bioRxiv and medRxiv Preprints Scraper

bioRxiv and medRxiv Preprints Scraper

Scrape bioRxiv and medRxiv preprints by server and date range, up to a million per run. Every preprint comes with its title, authors, DOI, abstract, category, and version history. No API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

bioRxiv and medRxiv are the primary preprint servers for biology and medicine, but manually tracking new research across categories is slow. This Actor reads the public preprint listings directly, filtered by server and date range, and returns each match in one fixed schema. It is built for researchers, data scientists, and anyone who needs a clean dataset of the latest preprints without writing API calls.

Who uses it	What they scrape bioRxiv and medRxiv for
Academic researchers	Monitor the latest preprints in their field without checking the website daily.
Data scientists	Build a dataset of preprint metadata for trend analysis or NLP pipelines.
Pharma R&D teams	Track emerging findings in a therapeutic area before journal publication.
Science journalists	Identify newsworthy studies as soon as they appear on the server.

What it does

This Actor collects preprints from bioRxiv or medRxiv by date range and returns each one as a flat row.

• 📅 Date range filter: set a from-date and to-date to capture only the preprints you need, defaulting to the last 30 days.
• 🔬 Server selection: choose bioRxiv for biology, medRxiv for medicine, or run the Actor twice to cover both.
• 📊 Flat row output: every preprint is a single row with title, authors, DOI, abstract, category, and version info, ready for analysis.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with bioRxiv and medRxiv data

📈 Monitor a research field.

A computational biologist sets the Actor to pull the last 7 days of bioRxiv neuroscience preprints every Monday and feeds the abstracts into a topic model.

📚 Build a literature corpus.

An NLP engineer collects 12 months of medRxiv preprints by date range to fine-tune a biomedical language model on recent text.

🔍 Track a specific topic.

A pharma analyst filters bioRxiv preprints from the last quarter and searches the abstract field for a drug target name to compile a competitive intelligence report.

📰 Find stories before they break.

A science journalist scrapes medRxiv daily for COVID-19 preprints and skims the titles for findings that will interest a general audience.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	Reads the public preprint feeds directly, no registration or authentication needed.
Fixed schema	Every run returns the same fields, so your downstream scripts never break.
Up to 1M rows	Collect a full year of preprints or a small weekly digest, the limit is yours.

How it compares

This Actor focuses on simple, high-volume metadata collection by date range, while other bioRxiv scrapers target RAG pipelines, pay-per-event pricing, or DOI lookups.

Feature	ParseForge	bioRxiv + medRxiv Scraper for RAG	bioRxiv Scraper · Preprints, Authors, Categories & Versions	bioRxiv & medRxiv Preprint Scraper
Scrape by date range	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Yes
Select bioRxiv or medRxiv server	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Yes
Full abstract text	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not listed
No API key required	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
RAG-ready full-text chunks	Not listed	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Fetch by DOI	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed	Yes

Configure the run

Drive the Actor by selecting a server and a date range, and the filters run as each preprint is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.0085 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.85
1,000 results	$8.50
10,000 results	$85.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the bioRxiv and medRxiv Preprints Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to bioRxiv and medRxiv through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/biorxiv-recent-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that your date range is valid and that preprints exist for that period. The servers may have no preprints on weekends or holidays. Try widening the date range or switching to the other server.

The Actor is running but collecting fewer preprints than I expected.

The Actor stops when it reaches your maxItems limit or the end of the date range. Increase maxItems or extend the to-date to collect more.

I got an error about the date format.

Use the exact format YYYY-MM-DD, for example 2024-01-15. Leading zeros on month and day are required.

The abstract field is empty for some preprints.

Some preprints on bioRxiv and medRxiv do not have a publicly listed abstract. This is normal and reflects the data on the server at the time of scraping.

Can I resume a run if it times out?

The Actor does not have a built-in resume feature. For very large date ranges, break the range into smaller chunks and run the Actor multiple times, then merge the datasets.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an API key or account to scrape bioRxiv or medRxiv?	No. The Actor reads the public preprint listings directly, so no registration, API key, or authentication is required.
What date range can I scrape?	You can set any from-date and to-date in YYYY-MM-DD format. If you leave them empty, the Actor defaults to the last 30 days.
Can I scrape both bioRxiv and medRxiv in one run?	One run targets one server at a time. To collect both, run the Actor twice, once with 'biorxiv' and once with 'medrxiv' as the server selection.
What fields does each preprint row include?	Each row includes the title, authors, DOI, abstract, category, version number, and date. The exact field list is shown in the sample output on the Actor's page.
How many preprints can I collect per run?	You can set the maximum from 1 up to 1,000,000 preprints. The Actor stops when it hits your limit or the end of the date range.
Does this Actor get the full-text PDF of a preprint?	No, it collects the metadata and abstract from the listing pages. For full-text extraction, pair it with a dedicated PDF downloader or a RAG-focused Actor.
Can I filter by category or subject area?	The Actor collects all categories within the date range. You can filter the resulting dataset by the category field after the run completes.
How often can I run this Actor?	You can schedule it to run as often as you like, from once a month to every hour, using Apify's built-in scheduler.
What export formats are supported?	Your dataset can be exported to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform.
Is this Actor affiliated with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory?	No, it is an independent tool that reads publicly available data from the bioRxiv and medRxiv websites.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.