employment, education, works, and identifiers. You can export the dataset to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
Does this Actor respect ORCID's terms of service?	It reads only public profile data that ORCID makes available without authentication. You are responsible for complying with ORCID's terms for your use case.
Can I run this on a schedule?	Yes. You can set up a recurring run in Apify to collect new or updated profiles on a daily, weekly, or custom schedule.
What if my search returns no results?	Check the query syntax and try a broader keyword. If you are filtering by institution, make sure the name matches how it appears on ORCID profiles.
Is there a limit on how often I can run it?	No fixed limit. The Actor is designed for bulk collection, but very large runs may take time depending on the number of profiles and ORCID's response speed.

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Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ORCID, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.