# OpenAlex Scholarly Works Scraper (`scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper`) Actor

Scrape scholarly works with title, DOI, publication year, type, citation count, authors, venue, open access status and a direct link. Search by keyword. Export to JSON, CSV or Excel.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/scrapers\_lat/openalex-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Scrapers Lat](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Developer tools, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $6.80 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## OpenAlex Scholarly Works Scraper

> Search and export scholarly works as clean structured data: title, DOI, publication year, type, citation count, authors, venue and open access status.

**📥 [Input](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/input-schema) · 📤 [Output](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/output-schema) · 💰 [Pricing](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/pricing) · ▶️ [Examples](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/examples)**

![Apify](https://img.shields.io/badge/Platform-Apify-1CE1CE?logo=apify\&logoColor=white)
![Scholarly works](https://img.shields.io/badge/Data-Scholarly%20works-blue)
![Output](https://img.shields.io/badge/Output-JSON%20%7C%20CSV%20%7C%20Excel-orange)

<table><tr>
<td align="center"><strong>Citations & authors</strong><br>per work</td>
<td align="center"><strong>Venue & open access</strong><br>plus DOI</td>
<td align="center"><strong>JSON / CSV / Excel</strong><br>output formats</td>
</tr></table>

<br>

### Who is it for

| Use case | Who benefits |
|---|---|
| Literature reviews | Researchers gathering papers on a topic |
| Bibliometrics | Analysts studying citations and output over time |
| Research tools | Builders feeding scholarly metadata into their own apps |
| Discovery | Anyone finding key papers and open access copies |

### How to use it

1. Enter a **search query** (a topic, method or keyword).
2. Set **Max Items** and run.
3. Export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or pull it through the Apify API.

### Frequently Asked Questions

**What does the search match?**
The search looks across titles and full text, so a query like `machine learning` returns the most relevant works ranked by relevance.

**Does it include citation counts?**
Yes. Each record includes the number of times the work has been cited, plus its authors, venue and open access status.

**Can I find free full text?**
Where a work is open access, the record includes an open access URL you can follow to the full text.

**How fresh is the data?**
Records are read live at run time, so each reflects the catalog at the moment of the run (see observedAt).

### Example use cases

Ready-to-run example tasks, each preconfigured for a common scenario. Open one and press run, or use it as a template:

- [Scrape Scholarly Papers for Machine Learning](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/examples/oa-machine-learning): Collect open scholarly papers on machine learning with title, authors, year, citations and DOI for research and literature reviews.
- [Scrape Scholarly Papers for Crispr Gene Editing](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/examples/oa-crispr-gene-editing): Collect open scholarly papers on crispr gene editing with title, authors, year, citations and DOI for research and literature reviews.
- [Scrape Scholarly Papers for Climate Change](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/examples/oa-climate-change): Collect open scholarly papers on climate change with title, authors, year, citations and DOI for research and literature reviews.
- [Scrape Scholarly Papers for Quantum Computing](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/examples/oa-quantum-computing): Collect open scholarly papers on quantum computing with title, authors, year, citations and DOI for research and literature reviews.
- [Scrape Scholarly Papers for Cancer Immunotherapy](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/examples/oa-cancer-immunotherapy): Collect open scholarly papers on cancer immunotherapy with title, authors, year, citations and DOI for research and literature reviews.
- [Scrape Scholarly Papers for Battery Technology](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/examples/oa-battery-technology): Collect open scholarly papers on battery technology with title, authors, year, citations and DOI for research and literature reviews.
- [Scrape Scholarly Papers for Black Holes](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/examples/oa-black-holes): Collect open scholarly papers on black holes with title, authors, year, citations and DOI for research and literature reviews.
- [Scrape Scholarly Papers for Mrna Vaccines](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/examples/oa-mrna-vaccines): Collect open scholarly papers on mrna vaccines with title, authors, year, citations and DOI for research and literature reviews.
- [Scrape Scholarly Papers for Robotics](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/examples/oa-robotics): Collect open scholarly papers on robotics with title, authors, year, citations and DOI for research and literature reviews.
- [Scrape Scholarly Papers for Semiconductors](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper/examples/oa-semiconductors): Collect open scholarly papers on semiconductors with title, authors, year, citations and DOI for research and literature reviews.

### Related scrapers

- [Crossref Scholarly Metadata Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/crossref-scraper)
- [Semantic Scholar Papers Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/semantic-scholar-scraper)
- [PubMed Articles Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/pubmed-scraper)

### More scrapers at scrapers.lat

This actor is built and maintained by [scrapers.lat](https://scrapers.lat), where we publish scrapers for public platforms: finance, news, real estate, jobs, e-commerce and government data. Browse the full catalog or ask us for a custom scraper at [scrapers.lat](https://scrapers.lat).

***

> This actor is an independent tool and has no affiliation with OpenAlex. It only accesses publicly available data. Use the results in accordance with the source's terms.

# Actor input Schema

## `maxWorks` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of works to collect. Optional.

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Keyword to search scholarly works by title and full text (for example 'machine learning', 'crispr', 'climate policy').

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxWorks": 50,
  "searchQuery": "machine learning"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "maxWorks": 50,
    "searchQuery": "machine learning"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "maxWorks": 50,
    "searchQuery": "machine learning",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "maxWorks": 50,
  "searchQuery": "machine learning"
}' |
apify call scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=scrapers_lat/openalex-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/4A8hOlp1UN6cTXd2R/builds/Nyt58XHcaAfFb4Z5Y/openapi.json