# OpenAlex API: Search scholarly papers > Searches OpenAlex scholarly works by topic, with optional institution, publication-year and open-access filters, ranked by relevance, citations or newest date. Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by OpenAlex. - Page: https://fous.com/methods/openalex.org/search-papers - Method: `openalex.org/search_papers`, version 1 - Website: openalex.org - Returns: title, authors, year, date, venue, citation count, open access, full-text link, DOI, OpenAlex link - Effect: read (it gets data and changes nothing) - Sign-in: none needed - Cost: 1 credit per completed run (1ยข with pay as you go); failed runs are free - Verified: Nov 2, 2026 ## Inputs | Field | Type | Required | In the run below | Description | |---|---|---|---|---| | `sort` | string | no | | Order of results, for example most_cited. One of "relevance", "most_cited", "newest". Default "relevance". | | `query` | string | yes | `"microplastics in drinking water"` | Topic words to find in scholarly works, for example microplastics in drinking water. | | `end_year` | integer | no | | Latest publication year to include, for example 2024. | | `start_year` | integer | no | | Earliest publication year to include, for example 2020. | | `institution` | string | no | | Institution name (or OpenAlex institution ID) to filter author affiliations, for example Stanford University. | | `max_results` | integer | no | `100` | Maximum papers to return, for example 20. Default 20. | | `open_access_only` | boolean | no | | Include only open-access works, for example true. Default false. | ## Output From a run on Oct 31, 2026, shortened. Its input: ```json { "query": "microplastics in drinking water", "max_results": 100 } ``` Its output: ```json { "papers": [ { "title": "Microplastics in freshwaters and drinking water: Critical review and assessment of data quality", "venue": "Water Research", "authors": "Albert A. Koelmans, Nur Hazimah Mohamed Nor, Enya Hermsen, Merel Kooi, Svenja M. Mintenig, Jennifer De France", "doi_link": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2019.02.054", "open_access": true, "openalex_link": "https://openalex.org/W2918895016", "citation_count": 2543, "openalex_work_id": "W2918895016", "publication_date": "2019-03-01", "publication_year": 2019, "free_full_text_link": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0043135419301794/pdf" }, { "title": "Microplastics in drinking-water", "venue": "Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling", "authors": "P. Marsden, Koelmans, Bart, Julie Bourdon-Lacombe", "doi_link": "https://doi.org/10.60810/openumwelt-3831", "open_access": true, "openalex_link": "https://openalex.org/W2972951570", "citation_count": 253, "openalex_work_id": "W2972951570", "publication_date": "2019-01-01", "publication_year": 2019, "free_full_text_link": "https://edepot.wur.nl/498693" }, { "title": "Removal of microplastics via drinking water treatment: Current knowledge and future directions", "venue": "Chemosphere", "authors": "Maocai Shen, Biao Song, Yuan Cheng Zhu, Guangming Zeng, Yaxin Zhang, Yuanyuan Yang, Xiaofeng Wen, Ming Chen, Huan Yi", "doi_link": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.126612", "open_access": false, "openalex_link": "https://openalex.org/W3015001951", "citation_count": 406, "openalex_work_id": "W3015001951", "publication_date": "2020-03-30", "publication_year": 2020, "free_full_text_link": null } ] } ``` ## Run it From code, with a Fous API key in `FOUS_API_KEY`; the answer's `data` holds the output: ```bash curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"method":"openalex.org/search_papers","input":{"query":"microplastics in drinking water","max_results":100}}' ``` From an AI agent connected to the Fous MCP server: its `run` with the same method and input. To connect one, give it `set up https://fous.com/SKILL.md`. ## Ask your agent - Find the most cited papers on CRISPR off-target effects published between 2018 and 2023 - I need open-access research on microplastics in drinking water, newest first, limit to 15 results - Search OpenAlex for papers on graphene battery anodes from researchers at MIT since 2020 - What are the latest scholarly articles about long COVID cognitive symptoms? Only free-to-read ones, please, with DOIs and full-text links - Use openalex.org to pull 50 highly cited works on transformer models for protein structure prediction, authored at the University of Toronto ## Input schema ```json { "type": "object", "required": [ "query" ], "properties": { "sort": { "enum": [ "relevance", "most_cited", "newest" ], "type": "string", "default": "relevance", "description": "Order of results, for example most_cited." }, "query": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1, "description": "Topic words to find in scholarly works, for example microplastics in drinking water." }, "end_year": { "type": "integer", "maximum": 9999, "minimum": 1, "description": "Latest publication year to include, for example 2024." }, "start_year": { "type": "integer", "maximum": 9999, "minimum": 1, "description": "Earliest publication year to include, for example 2020." }, "institution": { "type": "string", "description": "Institution name (or OpenAlex institution ID) to filter author affiliations, for example Stanford University." }, "max_results": { "type": "integer", "default": 20, "maximum": 100, "minimum": 1, "description": "Maximum papers to return, for example 20." }, "open_access_only": { "type": "boolean", "default": false, "description": "Include only open-access works, for example true." } } } ``` ## Output schema ```json { "type": "object", "required": [ "papers" ], "properties": { "papers": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object", "required": [ "title", "authors", "publication_year", "publication_date", "venue", "citation_count", "open_access", "free_full_text_link", "doi_link", "openalex_link", "openalex_work_id" ], "properties": { "title": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "Paper title." }, "venue": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "Journal, conference, or other publication venue." }, "authors": { "type": "string", "description": "Author names, separated by commas." }, "doi_link": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "DOI link, when known." }, "open_access": { "type": "boolean", "description": "Whether the work is open access." }, "openalex_link": { "type": "string", "description": "Paper page on OpenAlex." }, "citation_count": { "type": [ "integer", "null" ], "description": "Number of citations recorded." }, "openalex_work_id": { "type": "string", "description": "OpenAlex work identifier." }, "publication_date": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "Publication date in YYYY-MM-DD." }, "publication_year": { "type": [ "integer", "null" ], "description": "Year the work was published." }, "free_full_text_link": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "Link to a freely available full-text version, when known." } } }, "description": "Matching scholarly works." } } } ``` ## See more - [OpenAlex API: Get institution research summary](https://fous.com/methods/openalex.org/get-institution-research.md): Summarise an institution's research output from its name, including annual output, leading topics and authors. Annual citations count citations received by works published that year; leading authors are coauthors of institution-linked works, not necessarily employees. - [Semantic Scholar API: Search papers](https://fous.com/methods/semanticscholar.org/search-papers.md): Searches Semantic Scholar for research papers in relevance order, with field of study, year range and open-access filters, returning AI one-sentence summaries, citations and free PDF links when available. - [arXiv API: Search papers](https://fous.com/methods/arxiv.org/search-papers.md): Finds arXiv preprints by topic or title words, with optional author, subject, submission date range and sorting. Returns up to 100 papers with abstracts, subjects, dates and links. - [bioRxiv API: Search preprints](https://fous.com/methods/biorxiv.org/search-preprints.md): Finds bioRxiv and medRxiv preprints whose title, abstract or subject matches all topic words, within a posting date range, newest first. Adds published journal details when available. - [Semantic Scholar API: Get paper details](https://fous.com/methods/semanticscholar.org/get-paper.md): Finds a paper on Semantic Scholar by title, DOI or Semantic Scholar link and returns its abstract, one-sentence summary, authors, publication details, citation counts and a free PDF link when there is one. - [Open Library API: Search books](https://fous.com/methods/openlibrary.org/search-books.md): Finds Open Library books by search words, optionally narrowed by author and subject, sorted by relevance or publication age. Returns work-level results; free_online means at least one edition is marked public or borrowable, not that a loan is available now. - [Unpaywall API: Get free version of a paper](https://fous.com/methods/unpaywall.org/get-free-version.md): Finds a legal free copy of a paper by title or DOI, with its best available link and other copies. If no free copy is indexed, the copy links are null. - [NIH API: Search PubMed articles](https://fous.com/methods/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search-articles.md): Finds PubMed medical and life-science articles by topic, with publication details and free full-text links when PubMed confirms them. - [All OpenAlex methods](https://fous.com/methods/openalex.org.md)