Choose the right source

SourceBest starting useUseful identifiers
CrossrefDOI metadata, publishers, journals, dates, licenses, and reference counts.DOI
OpenAlexCitation analysis, concepts, institutions, authorships, and open-access fields.OpenAlex ID, DOI
PubMedBiomedical literature, MeSH-informed searches, publication types, and PMIDs.PMID, DOI
Do not merge unlike metrics without labelsCrossref reference counts, OpenAlex cited-by counts, and PubMed indexing fields come from different systems. Keep the source and retrieval date beside each metric.

Crossref first run

Use Crossref when you need publisher-managed DOI metadata or want to enrich a known DOI list. Open the Crossref Works Scraper and start with:

{
  "queries": ["retrieval augmented generation"],
  "dois": [],
  "maxResults": 25
}

Inspect doi, title, publisher, publishedAt, url, referenceCount, and isReferencedByCount. The RAG metadata example is publicly runnable.

OpenAlex first run

Use OpenAlex for broader citation graphs, institutional analysis, and open-access indicators. Open the OpenAlex Works Scraper and use:

{
  "queries": ["retrieval augmented generation"],
  "dois": [],
  "openAlexIds": [],
  "maxResults": 25
}

Review openAlexId, doi, publicationYear, citedByCount, primaryLocationUrl, and openAccessStatus. Try the public AI citation-data example.

PubMed first run

Use PubMed when the research question is biomedical or clinical. Open the PubMed Articles Scraper and start with:

{
  "queries": ["cancer immunotherapy"],
  "pmids": [],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 25,
  "sort": "relevance"
}

The core evidence fields are pmid, title, journal, publicationDate, doi, url, authors, and publicationTypes. The public cancer immunotherapy example provides a bounded starting point.

Check data quality before analysis

  1. Keep sourceType and source in the exported dataset.
  2. Deduplicate by DOI when present. Fall back to the source-specific persistent ID.
  3. Do not equate a high citation count with study quality.
  4. Open a sample of source URLs and compare titles, dates, and identifiers.
  5. Record the run timestamp because citation and indexing metadata changes.

Crossref and OpenAlex currently cost $1.50 per 1,000 returned works; PubMed costs $1.50 per 1,000 returned articles. These are grandfathered acquisition prices. Start with 25 rows even when a large export is inexpensive.

Common questions

Is this the same as scraping Google Scholar?

No. These Actors use Crossref, OpenAlex, and PubMed. They avoid presenting Google Scholar coverage that the workflow does not provide.

Why are citation counts different across sources?

Each source has its own coverage, matching, and update process. Preserve the source label and do not average unlike counts without a documented method.

Can I download the full paper?

These workflows collect public metadata and available links. They do not bypass publisher access controls or guarantee full-text rights.

What should I send to an AI assistant?

Send a bounded set of metadata with persistent IDs and source URLs. Ask the model to separate source facts from its inferences.

Browse all research tools

Compare scholarly metadata Actors and open their public Store pages.

Open academic research tools