ParseForge
Europe PMC Scientific Literature Scraper
parseforge/europe-pmc-scraper
EducationAutomationIntegrations
Scrapes scientific publications from Europe PMC by search query. Returns metadata and identifiers for each publication. Supports full Europe PMC query syntax and exports to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
- Total users
- 2
- Monthly active
- 1
- Total runs
- 85
- Bookmarked
- 0
- Rating
- Not rated yet
- Last modified
- 9 days ago
Overview
Europe PMC Scientific Literature Scraper
Scrape scientific literature from Europe PMC by keyword, title, or full query syntax, up to a million publications per run. Every record comes with its metadata, identifiers, and open-access links. No API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
Europe PMC's official API needs a registered account and rate limits you. This reads the public search interface directly, supports the full Europe PMC query syntax (TITLE, AUTH, JOURNAL, DOI, and more), and returns each publication in one fixed schema.
| Who uses it | What they scrape Europe PMC for |
|---|---|
| Biomedical researchers | Which recent papers mention a specific gene or disease |
| Systematic review teams | Building a corpus of studies for a meta-analysis |
| Pharma competitive intelligence | Tracking new publications from competitor labs |
| Academic librarians | Compiling publication lists for faculty or departments |
What it does
This Actor collects scientific publications from Europe PMC by search query and returns each one as a flat row with metadata and identifiers.
- 🔎 Full query syntax: use TITLE, AUTH, JOURNAL, DOI, and boolean operators exactly as in Europe PMC.
- 📄 Two detail levels: choose Lite for basic metadata or Core for full metadata including abstracts and MeSH terms.
- 📊 Scalable collection: set maxItems from 1 to 1,000,000 publications per run.
- 🔗 Open-access links: each record includes URLs to the full text when available.
Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.
What you can do with Europe PMC data
🧬 Track gene and disease mentions.
A biomedical researcher runs a query like 'BRCA1 AND cancer' to collect the latest publications for a literature review.
📚 Build a systematic review corpus.
A review team uses a complex query with filters to gather all relevant studies, then exports the metadata for screening.
💊 Monitor competitor publications.
A pharma analyst sets up a scheduled run for a company name in the AUTH field to get new papers as they appear.
🎓 Compile faculty publication lists.
An academic librarian queries by author and institution to produce a clean CSV of publications for an annual report.
Why choose this scraper
| What you get | |
|---|---|
| No API key | Start scraping immediately without registration or OAuth. |
| Full query syntax | Use the same search operators as the Europe PMC website. |
| Fixed schema | Every run returns the same fields, so downstream processing is predictable. |
| Export anywhere | Download as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML for analysis in any tool. |
How it compares
This Actor focuses on straightforward, high-volume metadata scraping from Europe PMC, while the competitors below add knowledge graph construction or multi-source MCP access.
| Feature | ParseForge | Europe PMC - Biomedical Knowledge Graph & Literature Mining | OpenAlex MCP Server: papers, DOI and citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scrape Europe PMC by query | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Full Europe PMC query syntax | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| Return flat metadata rows | Yes | Not listed | Yes |
| Build knowledge graph | Not listed | Yes | Not listed |
| MCP server integration | Not listed | Not listed | Yes |
| Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, XML | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
Configure the run
Drive the Actor with a single Europe PMC query string, choose the result detail level, and cap the number of publications returned. 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
- Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
- Open the Europe PMC Scientific Literature Scraper.
- Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
- 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 Europe PMC 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/europe-pmc-scraper"
Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.
Troubleshooting
Why am I getting no results?
Test your query on the Europe PMC website. If it works there, ensure you have not set maxItems too low or used an invalid field tag.
Why does the run stop before reaching maxItems?
Europe PMC may return fewer results than requested if the query matches fewer publications. Check the total result count on the website.
Why are some fields empty in the output?
Not all publications have every field. For example, abstracts may be missing for some records. Use Core result type for more complete metadata.
Why do I get an error about the query syntax?
Ensure your query follows Europe PMC syntax. Avoid unsupported characters and check that field tags are uppercase.
Can I scrape full text?
No, this Actor only returns metadata and links. For full text, you would need a different tool or manual download.
FAQ
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do I need an API key for Europe PMC? | No. This Actor uses the public search interface, so no registration or key is required. |
| What query syntax can I use? | You can use the full Europe PMC syntax, including field tags like TITLE, AUTH, JOURNAL, and DOI, plus boolean operators. |
| What is the difference between Lite and Core result types? | Lite returns basic metadata such as title, authors, and journal. Core returns full metadata including abstracts, MeSH terms, and references. |
| How many publications can I scrape in one run? | You can set maxItems from 1 to 1,000,000. The Actor will stop after reaching that number. |
| Can I export the results? | Yes, results can be exported to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify dataset. |
| Does this Actor support full-text scraping? | No, it returns metadata and links to full text, but does not download the full text itself. |
| Can I schedule this Actor to run regularly? | Yes, you can set up a schedule in Apify to run it daily, weekly, or at any interval. |
| What if my query returns no results? | Check your query syntax on the Europe PMC website first. If it works there, it should work here. |
| Is this Actor free to use? | The Actor itself is free, but Apify platform usage may incur costs depending on your plan. |
| Can I search by DOI? | Yes, use the DOI field tag in your query, for example DOI:10.1000/xyz123. |
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 Europe PMC. 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.
Input
| Field | Type | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| query | string | Europe PMC search query. Supports the full Europe PMC syntax (TITLE, AUTH, JOURNAL, DOI, etc.). Example: cancer AND open_access:y. | not set |
| resultType | string (2 options) | Result detail level returned by Europe PMC. | not set |
| maxItems | integer | How many publications to collect per run. | 10 |
Pricing
from $7.50 per 1,000 results
| Charged for | What it is | Price each |
|---|---|---|
| result | Single result in the default dataset. | $0.0075 to $0.0085 |
Tiered: the lower figure is the price on a higher Apify plan. Billing and the free credit live on Apify.
API
One POST returns the dataset directly. Same shape for every scraper in the library, so swapping the slug is the only change.
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/parseforge~europe-pmc-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"helloWorld": 123
}' Examples
Input that runs as-is.
{
"helloWorld": 123
} Reviews
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Issues
We build and maintain this scraper, so a problem with it comes to us. Report it on the Apify listing and the thread stays attached to the scraper where the next person can find it: open an issue.
Broken and urgent, or you would rather not post in public? Write to parseforge@protonmail.com and it reaches the people who wrote it.
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