OpenAlex Institutions Scraper

OpenAlex Institutions Scraper

Scrape OpenAlex institution records by search term, country, or type, up to a million per run. Each institution comes with its display name, country, type, and works count. No API key needed. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

OpenAlex's official API is free but you still need to write code, handle pagination, and shape the JSON. This reads the public institution index directly, filtered by search term, country, or institution type, and returns each match in one flat row. It is the fastest way to build a clean list of universities, companies, hospitals, and other research organizations.

Who uses it	What they scrape OpenAlex for
Research analysts	Which institutions are most active in a field or region
University administrators	Benchmark their institution against peers by works count
Grant writers	Find potential partner institutions for a consortium
Data journalists	Map the geography of research output by institution
Recruiters	Identify companies and nonprofits that publish research

What it does

This Actor collects OpenAlex institution records by search term, country, or institution type, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🔍 Search by name: full-text search on institution display name, e.g. 'Max Planck' or 'Stanford'.
• 🌍 Country filter: restrict to a single ISO 2-letter country code, e.g. 'de' for Germany.
• 🏛️ Type filter: choose from education, healthcare, company, archive, nonprofit, government, facility, or other.
• 📊 Works count: every record includes the total number of scholarly works linked to that institution.
• 📦 Bulk export: collect up to 1,000,000 institutions per run and export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

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

What you can do with OpenAlex data

📈 Benchmark research output.

A university strategy office pulls all education institutions in their country, sorts by works count, and sees where they rank.

🗺️ Map the research landscape.

A data journalist collects every institution in a region and builds a map of research activity by city and type.

🤝 Find collaboration partners.

A grant writer searches for nonprofit and healthcare institutions in a specific country to invite into a consortium.

🏢 Identify corporate research.

A recruiter filters for company institutions to find firms that publish scholarly work and might be hiring researchers.

📚 Build a directory.

A librarian collects all archive and facility institutions to create a public directory of research organizations.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	OpenAlex is free and open, and this Actor needs no registration or token.
Flat rows	Each institution is returned as a single row, ready for spreadsheets or databases.
Bulk scale	Collect up to a million institutions in one run, with automatic pagination.
Clean filters	Search, country, and type filters are applied server-side, so you only pay for matches.

How it compares

This Actor focuses on institution records, while the other OpenAlex scrapers on Apify are built for scholarly papers and citations.

Feature	ParseForge	OpenAlex Academic Research Scraper - Scholarly Papers	OpenAlex Academic Research Scraper
Institution records only	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Filter by institution type	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Filter by country	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Works count per institution	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Scholarly paper search	Not listed	Yes	Yes
Citation analysis	Not listed	Yes	Yes

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from a search term, country code, and institution type, alone or together, and filters run as each record 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: $0.021 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 OpenAlex Institutions 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 OpenAlex 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/openalex-institutions-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 filters. If you set a country code, make sure it is a valid ISO 2-letter code in lowercase. If you set a type, make sure it is one of the allowed values. Also try a broader search term.

Why is the run slow?

OpenAlex rate-limits requests. The Actor respects these limits, so large collections can take time. Reduce maxItems or narrow your filters to speed things up.

Can I get more than 1,000,000 institutions?

The maximum is 1,000,000 per run. If you need more, split your query by country or type and run the Actor multiple times.

Why do some institutions have missing country or type?

OpenAlex may not have complete metadata for every institution. Missing values will appear as empty fields in your dataset.

How do I search for institutions with special characters?

Use the exact name or a substring. The search is full-text, so 'Université' will match institutions with that word. If you get no results, try a shorter or more common spelling.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an OpenAlex API key?	No. OpenAlex is a free, open scholarly database and this Actor uses its public API without authentication.
What is the maximum number of institutions I can collect?	You can set maxItems up to 1,000,000. The Actor will paginate through results until it reaches that number or the end of the list.
Can I filter by country?	Yes. Use the country input with an ISO 2-letter code in lowercase, for example 'us' for the United States or 'de' for Germany.
What institution types are available?	Education, healthcare, company, archive, nonprofit, government, facility, and other. Leave the type blank to include all types.
How do I search for a specific institution?	Enter a search term in the search input. It does a full-text search on the institution display name, so 'Max Planck' will return all Max Planck institutes.
What data does each institution record include?	Each record includes the institution's display name, country, type, works count, and other metadata from OpenAlex. The exact fields are shown in the sample output.
Can I export the results?	Yes. The Actor outputs a dataset that you can export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform.
Is this the same as the OpenAlex Academic Research Scraper?	No. That Actor focuses on scholarly papers, authors, and citations. This Actor is specifically for institution records, with filters for country and type.
How fresh is the data?	OpenAlex updates its database continuously. Each run of this Actor fetches the latest data from the OpenAlex API.
Can I run this on a schedule?	Yes. You can schedule the Actor to run daily, weekly, or at any interval to keep your institution list up to date.

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 OurResearch. 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.