Research Papers API

Search scholarly works and pull DOI records, citations, journals and researchers' ORCID works as clean JSON.

The API.SH Research Papers API searches 150M+ scholarly works: journal articles, books and chapters, conference papers, preprints, datasets and theses. Search by keywords, author or title with year, type, journal, funder, abstract and licence filters, then open one work by DOI for its reference list, preprint and version links, corrections, retractions and clinical trial numbers. Find every work that cites a paper, look up a journal by ISSN, and list a researcher's works from their ORCID iD. Results include authors with ORCID and affiliations, citation counts, abstracts where deposited and full-text links.

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5 endpoints
from $1 / 1,000 calls
1,000 free credits / month
failed calls free

Researcher's works by ORCID

GET https://api.api.sh/papers/v1/author

{ "success": true }

1 credit · $1 per 1,000 calls

What you can build with the Research Papers API

Literature reviews and research tools

Search works by keyword, author or title, filter by year range, type, journal ISSN or open licence, and sort by citations or newest to build a reading list or a search feature.

/search /work

Citation tracking

List the works that cite a paper by DOI, with each citing work's authors, venue, year, citation count and open-access link, and filter or sort them to see how a result has been picked up.

/citations

Researcher and faculty profiles

Pull a researcher's works from their ORCID iD, with the affiliations seen on their papers and filters by type and year, to fill a faculty page or a grant report.

/author

Reference managers and DOI resolution

Turn a DOI into full metadata: title, authors, journal, volume, issue, pages, publisher, licences, funders and the reference list, plus corrections and retractions to flag.

/work

Journal and funder analysis

Look up a journal by ISSN for its publisher, subjects, DOIs per year and newest works, and search works by funder DOI to measure what a funder's grants produced.

/journal /search

AI research assistants

Give an AI agent paper search, DOI lookup and citation lists over MCP so it can cite real works with DOIs instead of inventing references.

/search /work /citations

Research Papers data you get

Field names from real responses. Numbers come parsed, URLs absolute, dates in ISO 8601.

Research Papers API endpoints and prices

Every Research Papers endpoint costs 1 credit per call: credits are $1 per 1,000 on a monthly plan, $2 pay-as-you-go. Pricing

Search and discovery2

Researcher's works by ORCID /papers/v1/author	$1 · $2 PAYG 1 credit
Scholarly works search /papers/v1/search	$1 · $2 PAYG 1 credit

More data3

Works citing a work /papers/v1/citations	$1 · $2 PAYG 1 credit
Journal by ISSN /papers/v1/journal	$1 · $2 PAYG 1 credit
Work by DOI /papers/v1/work	$1 · $2 PAYG 1 credit

Call the Research Papers API

Researcher's works by ORCID: GET https://api.api.sh/papers/v1/author

curl "https://api.api.sh/papers/v1/author?orcid=0000-0003-1419-2405" \
  -H "x-api-key: $APISH_KEY"

import os, requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.api.sh/papers/v1/author",
    params={"orcid": "0000-0003-1419-2405"},
    headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["APISH_KEY"]},
    timeout=120,
)
res.raise_for_status()
data = res.json()

const url = new URL("https://api.api.sh/papers/v1/author");
url.searchParams.set("orcid", "0000-0003-1419-2405");

const res = await fetch(url, { headers: { "x-api-key": process.env.APISH_KEY } });
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${res.status} ${await res.text()}`);
const data = await res.json();

# Google Sheets (API.SH add-on)
=APISH("/papers/v1/author", "orcid", "0000-0003-1419-2405")

# Zapier, Make, n8n (verified node): pick the API.SH app,
# choose "Research Papers" and "Researcher's works by ORCID".

# AI agents (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor): add the
# API.SH MCP server https://api.sh/mcp

Create a free accountConfirm your email and get 1,000 free credits every month. No card needed.
Create an API keyOne key works for all 483 platforms.
Send the requestJSON back in one call. Add output=csv or output=ndjson for files.

Why API.SH for Research Papers data

Public data only: no Research Papers login, cookies or account needed
One key and one response shape for Research Papers and 482 other platforms
Built and maintained by API.SH, not third-party publishers
Pay per call; errors on our side cost nothing
Live status for every endpoint

API.SH vs the official Research Papers API

Free scholarly APIs exist, such as the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph API, and services like Web of Science and Scopus sell API access; Google Scholar has no official API. API.SH draws on open scholarly metadata (DOI records, ORCID iDs and citation links) and gives you search, DOI lookup, citations, journals and ORCID works behind one key and one JSON shape, with no separate registrations or rate-limit setup.

Google Scholar scraping guides and scraper APIs (Scrapfly, Scrapingdog) return search result pages, not DOI-level records with references and funders. API.SH returns structured metadata per work and per citation for a fixed price per call.

Research Papers API questions

What research paper data can I get?+

Scholarly works search with filters and sorts (/papers/v1/search), one work by DOI with its reference list, relations, corrections and retractions (/papers/v1/work), the works citing a work (/papers/v1/citations), a journal by ISSN or name (/papers/v1/journal) and a researcher's works by ORCID iD (/papers/v1/author).

How much does the Research Papers API cost?+

Every Research Papers endpoint costs 1 credit per call. On a monthly plan 1,000 credits cost $1 (Starter is $50/month for 50,000 credits). Pay-as-you-go is $2 per 1,000 credits, with top-ups from $15 that never expire.

Is there a free research papers API?+

Yes. Every account gets 1,000 free credits every month. That is 1,000 calls to /papers/v1/author at 1 credit each. Free sources such as the Semantic Scholar API also exist; API.SH is useful when you want search, citations, journals and ORCID works under one key and one response format.

Where does the data come from?+

From open scholarly metadata: the records registered for each DOI (titles, authors, journals, references, funders, licences), researchers' public ORCID records, and open citation links between works.

Do I need keys for the underlying sources?+

No. One API.SH key covers every research papers route. There is nothing else to register for.

Can I download PDFs of papers?+

The API returns metadata, not PDF files. Where they exist it gives full-text links and, for citing works, open-access status and an open-access link you can follow.

Is this a Google Scholar API?+

No. It does not read Google Scholar. It searches DOI-registered works and returns structured records, which is what most people looking for a Google Scholar API want to build with: titles, authors, citation counts, abstracts and links.

How do I get started?+

1. Sign up at api.sh. 2. Copy your API key. 3. Call /papers/v1/search with q set to your topic, then /papers/v1/work with a DOI from the results. Request examples and every parameter are in the docs at https://api.sh/docs. You can also use the JS or Python SDK, Google Sheets, Zapier, Make, n8n or the MCP server at https://api.sh/mcp.