ORCID Scraper · Researchers, Affiliations, Works & IDs

The ORCID Scraper extracts structured researcher profiles, academic affiliations, publication histories, names, and persistent ORCID iDs from the open ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) public registry API. Designed for research analytics, academic recruitment, scientific bibliometrics, institutional reporting, and knowledge graph construction, this actor delivers high-speed, structured JSON dataset output without requiring API keys or browser automation.

Maintained by reapX. Every row cites the Apify run that produced it — nothing is inferred, modelled or filled in, and a field absent from the source is absent from the row. The extracted archive for this source is browsable at reapx.dev/data/orcid-scraper/ and mirrored as an open dataset on Hugging Face and Kaggle. Questions: reapxdev@proton.me

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💡 Key Features & Capabilities

• Direct Open API Integration: Built on top of the official https://pub.orcid.org/v3.0/expanded-search/ REST API for fast, reliable data retrieval without browser overhead or CAPTCHA friction.
• Flexible Solr / Lucene Querying: Search by academic institution (e.g., Stanford University, MIT), researcher name cohort (given/family names), subject area, or complex Solr query expressions.
• Structured Affiliation Datasets: Extract full list of affiliated universities, research centers, medical schools, and corporate R&D divisions per scholar profile.
• Unique Addressable Identifiers: Guarantees total, non-constant 16-character id fields (0000-0002-1825-0097) for entity resolution and automatic deep data page generation.
• Pay-Per-Event Pricing: Charged strictly per valid researcher record returned. Empty queries, rate-limit 429 backoffs, and network retries are 100% free.
• Automatic HTTP Backoff & Resilience: Native handling of HTTP 429 rate limits and 5xx server responses using exponential backoff retry logic.

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⬇️ Input

The ORCID Scraper interface allows granular filtering by institution name, author given/family names, research topic keywords, or raw Solr search queries.

Input Schema Fields

Field Name	Type	Default	Description
query	string	"Stanford University"	Main search term or query expression for ORCID researchers (e.g., institution name Stanford University, topic Genomics, or Solr syntax).
institution	string	""	Filter ORCID researchers by specific academic institution or organization name (e.g., Harvard University, MIT).
givenNames	string	""	Filter ORCID researcher profiles by given or first name (e.g., Alexander, Elena).
familyNames	string	""	Filter ORCID researcher profiles by family name or surname (e.g., Smith, Zhang).
maxItems	integer	50	Maximum number of researcher profiles to extract from the public registry (1 to 10,000).

Example Input Configurations

Example 1: Extract Researchers by Institution

{
  "query": "affiliation-org-name:\"Stanford University\"",
  "institution": "Stanford University",
  "maxItems": 100
}

Example 2: Search Researchers by Surname Cohort

{
  "familyNames": "Smith",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example 3: Search Scholars in Quantum Computing

{
  "query": "quantum computing",
  "maxItems": 200
}

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⬆️ Output

Every extracted researcher profile is written as a structured JSON object to the run's default dataset.

Dataset Field Specifications

Column Name	Data Type	Description	Example
id	string	Canonical 16-character ORCID iD (Primary Key).	"0000-0003-3972-0390"
orcidId	string	Raw ORCID iD string matching id.	"0000-0003-3972-0390"
orcidUrl	string	Canonical URL to researcher's public ORCID profile.	"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3972-0390"
givenNames	string	Given or first name(s) of the researcher.	"George"
familyNames	string	Family name or surname of the researcher.	"Plafker"
creditName	string	Published credit name as specified by researcher.	"George Plafker"
name	string	Primary display name for the scholar.	"George Plafker"
otherNames	array[string]	Alternative name variants used in publications.	["G. Plafker"]
emails	array[string]	Public email addresses declared on profile.	["gplafker@example.org"]
institutions	array[string]	List of affiliated universities & organizations.	["Brooklyn College", "Stanford University"]
institutionCount	integer	Count of total affiliated institutions.	2
searchQuery	string	Search query used to discover this profile.	"Stanford University"

Sample JSON Output

{
  "id": "0000-0003-3972-0390",
  "orcidId": "0000-0003-3972-0390",
  "orcidUrl": "https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3972-0390",
  "givenNames": "George",
  "familyNames": "Plafker",
  "creditName": "George Plafker",
  "name": "George Plafker",
  "otherNames": [
    "G. Plafker"
  ],
  "emails": [],
  "institutions": [
    "Brooklyn College",
    "Stanford University",
    "U.C. Berkeley"
  ],
  "institutionCount": 3,
  "searchQuery": "Stanford University"
}

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How it works

1. Query Construction: The actor constructs a validated Solr query string combining institution filters, researcher names, keywords, or custom search expressions.
2. Direct API Dispatch: Performs lightweight, high-performance HTTP requests directly against the public ORCID v3.0 REST API endpoint (https://pub.orcid.org/v3.0/expanded-search/).
3. Resilient Backoff: If ORCID API returns a 429 Rate Limit or temporary 5xx server error, the actor automatically enters an exponential backoff loop (1s, 1.5s, 2.25s...) until the endpoint responds cleanly.
4. Streaming Push & Pay-Per-Event Charging: As records are returned in pages of 100, items are transformed, validated, and pushed directly to the default dataset while triggering record-returned PPE event charging.
5. Durable Dataset Naming: Names the default dataset at startup (orcid-scraper-{run_id}) to ensure long-term indexing and archival compatibility across reapx.dev.

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❓ FAQ

What is ORCID?

ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a non-profit organization providing persistent digital identifiers that distinguish individual academic researchers and scholars across scientific publications, grants, and institutions.

Is an API key required to run this actor?

No. The ORCID expanded-search endpoint is publicly accessible and does not require authentication or private API keys.

How is pricing calculated?

This actor uses Pay-Per-Event (PPE) pricing charged at $0.002 per researcher record returned. You are only charged for actual data records pushed to your dataset. Failed runs, empty search queries, or rate-limited retries incur zero charges.

Can I run large-scale institutional bulk extractions?

Yes. Set maxItems up to 10,000 to extract comprehensive scholar directories for major universities or research fields.

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💬 Your feedback

We continuously improve our scrapers based on user feedback. If you encounter any bugs, request additional fields (such as work titles or grant IDs), or need custom dataset exports, please contact us at reapxdev@proton.me or visit reapx.dev.

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Disclaimer: Unofficial - not affiliated with ORCID. Collects public data only. reapx. Contact reapxdev@proton.me.

🧪 Example input

A real, runnable configuration — this is an actual input this Actor has run with.

{
  "query": "affiliation-org-name:\"Stanford University\"",
  "institution": "Stanford University",
  "maxItems": 50
}

📄 Sample output

One real row from a real run of this Actor, unedited.

{
  "id": "0000-0003-3972-0390",
  "orcidId": "0000-0003-3972-0390",
  "orcidUrl": "https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3972-0390",
  "givenNames": "George",
  "familyNames": "Plafker",
  "creditName": "",
  "name": "George Plafker",
  "otherNames": [],
  "emails": [],
  "institutions": [
    "Brooklyn College",
    "Stanford University",
    "U.C. Berkeley"
  ],
  "institutionCount": 3,
  "searchQuery": "Stanford University"
}

⚠️ Run outcomes and error handling

This Actor reports what happened in the run's status message, and it always keeps whatever it collected. These are the outcomes you can get and what each one means.

Outcome	What it means
Success	Rows were returned and you were charged record-returned at $0.002 per row.
No matches	The source returned nothing for your filters. Nothing is charged. Widen the date window or drop a filter.

What is guaranteed either way

• Every row is pushed as it is built, not buffered to the end of the run. Anything that buffers output loses everything to a timeout, a block or a migration; this does not.
• A field absent from the source is absent from the row. Nothing is inferred, modelled or filled in to make a row look complete.