# Stanford OpenAlex MCP for AI Agents AI Agent Connect > Stanford OpenAlex is an Connector that lets you explore the global research landscape. It gives your agent access to 250 million academic works, 90 million researcher profiles, and 100,000 institutions. Use it to analyze citation graphs, find open access papers, and map out funding for specific scientific concepts. ## Overview - **Category:** education - **Price:** Free - **Endpoint:** https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_1IhaHep1Klzl6YPd1lxfO7cfzrTJkmx4GduKvQt1/ai-agent-connect - **Tags:** openalex, academic-research, bibliometrics, institutions, journals, open-access, research-metrics ## Description Stanford OpenAlex lets you browse the global research system without jumping between dozens of different search engines. You can find academic papers, books, and datasets while seeing the connections between authors, institutions, and funding bodies. It pulls data from a massive open catalog so you can see which organizations fund specific research areas or which journals have the most impact. If you're tired of manual data entry for bibliometric reports, you can connect this to your workflow via Vinkius and let your agent do the heavy lifting. It's built for people who need to see the citation graphs and scientific concept taxonomies across the entire research landscape. Instead of copy-pasting from multiple websites, your agent can now pull these metrics directly to help you understand research trends or identify key researchers in a field. ## Tools ### get_concept See how a scientific field is structured with its parent and related concepts. This helps you understand the hierarchy of a research area. ### get_funder Identify which organizations are funding specific research areas. Use this to see the funding landscape for a particular topic. ### get_author Get a researcher's h-index, citation counts, and publication trends. Use it to quickly evaluate the academic impact of a specific person. ### get_author_works List all papers by a specific author including their DOIs and open access status. You can sort the results to find the most cited or most recent works. ### get_institution Pull research metrics and collaboration data for universities and labs. This is great for benchmarking different research organizations. ### get_source Get impact metrics and details for journals and conferences. Use it to evaluate the quality and coverage of various publications. ### get_work Fetch details for an academic paper using its DOI, PubMed ID, or OpenAlex ID. You get the abstract, author info, and citation counts in one go. ### search_authors Search through 90 million researcher profiles by name or citation count. Use filters to find authors in specific countries or with high impact. ### search_concepts Browse the taxonomy of 65,000 scientific concepts. This helps you navigate from broad fields down to very specific research niches. ### search_funders Find funding organizations worldwide and see their grant counts. Use this to map out which bodies support specific types of science. ### search_institutions Look up 100,000 research institutions by country or type. You can filter by citation counts to find the top labs in any field. ### search_open_access Find only research papers that are freely available for reading. This is perfect for finding literature for meta-analysis without paywalls. ### search_publishers Analyze the academic publishing landscape by searching for publishers. Use it to see who is publishing the most work in a specific field. ### search_sources Query 240,000 journals and repositories with impact metrics. Use filters to find high-impact journals or open access sources. ### search_topics Map out the landscape of a research area using topic classifications. This shows you the parent fields and domains for any given topic. ### search_works Perform a full-text search across 250 million academic works. Use filters for publication year, open access status, or citation counts. ## Prompt Examples **Prompt:** ``` Which universities have the highest research output in AI? ``` **Response:** ``` I've analyzed the research output for artificial intelligence across the global catalog. Here are the top institutions based on total work counts: | Institution | Country | Research Output | Key Metrics | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | **Stanford University** | US | High | Leading in AI & CS | | **MIT** | US | High | Major focus on robotics | | **Tsinghua University** | CN | High | Significant output in ML | | **Carnegie Mellon** | US | High | Strong focus on AI ethics | These institutions consistently lead in publication volume and citation impact within the AI domain. ``` **Prompt:** ``` What are the most cited open access papers on CRISPR? ``` **Response:** ``` I found the most cited papers on CRISPR that are available via open access. Here are the top results: * **Foundational CRISPR-Cas9 Paper** (Doudna & Charpentier) - *Highly cited, foundational work.* * **CRISPR Gene Editing in Human Cells** - *Significant citation count for clinical applications.* * **High-Efficiency CRISPR Screening** - *Key for laboratory workflows.* All of these are freely available for reading and citation. ``` **Prompt:** ``` Show me the concept hierarchy for machine learning ``` **Response:** ``` Here is the scientific concept hierarchy for **Machine Learning** as defined in the research catalog: * **Computer Science** (Level 0) * **Artificial Intelligence** (Level 1) * **Machine Learning** (Level 2) * *Deep Learning* * *Neural Networks* * *Reinforcement Learning* * *Natural Language Processing* This shows how Machine Learning sits as a core sub-field of AI within the broader Computer Science domain. ``` ## Capabilities ### Search 250M academic works Find papers, books, and datasets using keywords or structured filters. ### Map research funding Identify which organizations fund specific scientific areas. ### Track author impact Retrieve h-index, citation counts, and publication trends for researchers. ### Analyze journal metrics Get impact scores and coverage details for journals and conferences. ### Explore concept hierarchies Navigate scientific taxonomies from broad fields to specific niches. ### Filter for open access Isolate freely available research papers for immediate reading. ## Use Cases ### Mapping a new research field A researcher wants to see how a specific niche connects to broader science. They ask their agent to use search_topics and get_concept to map the hierarchy. ### Finding open access literature A student needs to find all free papers on CRISPR for a meta-analysis. They ask the agent to use search_open_access to filter out paywalled content. ### Institutional benchmarking A policy maker needs to see which universities have the highest output in AI. They ask the agent to use search_institutions with a country filter. ### Funding landscape analysis An analyst wants to know which bodies fund climate research. They ask the agent to use search_funders to find the top organizations and grant counts. ## Benefits - Skip manual searching by using search_works to find papers across 250 million records in one go. - Identify high-impact research quickly by pulling h-index and citation counts with get_author. - Map out entire scientific fields using the concept hierarchy in get_concept to see how topics relate. - Locate freely available research for your next project by using the search_open_access filter. - Analyze the funding landscape for specific topics by querying global organizations with get_funder. - Benchmark university research output across the globe using the metrics provided by get_institution. ## How It Works The bottom line is you get instant access to a global research database without needing an API key. 1. Subscribe to the Stanford OpenAlex MCP through Vinkius 2. Connect your AI client and ask a research question like finding high-impact journals 3. Receive a structured list of works, author metrics, or funding data ## Frequently Asked Questions **Is Stanford OpenAlex good for finding free research papers?** Yes. It includes a specific filter to find only works that are available as open access. This lets you skip paywalls and find freely available literature for your meta-analysis or personal research. **Can I use Stanford OpenAlex to see who funds specific research topics?** Yes. You can query the funding landscape to see which organizations provide grants for specific scientific concepts. This is great for understanding the financial drivers behind different areas of science. **Does Stanford OpenAlex include citation metrics like h-index?** Yes. It provides detailed author metrics, including h-index and i10-index. Your agent can pull these to help you assess the academic impact of researchers quickly. **Can I search for papers using a DOI or PubMed ID?** Yes. You can provide a DOI, PubMed ID, or OpenAlex ID to your agent, and it will fetch the title, abstract, author information, and citation counts for that specific work. **Is there a cost to using the Stanford OpenAlex MCP?** The OpenAlex catalog is a fully open and free resource. You can use this Connector to access the data without needing to manage separate API keys or subscriptions. **Can I use this to map out scientific concepts?** Yes. It allows you to navigate a taxonomy of over 65,000 scientific concepts. You can see how a specific topic relates to its parent fields and related sub-topics. **Do I need an API key?** No. OpenAlex is 100% free and open. No registration or API key is required. **How is OpenAlex different from Semantic Scholar?** OpenAlex provides a broader ecosystem view with entities for institutions, journals, funders, publishers, and concepts — not just papers and authors. It is ideal for bibliometric analysis, institutional benchmarking, and understanding the structure of the research system. Semantic Scholar excels at AI-powered recommendations and citation graph navigation. **What replaced Microsoft Academic Graph?** OpenAlex was created as the free, open-source successor to Microsoft Academic Graph (MAG), which was discontinued in 2022. OpenAlex now contains over 250 million works and continues to grow, fully funded by grants to ensure permanent public access.