Semantic Scholar Author Profiles Scraper

Semantic Scholar Author Profiles Scraper

Scrape Semantic Scholar author profiles by name search or author ID, up to a million per run. Every profile returns name, affiliations, h-index, citation count, paper count, and optionally their full publication list. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Semantic Scholar's official API rate-limits you and requires an API key for bulk access. This Actor reads the public author profiles directly, letting you search by name or fetch by a list of author IDs. You get structured data without managing authentication tokens.

Who uses it	What they scrape Semantic Scholar for
Research analysts	Map the top authors in a field by citation count and h-index.
University administrators	Benchmark faculty research output against peers at other institutions.
PhD students	Find potential advisors by their publication history and impact metrics.
Recruitment firms	Identify highly-cited researchers for academic or R&D roles.

What it does

This Actor collects Semantic Scholar author profiles by name search or direct author ID lookup and returns each one as a flat row with metrics and optional paper lists.

• 🔍 Name search: type an author name like "Yoshua Bengio" and get matching profiles ranked by relevance.
• 🆔 Author ID lookup: paste a list of Semantic Scholar author IDs for direct, exact profile retrieval.
• 📊 Author metrics: h-index, total citation count, and paper count on every profile.
• 📄 Optional paper lists: toggle to fetch each author's full publication list with titles, years, venues, and citation counts.

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

What you can do with Semantic Scholar data

📈 Benchmark research output.

A university dean scrapes author profiles for a list of faculty IDs and compares h-index and citation counts across departments.

🔬 Find collaborators.

A PhD student searches for authors by name in a niche topic and reviews their recent papers to identify a potential advisor.

🏢 Recruit top talent.

A corporate R&D recruiter pulls profiles for a list of author IDs and filters by citation count to shortlist candidates.

📊 Build a research landscape.

A bibliometrician searches a broad query, collects the top 500 author profiles, and aggregates metrics to map a field's key contributors.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key required	Reads public profile pages directly, no registration or token management.
Bulk author lookup	Feed in a list of author IDs and get all profiles in one run.
Full paper lists	Optionally pull every paper for each author with citation counts and venues.
Fixed flat schema	Every profile arrives as one row, ready for analysis in any tool.

How it compares

This Actor focuses on author profiles and their metrics, while the Academic Paper Scraper searches for individual papers by keyword or DOI.

Feature	ParseForge	Academic Paper Scraper
Author profile scraping	Yes, by name search or author ID	Not listed
h-index and citation count	Yes	Not listed
Full author publication list	Yes, optional	Not listed
Paper search by keyword	Not listed	Yes
Paper search by DOI	Not listed	Yes
No API key required	Yes	Yes

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from an author name search or a list of author IDs, and set a maximum number of profiles to collect per run. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "query": "Yoshua Bengio",
  "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
  "query": "Yoshua Bengio",
  "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.02134 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$2.13
1,000 results	$21.34
10,000 results	$213.40

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 Semantic Scholar Author Profiles 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 Semantic Scholar 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/semantic-scholar-author-profiles-scraper"

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

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results for my name search?

Try a more specific query with the full name, or use a known author ID instead. Semantic Scholar's name search can return empty if the query is too broad or misspelled.

The run is taking too long.

If you enabled "Include Papers," each author's full publication list adds significant time. Disable it if you only need profile metrics, or reduce the maximum authors count.

Some author IDs return no data.

Verify the IDs are correct by opening them directly on semanticscholar.org. An ID may be invalid or the profile may have been removed.

I filled both the name search and author IDs fields.

Use only one input method per run. Clear the field you are not using and try again.

The paper list is incomplete for some authors.

Semantic Scholar may not index every paper an author has written. The Actor returns exactly what is listed on the public profile page.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need a Semantic Scholar API key?	No. This Actor reads the public author profile pages directly, so no API key or registration is required.
How do I find an author's Semantic Scholar ID?	Search for the author on semanticscholar.org. Their ID is the number at the end of the URL, e.g., semanticscholar.org/author/Yoshua-Bengio/145235252.
Can I get the full list of papers for each author?	Yes. Enable the "Include Papers" option in the input, and each author row will include their full publication list with titles, years, citation counts, and venues.
Does fetching papers slow down the run?	Yes, significantly. Each author's paper list requires additional requests. Use it only when you need the publication data.
Can I search by name and use author IDs in the same run?	No. Use either the name search field or the author IDs field. If both are filled, the behavior is undefined.
What metrics are included in each profile?	Each profile returns the author's name, affiliations, h-index, total citation count, and total paper count.
How many author profiles can I scrape in one run?	You can set the maximum up to 1,000,000 authors. The Actor will stop when it reaches that number or runs out of results.
What output formats are supported?	You can export your dataset to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform.
Is this Actor suitable for systematic reviews?	This Actor focuses on author profiles, not paper-level search. For systematic reviews of papers, consider an Actor that searches by keyword or DOI.
Can I filter authors by affiliation or citation count?	The Actor collects all matching profiles up to your maximum. Filter by affiliation or citation count after the run using your dataset tool of choice.

Related actors

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 Allen Institute for AI. 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.