Figshare Research Articles Scraper

Figshare Research Articles Scraper

Scrape research articles from Figshare by keyword, item type, or institution, up to a million per run. Every article comes with its title, DOI, authors, publication date, and download links. No API key required. Export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML.

Figshare's own API requires authentication and pagination handling for bulk access. This Actor reads the public article feeds directly, filtered by free-text search or item type, and returns each match in one fixed schema. It is built for literature reviews, meta-research, and open-science monitoring.

Who uses it	What they scrape Figshare for
Academic researchers	Gathering a corpus of papers and preprints on a specific topic for a systematic review.
Librarians	Monitoring newly published theses and presentations from a university's Figshare portal.
Data journalists	Collecting open datasets and associated metadata for a data-driven story.
R&D analysts	Tracking code and software outputs shared by competing research groups.

What it does

This Actor collects Figshare research articles by keyword search and item type filter, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🔍 Keyword search: Free-text search across titles, abstracts, and metadata to find relevant articles.
• 📂 Item type filter: Narrow results to Papers, Datasets, Theses, Preprints, Figures, Code, and more.
• 📊 Flat structured output: Every article is returned as a single row with a consistent set of fields, ready for analysis.
• ⚙️ Configurable volume: Set a maximum number of articles to collect, from a single test record up to a million.

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

What you can do with Figshare data

📝 Conduct a systematic literature review.

A PhD student searches for a specific term, filters by 'Paper' and 'Preprint' item types, and collects the metadata for all matching articles to screen for inclusion in their review.

🏛️ Monitor an institution's research output.

A university librarian runs the Actor weekly with the institution's name as a keyword to track all newly published theses, presentations, and papers.

📊 Find open datasets for a meta-analysis.

A researcher searches for a medical condition keyword, filters by 'Dataset' item type, and downloads the metadata for all available open data to plan a pooled analysis.

💻 Track shared research software.

An R&D analyst at a tech company searches for a specific algorithm name, filters by 'Code' item type, and monitors new public code releases from academic competitors.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	Access public Figshare article metadata without registration or authentication.
Consistent schema	Get the same fields for every article, regardless of its type, simplifying your analysis.
Bulk collection	Gather up to a million articles in a single run for large-scale literature reviews.

How it compares

This Actor focuses on a clean, flat schema for articles with keyword and item type filtering, while other Figshare scrapers offer different field mappings or broader repository coverage.

Feature	ParseForge	Figshare Research Scraper - Articles and Datasets	Figshare Scraper	Figshare Research Data Scraper - Datasets, Papers & DOIs
Keyword search	Yes	Not listed	Yes	Not listed
Item type filter	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Collects article metadata	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Returns DOI	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Yes
Returns download links	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
No API key required	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Yes

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a keyword search and an optional item type filter, and set a maximum number of articles to collect. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "itemType": 0
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200,
  "itemType": 0
}

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 Figshare Research Articles 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 Figshare 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/figshare-articles-scraper"

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

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check your keyword search term. It may be too specific. Try a broader term or remove the keyword filter entirely to see if any articles are returned. Also, ensure your item type filter is not too restrictive.

The Actor is running but collecting articles very slowly.

This is normal for large searches. The Actor respects Figshare's servers. You can lower the maximum number of articles to get a smaller sample faster.

Some fields are empty in my results.

Not all articles on Figshare have every metadata field populated. An empty field means the author did not provide that information when uploading the article.

I got fewer results than my maxItems setting.

The Actor stops when it has found all matching articles on Figshare. If there are fewer matches than your limit, it will finish early. Try broadening your search terms.

The download links in the output do not work.

The links point to the public Figshare page for the article. If a link is broken, the article may have been made private or removed by its author since it was scraped.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need a Figshare account or API key to use this scraper?	No. This Actor scrapes publicly available article feeds and does not require any login, account, or API key.
What item types can I filter by?	You can filter by Figure, Media, Dataset, Fileset, Poster, Paper, Preprint, Thesis, Code, Metadata, Presentation, Composition, or Function. A value of 0 returns all types.
How many articles can I scrape in one run?	You can set the maximum number of articles from 1 up to 1,000,000. The Actor will stop when it reaches your limit or when no more matching articles are found.
Can I scrape articles from a specific Figshare institution portal?	Yes. Use the keyword search field to enter the institution's name. The Actor will search across all public Figshare articles and return those matching your query.
What data fields are returned for each article?	Each article row includes the title, DOI, authors, publication date, item type, description, and download links, among other metadata fields. The exact fields are shown in the sample output on the Actor's page.
Is this scraper suitable for a systematic review?	Yes. It is designed to collect a large, structured corpus of article metadata by keyword and type, which is the first step in screening literature for a systematic review.
What export formats are supported?	You can export your results in JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML formats directly from the Apify dataset.
Can I search for a specific DOI?	You can enter the DOI or part of the title in the keyword search field. The Actor will return articles whose metadata matches that text.
Does this Actor download the full article PDF or dataset files?	No. This Actor scrapes the article metadata and provides the public download links. It does not download the actual files.
How is this different from the official Figshare API?	The official API requires authentication and pagination management. This Actor handles that for you and returns results in a flat, analysis-ready format without any setup.
Can I run this on a schedule?	Yes. You can set up an Apify schedule to run the Actor daily, weekly, or at any custom interval to monitor for new articles matching your search.

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 Figshare, LLC. 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.