📚 PLOS Journals Scraper

Collect scholarly article data from PLOS ONE and other PLOS journals without coding. This actor extracts complete metadata for research papers including titles, authors, abstracts, DOIs, and publication details. Ideal for researchers building citation databases, academics conducting literature reviews, and scientists monitoring research trends across PLOS multidisciplinary journals. Download PLOS article data as CSV, JSON, or Excel in minutes.

The PLOS Journals Scraper extracts up to 36 data fields per article - including full author lists, impact metrics, and peer review status - helping researchers access PLOS ONE data faster than manual collection.

✨ What Does It Do

• 📝 Article Titles and Abstracts - Capture complete article titles and abstracts for literature review and keyword analysis
• 👥 Author Information - Extract full author names, affiliations, and contribution details to identify collaborators and institutions
• 🔗 DOI and Article Links - Collect DOIs and permanent links to access articles directly and cite them correctly
• 📅 Publication Timeline - Track received, accepted, and publication dates to monitor journal timelines and research velocity
• 📊 Impact Metrics - Gather view counts, citation counts, and save metrics to measure article reach and influence
• 📖 Full Metadata - Access subject areas, keywords, funding information, copyright details, and supporting research materials

🔧 Input

• Max Items - Maximum number of articles to collect. Free users must specify this (limit 50 items). Leave blank for unlimited collection with paid plans.
• Start URL - Provide a direct PLOS search URL to scrape. Must be mutually exclusive with search filters below. Example: https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/search?filterJournals=PLoSONE&q=genetics&page=1
• Search Query - Enter a search term like "genetics" or "immunotherapy" to find relevant articles. Only works with search filters (not with Start URL).
• Subject Area - Filter articles by one of 150+ research categories including Biology, Medicine, Neuroscience, Psychology, Chemistry, and more. Only works with search filters.
• Author - Filter articles by author name to find papers by specific researchers. Only works with search filters.
• Publication Date From - Set the earliest publication date in YYYY-MM-DD format to narrow results. Only works with search filters.
• Publication Date To - Set the latest publication date in YYYY-MM-DD format to filter recent articles. Only works with search filters.

Example input configuration:

{
  "searchQuery": "genetics",
  "subjectArea": "Genetics",
  "maxItems": 25,
  "publicationDateFrom": "2023-01-01",
  "publicationDateTo": "2024-12-31"
}

📊 Output

Each article includes up to 36 data fields. Download as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

🖼️ Article Image	📝 Title	🔗 DOI Link
👥 Authors	👤 Author Info	📅 Publication Date
🏷️ Article Type	📚 Journal Name	📄 Abstract
🔗 Detail URL	📋 PDF URL	🏷️ Subject Areas
🔑 Keywords	👁️ Views Count	📖 Citations Count
💾 Saves Count	📤 Shares Count	✅ Open Access Status
🔍 Peer Review Status	📥 Received Date	✔️ Accepted Date
📜 Copyright Info	💰 Funding Info	📊 Data Availability
⚔️ Competing Interests	✏️ Editor Info	🤝 Author Contributions
🙏 Acknowledgments	🖼️ Figures	📎 Supporting Materials
📋 Tables	📑 Article Sections	📚 References
🕐 Scraped Timestamp

💎 Why Choose the PLOS Journals Scraper?

Feature	PLOS Journals Scraper	Similar Scrapers
Direct search URL support	✔️	❌
150+ subject area filters	✔️	Partial
Author name filtering	✔️	❌
Date range filtering	✔️	Partial
Full author affiliations	✔️	❌
Peer review status extraction	✔️	❌
Funding information capture	✔️	❌
References list extraction	✔️	❌
Figure and table URLs	✔️	❌
Competing interests disclosure	✔️	❌
Real-time update tracking	✔️	❌
Automatic duplicate detection	✔️	❌
Export to multiple formats	✔️	✔️

📋 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 "PLOS Journals 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

• 📊 Literature Review Manager - Systematically collect 500+ papers on a specific disease to build a comprehensive research database, then export as CSV to analyze trends by year and institution
• 🔬 Academic Researcher - Monitor publications from specific research groups monthly to stay current with peer work in your field and track citation impact over time
• 📈 Grant Writer - Extract recent articles across multiple subject areas to strengthen literature reviews in grant proposals and ensure citations are current with publication metadata

❓ FAQ

🔍 How does this scraper work? The PLOS Journals Scraper automatically searches and collects article metadata from PLOS journals. You can search by keywords, filters, or provide a direct search URL. No coding or technical setup required.

📊 How accurate is the data? The data is extracted directly from PLOS journals' public search results and article pages. All information comes from official PLOS sources, ensuring accuracy and completeness.

📅 Can I schedule this to run automatically? Yes. Use the Apify scheduling feature to run the scraper daily, weekly, or monthly. You can also integrate it with Make or Zapier for automated workflows.

⚖️ Is it legal to scrape PLOS journals? Yes. PLOS journals are open-access publications with public data. You are responsible for complying with PLOS terms of service and local data protection laws when using the collected data.

🛡️ Will PLOS block me? PLOS journals are designed for open access. However, large-scale requests may benefit from residential proxy support. Free users can collect up to 50 items per run, and paid users can process millions of articles.

⚡ How long does a run take? A typical run collecting 50 articles takes 2-3 minutes. Larger datasets (500+ articles) may take 10-15 minutes depending on network conditions and PLOS response times.

⚠️ Are there any limits? Free users can collect up to 50 results per run. Paid users can collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

🔗 Integrate PLOS Journals 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

💡 More ParseForge Actors

• Google News Scraper - Extract news articles and headlines from Google News search results
• Houzz Scraper - Collect home design and product data from Houzz
• LiveAuctioneers Scraper - Extract auction listings and auction house data
• Asc Global Mro Scraper - Collect maintenance and repair organization data
• Revzilla Scraper - Extract motorcycle gear and product information

Browse our complete collection of data extraction tools for more.

🚀 Ready to Start?

Create a free account with $5 credit and collect your first 50 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 PLOS (Public Library of Science) or any of its subsidiaries. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.