Zenodo Research Repository Scraper

Zenodo Research Repository Scraper

Scrape research records from Zenodo by keyword, community, or resource type, up to a million per run. Every record comes with its DOI, authors, description, file metadata, and download counts. No API key or login. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Zenodo's REST API is well-documented but still requires you to handle pagination, rate limits, and JSON parsing. This Actor reads the public search index directly, filters by resource type, access rights, and community, and returns each matching record in one flat schema. You get the same structured data without writing a single line of code.

Who uses it	What they scrape Zenodo for
Academic researchers	Build a corpus of papers and datasets for a literature review
Data scientists	Find open training datasets by keyword and resource type
Research librarians	Monitor new submissions in a specific Zenodo community
R&D analysts	Track software releases and preprints from competing labs

What it does

This Actor collects Zenodo research records by search query, community, or resource type, and returns each one as a flat row with its DOI, authors, description, and file metadata.

• 🔍 Full-text search: Elasticsearch-style queries across all record metadata and abstracts.
• 📦 Resource type filter: Restrict results to publications, datasets, software, images, videos, posters, presentations, or lessons.
• 🏘️ Community scope: Limit the scrape to a single Zenodo community identifier.
• 🔒 Access rights filter: Return only open, embargoed, restricted, or closed-access records.
• 📊 Sort control: Order results by best match, newest first, or oldest first.

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

What you can do with Zenodo data

📚 Build a literature corpus.

A PhD student searches for 'transformer attention mechanism', filters to publications, and exports 5,000 records to CSV for systematic review screening.

🤖 Source open training data.

A machine learning engineer queries 'medical imaging' restricted to datasets, collects 10,000 records, and filters by file type to find downloadable DICOM archives.

🏘️ Monitor a research community.

A librarian sets the community to 'covid-19' and runs the Actor weekly to track new preprints, datasets, and software deposited by that group.

📈 Track software releases.

An R&D analyst searches for a competitor's lab name, filters to software, and sorts by newest first to catch version bumps and new tool announcements.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	Reads the public search index directly with zero registration
Fixed flat schema	Every record lands as one predictable row, ready for analysis
Full file metadata	File names, sizes, and download URLs come with each record
Tiered pricing	Pay only for the records you return

How it compares

Three other Zenodo scrapers exist on Apify. Here is how this Actor compares on the capabilities their listings describe.

Feature	ParseForge	Zenodo Scraper	Zenodo Scraper - Research Datasets, Papers & Software	Zenodo Scraper · Research Records, DOIs, Authors & Files
Search by keyword query	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not listed
Filter by resource type	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Filter by access rights	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Fetch by record ID or DOI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Community filter	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not listed
File metadata with download URLs	Yes	Not listed	Yes	Yes
Sort by newest or best match	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from a search query, a community identifier, and a resource type, alone or together, and filters run as each record is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "maxItems": 10,
 "query": "machine learning",
 "sort": "bestmatch"
}

A larger pull:

{
 "maxItems": 200,
 "query": "machine learning",
 "sort": "bestmatch"
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.01099 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$1.10
1,000 results	$10.99
10,000 results	$109.90

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 Zenodo Research Repository 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 Zenodo 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/zenodo-scraper"

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

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that your search query is not too restrictive. Try removing the community or resource type filter, or simplify your query to a single broad keyword. Also confirm that the access rights filter is not excluding all available records.

Why did my run stop at 10 records?

Free Apify accounts are limited to 10 records as a preview. Upgrade to a paid plan to increase the maximum records limit up to 1,000,000.

Some records are missing their DOI or author list.

Zenodo records are user-submitted and some metadata fields are optional. If a depositor did not provide a DOI or author list, those fields will be empty in your output.

The file download URLs are returning 403 errors.

Some restricted or embargoed records have files that require authentication to download. The Actor returns the URLs as listed, but access depends on the record's access rights setting.

My search query with special characters is not working.

Escape special characters or wrap the phrase in double quotes for exact matching. The query field uses Elasticsearch syntax, so characters like +, -, &&, and || have special meaning.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need a Zenodo account or API token?	No. This Actor reads Zenodo's public search pages directly. You do not need to register an application, obtain a token, or handle OAuth.
What data fields does each record include?	Each row returns the record title, DOI, authors, description, publication date, resource type, access rights, license, community, download count, view count, and a nested list of files with their names, sizes, and download URLs.
Can I scrape a specific record by its DOI?	Yes. Enter the DOI as your search query and the Actor will return that record if it exists in Zenodo.
How many records can I scrape in one run?	Free users are limited to 10 records as a preview. Paid users can set any maximum up to 1,000,000 records per run.
What export formats are supported?	Your dataset can be exported to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform.
How do I search within a specific Zenodo community?	Fill in the Community field with the community identifier, such as 'covid-19' or 'zenodo'. You can combine this with a search query and resource type filter.
Does this Actor download the actual files?	No. It returns file metadata including download URLs, but it does not download the files themselves. You can use the URLs to fetch files in a separate step.
Can I filter by open access only?	Yes. Set the Access Rights filter to 'Open' and the Actor will return only records with open access.
What search syntax does the query field support?	The query field supports Elasticsearch-style syntax, including boolean operators, phrase search with quotes, and field-specific queries.
Is this Actor affiliated with CERN or Zenodo?	No. This is an independent third-party scraper built on Apify. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to CERN or Zenodo.

Related actors

• google-scholar-scraper: Use this instead when you need academic papers and citations from Google Scholar rather than Zenodo's repository.
• arxiv-scraper: Use this instead when you need preprints specifically from arXiv.org rather than Zenodo's multi-discipline repository.

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 CERN. 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.