Crossref Research Tools

Python toolkit for Crossref API — search 150M+ academic papers, build citation networks, analyze funding. No API key needed.

Features

• Paper Search — find papers by keyword, author, DOI
• Citation Networks — build citation graphs for any research area
• Funding Analysis — discover who funds specific research topics
• Publication Monitoring — track new papers in real-time
• Batch DOI Resolution — resolve thousands of DOIs efficiently

Quick Start

pip install requests

import requests

results = requests.get("https://api.crossref.org/works", params={
    "query": "machine learning drug discovery",
    "rows": 5,
    "sort": "relevance"
}).json()

for item in results["message"]["items"]:
    title = item["title"][0] if item.get("title") else "No title"
    cited = item.get("is-referenced-by-count", 0)
    print(f"[{cited} citations] {title}")

Build Citation Network

def get_top_cited(query, sample_size=100):
    results = requests.get("https://api.crossref.org/works", params={
        "query": query,
        "rows": sample_size,
        "select": "DOI,title,is-referenced-by-count,author",
        "sort": "is-referenced-by-count",
        "order": "desc"
    }).json()

    papers = []
    for item in results["message"]["items"]:
        authors = item.get("author", [{}])
        first_author = authors[0].get("family", "Unknown") if authors else "Unknown"
        papers.append({
            "doi": item["DOI"],
            "title": item["title"][0][:80] if item.get("title") else "Untitled",
            "citations": item.get("is-referenced-by-count", 0),
            "author": first_author
        })
    return sorted(papers, key=lambda x: x["citations"], reverse=True)[:10]

Funding Analysis

from collections import Counter

def analyze_funding(query, sample=50):
    results = requests.get("https://api.crossref.org/works", params={
        "query": query, "rows": sample,
        "filter": "has-funder:true"
    }).json()

    funders = Counter()
    for item in results["message"]["items"]:
        for funder in item.get("funder", []):
            funders[funder.get("name", "Unknown")] += 1

    for name, count in funders.most_common(10):
        print(f"  {count:3d} papers — {name}")

Rate Limits

Pool	Rate	How to get
Public	50 req/sec	Default
Polite	50+ req/sec	Add mailto param
Plus	Unlimited	Paid subscription

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License

MIT