# OpenAlex Papers Search + New Paper Alerts (`transparent_meteorite/openalex-research-papers-monitor`) Actor

Search scholarly papers in OpenAlex by keyword, author, institution, topic and year, with citation counts, open-access links and abstracts, or monitor for new papers since your last run. Beta.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/transparent_meteorite/openalex-research-papers-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Detroit Web Agent - Open Data](https://apify.com/transparent_meteorite) (community)
- **Categories:** Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## OpenAlex Research Papers Monitor: Search + New Papers

Use this to search scholarly papers in OpenAlex and monitor a topic or author for new papers, with citations, open-access links and abstracts.

**Beta.** Search scholarly papers by keyword, author, institution, topic and year, with citation counts, open-access links and readable abstracts, or monitor a search and get only papers you have not seen before. Built on the official OpenAlex open API, local unit tests with recorded fixtures, and a live check of the API before release. Open an issue on the Issues tab if a field looks wrong and we fix it fast.

### What it does

1. **Search.** Keyword and/or filters: authors, institutions, topics, publication years, minimum citations, open access only, work type. Sort by relevance, citations, newest or oldest.
2. **Exact lookup.** Give DOIs and get those papers.
3. **Monitor mode.** Tick "only new since last run" and schedule the actor (daily or weekly). Papers delivered before are remembered in a named key-value store, so a repeat run with nothing new returns and charges nothing.

Abstracts are rebuilt from OpenAlex's inverted-index format into plain text. Author, institution and topic names resolve to the best OpenAlex match; the matches are listed in the run's OUTPUT record so you can check them (pass an OpenAlex ID, ORCID or ROR id for an exact match).

### Use cases

- Literature reviews and reading lists for a topic, ranked by citations.
- Competitor and lab tracking: new papers from an author or institution every week.
- Feeding abstracts and open-access PDF links into your own summarisation or RAG pipeline.
- Citation analysis for a field or research group.

### Example input

```json
{ "query": "graph neural networks", "yearFrom": 2022, "minCitations": 50, "openAccessOnly": true, "sortBy": "citations", "maxItems": 50 }
```

Monitor a topic weekly:

```json
{ "query": "CRISPR base editing", "onlyNewSinceLastRun": true, "daysBack": 14, "maxItems": 100 }
```

### Output fields

id, doi, title, publicationYear, publicationDate, type, language, citedByCount, isRetracted, isOpenAccess, openAccessStatus, openAccessUrl, pdfUrl, license, venue, authors (name, id, ORCID, position), institutions, topics, abstract, url, openAlexUrl, sourceRegistry, scrapedAt.

### Pricing

Pay per event: $0.002 per paper returned (about $2 per 1,000). Actor start $0.00005. Already-seen papers and searches with no match are free. Set Maximum cost per run to cap spend.

### Data source and limits

All data comes from the official OpenAlex API (api.openalex.org), released under CC0. No scraping, no login. Without an OpenAlex API key, all keyless users on the same network share a small daily request budget; if it runs out the actor stops with a clear message. Paste a free key from openalex.org/settings/api into the optional input to avoid that. Citation counts and abstracts depend on what OpenAlex has indexed; some papers have no abstract. This actor is not affiliated with OpenAlex.

### Output sample

Each result is one dataset item (JSON, CSV, Excel or via API). Shape taken from the actor's dataset schema; field names and meanings below, not live data:

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `title` |  |
| `publicationYear` |  |
| `citedByCount` |  |
| `isOpenAccess` |  |
| `venue` |  |
| `doi` |  |
| `openAccessUrl` |  |

### FAQ

**How do I try it quickly?** Press Start with the prefilled input; it is a small run.

**How is it priced?** Pay per event; see the Pricing section above or the Pricing tab. A small run costs very little.

**Is this a one-off or can it run on a schedule?** Both. Use Apify schedules or the API to run it repeatedly.

**What if the source is slow or fails?** Failed or rate-limited requests (HTTP 429 or 5xx, network errors) are retried up to 4 attempts with growing waits; if a source stays unavailable the run records a warning instead of returning invented results.

**Is the data legal to use?** The actor reads public data. You are responsible for using the results in line with applicable law and the source's terms.

### Alternatives to OpenAlex Papers Search + New Paper Alerts

Other ways to get similar data, so you can choose what fits:

- **the OpenAlex API directly**: free, you write the code
- **Semantic Scholar API**: free paper search API
- **Google Scholar**: manual, no official API

This actor's edge is pay-per-result pricing, no login and ready-to-use structured output. Compare on a small test run before you commit.

### Changelog

- **0.2** (2026-10-28): listing refresh (title, description, README sections, console prefills). No change to output fields.
- Earlier: initial release.

# Actor input Schema

## `query` (type: `string`):

Search titles, abstracts and full text, e.g. 'graph neural networks'. Can be combined with the filters below.

## `authors` (type: `array`):

Author names, OpenAlex IDs (A123...) or ORCID iDs. Names resolve to the best OpenAlex match (shown in the run OUTPUT, check it).

## `institutions` (type: `array`):

Institution names, OpenAlex IDs (I123...) or ROR ids, e.g. 'MIT'. Names resolve to the best match.

## `topics` (type: `array`):

Topic names or OpenAlex topic IDs (T123...), e.g. 'Machine learning in healthcare'.

## `dois` (type: `array`):

Fetch these specific papers by DOI (https://doi.org/... or bare 10.xxxx/...).

## `yearFrom` (type: `integer`):

First publication year to include.

## `yearTo` (type: `integer`):

Last publication year to include.

## `minCitations` (type: `integer`):

Only papers cited at least this many times.

## `openAccessOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Only papers with a free full-text version.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Order of results. Monitor mode defaults to newest.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Cap on paper records delivered (and charged) this run.

## `onlyNewSinceLastRun` (type: `boolean`):

Skip papers already delivered in a previous run (tracked in a named key-value store) and only look at recent publications (see Days back). Schedule the actor to get a feed of new papers; a repeat run with nothing new delivers and charges 0 results.

## `daysBack` (type: `integer`):

Monitor mode: look at papers published in the last N days (ignored if 'Published from year' is set).

## `workTypes` (type: `array`):

Optional OpenAlex types, e.g. article, preprint, review, dissertation, book-chapter.

## `excludeRetracted` (type: `boolean`):

Drop papers flagged as retracted.

## `stateStoreName` (type: `string`):

Named key-value store that remembers delivered papers. Change it to keep separate monitors or reset dedupe.

## `openAlexApiKey` (type: `string`):

Free key from openalex.org/settings/api. Without one, OpenAlex gives all keyless users on a network a small shared daily budget, so heavy runs may stop early; with a key you get your own.

## `contactEmail` (type: `string`):

Sent to OpenAlex as the polite-pool 'mailto' parameter.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "CRISPR base editing",
  "minCitations": 0,
  "openAccessOnly": false,
  "sortBy": "relevance",
  "maxItems": 5,
  "onlyNewSinceLastRun": false,
  "daysBack": 30,
  "excludeRetracted": true,
  "stateStoreName": "openalex-papers-seen"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (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 = {
    "query": "CRISPR base editing",
    "maxItems": 5
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("transparent_meteorite/openalex-research-papers-monitor").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 = {
    "query": "CRISPR base editing",
    "maxItems": 5,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("transparent_meteorite/openalex-research-papers-monitor").call(run_input=run_input)

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "query": "CRISPR base editing",
  "maxItems": 5
}' |
apify call transparent_meteorite/openalex-research-papers-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,transparent_meteorite/openalex-research-papers-monitor"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/HlRX180NEsOHUhFhI/builds/XXsG6vAxINRoMX9q9/openapi.json