# Semantic Scholar API: Get researcher impact metrics > Finds a Semantic Scholar author by name (optionally limited to a listed institution), picks the best-cited matching profile and returns their impact metrics and up to 10 most-cited papers. Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Semantic Scholar. - Page: https://fous.com/methods/semanticscholar.org/get-author - Method: `semanticscholar.org/get_author`, version 1 - Website: semanticscholar.org - Returns: name, affiliations, homepage, paper count, total citations, h-index, author page, top papers, author ID - Effect: read (it gets data and changes nothing) - Sign-in: none needed - Cost: 1 credit per completed run (1¢ with pay as you go); failed runs are free - Verified: Nov 2, 2026 ## Inputs | Field | Type | Required | In the run below | Description | |---|---|---|---|---| | `author` | string | yes | `"Fei Li"` | Researcher name, for example Fei-Fei Li. | | `institution` | string | no | `"Southwest Petroleum University"` | Institution to match against listed affiliations, for example Southwest Petroleum University. | ## Output From a run on Oct 31, 2026, shortened. Its input: ```json { "author": "Fei Li", "institution": "Southwest Petroleum University" } ``` Its output: ```json { "name": "Fei Li", "h_index": 16, "homepage": "https://www.x-mol.com/groups/lifei_lab", "author_id": "40573142", "top_papers": [ { "year": 2019, "title": "Modern carbonate ooids preserve ambient aqueous REE signatures", "venue": "Chemical Geology", "citations": 101, "paper_link": "https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3cec4004626de001a5137ed9ee5fcd1f46bbee43" }, { "year": 2017, "title": "Paleo-seawater REE compositions and microbial signatures preserved in laminae of Lower Triassic ooids", "venue": null, "citations": 70, "paper_link": "https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a2daa86c301f7083fac2e6b93a047f45d8dd7e24" }, { "year": 2021, "title": "Tracing seawater- and terrestrial-sourced REE signatures in detritally contaminated, diagenetically altered carbonate rocks", "venue": "Chemical Geology", "citations": 51, "paper_link": "https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3e94c352f0b49c52ef59caa6669ec513bf1e9431" } ], "affiliations": [ "Southwest Petroleum University" ], "total_citations": 564, "author_page_link": "https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/40573142", "number_of_papers": 32 } ``` ## 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":"semanticscholar.org/get_author","input":{"author":"Fei Li","institution":"Southwest Petroleum University"}}' ``` 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 - What's Yoshua Bengio's h-index and total citation count? - Look up Jennifer Doudna on Semantic Scholar and list her most-cited papers along with her paper count. - I need impact metrics for Wei Zhang at Tsinghua University — h-index, citations, and top papers. - Pull the Semantic Scholar author profile for Geoffrey Hinton: affiliations, homepage, and author ID. - How many citations does Daphne Koller have, and which of her papers are cited the most? ## Input schema ```json { "type": "object", "required": [ "author" ], "properties": { "author": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1, "description": "Researcher name, for example Fei-Fei Li." }, "institution": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1, "description": "Institution to match against listed affiliations, for example Southwest Petroleum University." } } } ``` ## Output schema ```json { "type": "object", "required": [ "name", "affiliations", "homepage", "number_of_papers", "total_citations", "h_index", "author_page_link", "top_papers", "author_id" ], "properties": { "name": { "type": "string", "description": "Researcher name shown on Semantic Scholar." }, "h_index": { "type": "integer", "description": "Author h-index." }, "homepage": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "Researcher homepage, if listed." }, "author_id": { "type": "string", "description": "Semantic Scholar author ID.", "x-fous-developer": true }, "top_papers": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object", "required": [ "title", "year", "venue", "citations", "paper_link" ], "properties": { "year": { "type": [ "integer", "null" ] }, "title": { "type": "string" }, "venue": { "type": [ "string", "null" ] }, "citations": { "type": "integer" }, "paper_link": { "type": "string" } }, "additionalProperties": false }, "description": "Up to 10 most-cited publications, from highest to lowest citation count." }, "affiliations": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Listed institutions, or an empty list when none are listed." }, "total_citations": { "type": "integer", "description": "Total Semantic Scholar citations." }, "author_page_link": { "type": "string", "description": "Researcher page on Semantic Scholar." }, "number_of_papers": { "type": "integer", "description": "Number of papers attributed to this author." } }, "additionalProperties": false } ``` ## See more - [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. - [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. - [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. - [ORCID API: Get researcher profile](https://fous.com/methods/orcid.org/get-researcher.md): Looks up a researcher's public ORCID profile by name or ORCID iD, with employment, education, funding and up to 100 works. An institution helps tell namesakes apart; private entries are left out. - [OpenAlex API: Search scholarly papers](https://fous.com/methods/openalex.org/search-papers.md): Searches OpenAlex scholarly works by topic, with optional institution, publication-year and open-access filters, ranked by relevance, citations or newest date. - [Open Library API: List books by author](https://fous.com/methods/openlibrary.org/list-author-books.md): Finds an Open Library author by name, link or key and lists their works with first publication year, edition count, cover and an author profile. - [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. - [Medium API: List a writer's or publication's latest articles](https://fous.com/methods/medium.com/list-author-articles.md): Lists the latest public articles by a Medium writer or publication (by username, publication name or Medium link), with dates, reading times, claps, member-only labels and tags. - [All Semantic Scholar methods](https://fous.com/methods/semanticscholar.org.md)