OpenAIRE Publications Scraper

OpenAIRE Publications Scraper

Scrape open access research publications from OpenAIRE by keyword, year range, or both, up to a million per run. Every record comes with its title, authors, DOI, publication date, and access status. No API key or registration. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

OpenAIRE aggregates millions of open access publications from repositories, journals, and aggregators across Europe and beyond. Its official API requires registration and has rate limits. This Actor reads the public search results directly, filtered by search term and publication year, and returns each match in one fixed schema.

Who uses it	What they scrape OpenAIRE for
Academic researchers	Building a literature review dataset for a specific topic
Librarians	Monitoring new open access publications in their institution's field
Data analysts	Tracking publication trends over time for reporting
Grant managers	Finding open access outputs from funded projects

What it does

This Actor collects research publications from OpenAIRE by search query and optional year range, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🔍 Keyword search: any term, phrase, or boolean query OpenAIRE supports, e.g. 'machine learning' or 'climate change'.
• 📅 Year range filter: set fromYear and toYear to narrow results to a specific period.
• 📦 Bulk collection: collect up to 1,000,000 records per run with a single input.
• 📄 Flat output: each publication is one row with title, authors, DOI, date, and access status.

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

What you can do with OpenAIRE data

📚 Build a literature review dataset.

A PhD student enters a research topic and collects all matching open access publications from the last five years to seed their reference manager.

📈 Track publication trends.

A data analyst runs the Actor monthly with a fixed query and year range to count new publications and spot emerging topics.

🔎 Monitor open access compliance.

A librarian checks which publications from their institution's researchers are openly available in OpenAIRE.

🌍 Map research output by region.

A policy researcher collects publications mentioning a country name and analyzes the geographic distribution of authors.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	No registration or OAuth, a search term
Open access focus	Returns publications that are freely available to read
Year filtering	Limit results to a specific publication window
Scalable	Collect up to a million records per run

How it compares

No other Store actor targets OpenAIRE the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	OpenAIRE Publications Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When OpenAIRE changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a search query and optional year range, and filters run as each publication is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "searchQuery": "machine learning",
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "searchQuery": "machine learning",
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.021 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$2.10
1,000 results	$21.00
10,000 results	$210.00

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 OpenAIRE Publications 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 OpenAIRE 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/openaire-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 search query for typos or overly specific terms. Try a broader keyword or remove the year filter to see if any records exist.

Why are results missing some fields?

OpenAIRE metadata varies by source. Some publications may not have a DOI or author list. The Actor returns whatever is available.

Why did the run stop before reaching maxItems?

OpenAIRE may not have enough matching records. The Actor collects all available results up to your limit.

Why is the run slow?

Large result sets require pagination through OpenAIRE's search. Reduce maxItems or narrow your query to speed things up.

Can I search for an exact phrase?

Yes. Put the phrase in double quotes, like "climate change adaptation".

FAQ

Question	Answer
What is OpenAIRE?	OpenAIRE is a European open access infrastructure that aggregates metadata for millions of research publications from repositories, journals, and other sources.
Do I need an API key to use this Actor?	No. The Actor reads the public OpenAIRE search interface directly, so no registration or key is required.
What data does each result include?	Each row includes the publication title, authors, DOI, publication date, access status, and other metadata available from OpenAIRE.
Can I filter by publication year?	Yes. Set the fromYear and toYear inputs to restrict results to a specific range.
How many results can I collect?	You can set maxItems up to 1,000,000 per run.
What search queries does OpenAIRE support?	You can use simple keywords, phrases in quotes, and boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT.
Does this Actor return only open access publications?	OpenAIRE focuses on open access content, but some records may be metadata-only or have restricted access. The access status field tells you.
Can I export the results?	Yes. You can export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify dataset.
Is this Actor free to use?	The Actor itself is free, but you need an Apify account and may use free tier credits. Large runs may require a paid plan.
What is the difference between this and the OpenAIRE API?	The official API requires registration and has rate limits. This Actor handles pagination and rate limiting for you and returns a clean dataset.

Related actors

• google-scholar-scraper: Use this if you need citation counts and a broader scholarly index, including paywalled articles.
• crossref-scraper: Use this if you need DOI metadata from Crossref, including funding information and references.

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 OpenAIRE A.M.K.E. 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.