| name | openalex-search |
| description | Query the OpenAlex scholarly graph for works, authors, institutions, sources, topics, and funders; resolve DOIs; and aggregate bibliometrics (citation counts, works). Use for academic discovery, author/institution lookup, or bibliometric summaries across all disciplines. Public API, no credential needed. |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
OpenAlex Search (Codex-native)
Codex-native adaptation of Google DeepMind's literature-search-openalex skill
(science-skills, Apache-2.0).
Uses the public OpenAlex API directly. No credential needed — join the free
"polite pool" by adding your email as mailto= to each request.
Gates (ask before proceeding)
- Terms notice: on first use, tell the user to review the OpenAlex terms
(https://developers.openalex.org/) and to check each retrieved paper's own
license; record the notice in provenance.
- Network / install: read-only public HTTP. Add
mailto=<email> for the
polite pool and rate-limit yourself. If you write helper code, run it via
uv run, never bare python3.
Workflow
Search works first with science_search_openalex; use the direct API for entity
resolution, filters, grouping, and pagination.
- Resolve before you filter. Never filter by a raw name. First resolve a
name to an OpenAlex ID:
- works:
https://api.openalex.org/works?search=<terms>
- authors/institutions/sources/topics/funders:
https://api.openalex.org/<entity>?search=<name> → take the id.
- Filter by ID, e.g.
https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=author.id:<A...>,publication_year:2024.
Use select= to keep responses small and write them to a file.
- Bibliometrics: use
group_by= for aggregations (counts by year, type,
institution) and the entity's cited_by_count / works_count fields.
Interpret metrics cautiously — citation counts are field- and age-biased.
- DOI lookup:
https://api.openalex.org/works/https://doi.org/<DOI>.
- Report works with title, OpenAlex id and DOI, year, venue, and citation
count; list the URLs of every paper used.
- Provenance & review: record queries and cited ids with
$science-provenance; check claims with $science-review.
Boundaries
- Cite only OpenAlex IDs/DOIs actually returned; report empty results honestly
and never fabricate ids or metrics.
- Bibliometrics (h-index, citation counts, "impact") are biased across fields and
time; present them with that caveat, not as quality judgments.
- Open-access status varies per work; respect each item's license.
