Get a single work

Retrieve a single work by its OpenAlex ID or external ID (DOI, PMID, PMCID, MAG ID). External IDs can be passed as full URLs or URN format (e.g., doi:10.1234/example or pmid:12345678).

GET /works/{id}

Get a single work

cURL

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.openalex.org/works/{id}?api_key='

import requests

url = "https://api.openalex.org/works/{id}?api_key="

response = requests.get(url)

print(response.text)

const options = {method: 'GET'};

fetch('https://api.openalex.org/works/{id}?api_key=', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.openalex.org/works/{id}?api_key=",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET",
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://api.openalex.org/works/{id}?api_key="

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", url, nil)

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.get("https://api.openalex.org/works/{id}?api_key=")
  .asString();

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.openalex.org/works/{id}?api_key=")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url)

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

200

{
  "id": "https://openalex.org/W2741809807",
  "doi": "https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4375",
  "title": "<string>",
  "display_name": "<string>",
  "publication_year": 123,
  "publication_date": "2023-12-25",
  "type": "<string>",
  "language": "<string>",
  "cited_by_count": 123,
  "is_retracted": true,
  "is_paratext": true,
  "primary_location": {
    "is_oa": true,
    "landing_page_url": "<string>",
    "pdf_url": "<string>",
    "source": {
      "id": "<string>",
      "display_name": "<string>",
      "issn_l": "<string>",
      "issn": [
        "<string>"
      ],
      "is_oa": true,
      "is_in_doaj": true,
      "is_core": true,
      "host_organization": "<string>",
      "host_organization_name": "<string>",
      "host_organization_lineage": [
        "<string>"
      ],
      "type": "<string>"
    },
    "license": "<string>",
    "license_id": "<string>",
    "is_accepted": true,
    "is_published": true
  },
  "locations": [
    {
      "is_oa": true,
      "landing_page_url": "<string>",
      "pdf_url": "<string>",
      "source": {
        "id": "<string>",
        "display_name": "<string>",
        "issn_l": "<string>",
        "issn": [
          "<string>"
        ],
        "is_oa": true,
        "is_in_doaj": true,
        "is_core": true,
        "host_organization": "<string>",
        "host_organization_name": "<string>",
        "host_organization_lineage": [
          "<string>"
        ],
        "type": "<string>"
      },
      "license": "<string>",
      "license_id": "<string>",
      "is_accepted": true,
      "is_published": true
    }
  ],
  "best_oa_location": {
    "is_oa": true,
    "landing_page_url": "<string>",
    "pdf_url": "<string>",
    "source": {
      "id": "<string>",
      "display_name": "<string>",
      "issn_l": "<string>",
      "issn": [
        "<string>"
      ],
      "is_oa": true,
      "is_in_doaj": true,
      "is_core": true,
      "host_organization": "<string>",
      "host_organization_name": "<string>",
      "host_organization_lineage": [
        "<string>"
      ],
      "type": "<string>"
    },
    "license": "<string>",
    "license_id": "<string>",
    "is_accepted": true,
    "is_published": true
  },
  "open_access": {
    "is_oa": true,
    "oa_url": "<string>",
    "any_repository_has_fulltext": true
  },
  "authorships": [
    {
      "author": {
        "id": "<string>",
        "display_name": "<string>",
        "orcid": "<string>"
      },
      "institutions": [
        {
          "id": "<string>",
          "display_name": "<string>",
          "ror": "<string>",
          "country_code": "<string>",
          "type": "<string>",
          "lineage": [
            "<string>"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "countries": [
        "<string>"
      ],
      "is_corresponding": true,
      "raw_author_name": "<string>",
      "raw_affiliation_strings": [
        "<string>"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "ids": {
    "openalex": "<string>",
    "doi": "<string>",
    "mag": 123,
    "pmid": "<string>",
    "pmcid": "<string>"
  },
  "biblio": {
    "volume": "<string>",
    "issue": "<string>",
    "first_page": "<string>",
    "last_page": "<string>"
  },
  "abstract_inverted_index": {},
  "referenced_works": [
    "<string>"
  ],
  "referenced_works_count": 123,
  "related_works": [
    "<string>"
  ],
  "topics": [
    {
      "id": "<string>",
      "display_name": "<string>",
      "score": 123,
      "subfield": {
        "id": "<string>",
        "display_name": "<string>"
      },
      "field": {
        "id": "<string>",
        "display_name": "<string>"
      },
      "domain": {
        "id": "<string>",
        "display_name": "<string>"
      }
    }
  ],
  "primary_topic": {
    "id": "<string>",
    "display_name": "<string>",
    "score": 123,
    "subfield": {
      "id": "<string>",
      "display_name": "<string>"
    },
    "field": {
      "id": "<string>",
      "display_name": "<string>"
    },
    "domain": {
      "id": "<string>",
      "display_name": "<string>"
    }
  },
  "keywords": [
    {
      "id": "<string>",
      "display_name": "<string>",
      "score": 123
    }
  ],
  "funders": [
    {
      "id": "<string>",
      "display_name": "<string>",
      "ror": "<string>"
    }
  ],
  "awards": [
    {
      "id": "<string>",
      "display_name": "<string>",
      "funder_award_id": "<string>",
      "funder_id": "<string>",
      "funder_display_name": "<string>",
      "doi": "<string>"
    }
  ],
  "fwci": 123,
  "citation_normalized_percentile": {
    "value": 123,
    "is_in_top_1_percent": true,
    "is_in_top_10_percent": true
  },
  "cited_by_percentile_year": {
    "min": 123,
    "max": 123
  },
  "counts_by_year": [
    {
      "year": 123,
      "cited_by_count": 123
    }
  ],
  "sustainable_development_goals": [
    {
      "id": "<string>",
      "display_name": "<string>",
      "score": 123
    }
  ],
  "mesh": [
    {
      "descriptor_ui": "<string>",
      "descriptor_name": "<string>",
      "qualifier_ui": "<string>",
      "qualifier_name": "<string>",
      "is_major_topic": true
    }
  ],
  "indexed_in": [
    "<string>"
  ],
  "has_content": {
    "pdf": true,
    "grobid_xml": true
  },
  "content_url": "<string>",
  "created_date": "2023-12-25",
  "updated_date": "2023-11-07T05:31:56Z"
}

{
  "error": "<string>",
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "error": "<string>",
  "message": "<string>"
}

Authorizations

api_key · string · query · required

Your OpenAlex API key. Get a free key at https://openalex.org/settings/api

Path Parameters

id · string · required

OpenAlex ID (e.g., W2741809807) or external ID (DOI, PMID, PMCID, MAG)

Query Parameters

select · string

Comma-separated list of fields to return. Reduces response size. Example: select=id,display_name,cited_by_count

api_key · string · required

Your OpenAlex API key (required). Get a free key at https://openalex.org/settings/api

Response

200

application/json

Successful response

A scholarly document (article, book, dataset, thesis, etc.)

id · string

The OpenAlex ID for this work.

Example:

"https://openalex.org/W2741809807"

doi · string | null

The DOI for the work. This is the Canonical External ID for works.

Example:

"https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4375"

title · string | null

The title of this work.

display_name · string

Same as title. Included for consistency with other entities.

publication_year · integer | null

The year this work was published.

publication_date · string<date> | null

The day when this work was published (ISO 8601 format).

type · string

The type of the work. Common values: article, book, dataset, preprint, dissertation, book-chapter.

language · string | null

Language in ISO 639-1 format

cited_by_count · integer

The number of citations to this work.

is_retracted · boolean

True if this work has been retracted (from Retraction Watch database).

is_paratext · boolean

True if this work is paratext (e.g., front cover, table of contents).

primary_location · object

A Location object with the primary location of this work (closest to the version of record). Includes source, landing_page_url, pdf_url, is_oa, license, and version.

Show child attributes

locations · object[]

List of Location objects describing all unique places where this work lives.

Show child attributes

best_oa_location · object

A Location object with the best available open access location for this work.

Show child attributes

open_access · object

Information about the access status of this work:

Show child attributes

authorships · object[]

List of Authorship objects representing authors and their institutions. Limited to the first 100 authors. Each authorship includes author, institutions, author_position, is_corresponding, and other fields.

Show child attributes

ids · object

External identifiers: openalex, doi, mag, pmid, pmcid.

Show child attributes

biblio · object

Bibliographic info: volume, issue, first_page, last_page.

Show child attributes

abstract_inverted_index · object | null

The abstract as an inverted index (word positions). OpenAlex doesn't include plaintext abstracts due to legal constraints. Use the has_abstract filter to get works with or without abstracts.

referenced_works · string[]

OpenAlex IDs for works that this work cites.

referenced_works_count · integer

The number of works that this work cites.

related_works · string[]

OpenAlex IDs for works related to this work (computed algorithmically).

topics · object[]

List of up to 3 Topics for this work, each with a relevance score.

Show child attributes

primary_topic · object

The top ranked Topic for this work, with id, display_name, score, and hierarchy (subfield, field, domain).

Show child attributes

keywords · object[]

Keywords identified based on the work's topics, with relevance scores.

Show child attributes

funders · object[]

Dehydrated Funder objects representing the funders of this work.

Show child attributes

awards · object[]

Dehydrated Award objects representing grants associated with this work.

Show child attributes

fwci · number | null

Field-weighted Citation Impact, calculated as citations received / citations expected.

citation_normalized_percentile · object | null

Percentile of citation count normalized by work type, year, and subfield. Includes value, is_in_top_1_percent, is_in_top_10_percent.

Show child attributes

cited_by_percentile_year · object | null

Percentile rank compared to other works published in the same year. Contains min and max.

Show child attributes

counts_by_year · object[]

cited_by_count for each of the last ten years.

Show child attributes

sustainable_development_goals · object[]

UN Sustainable Development Goals relevant to this work, with prediction scores.

Show child attributes

mesh · object[]

MeSH tags for works found in PubMed.

Show child attributes

indexed_in · string[]

Sources this work is indexed in. Values: arxiv, crossref, doaj, pubmed.

has_content · object | null

Information about downloadable full-text content:

Show child attributes

content_url · string | null

URL for downloading full-text content. Only present when has_content.pdf or has_content.grobid_xml is true.

created_date · string<date>

When this work was added to OpenAlex (ISO 8601 date).

updated_date · string<date-time>

When this work was last updated (ISO 8601 datetime).