Is the OpenAlex API key free and how do I get one?

Yes, the API key is completely free. OpenAlex provides 100,000 credits per day at no cost. Create your free account at openalex.org, then navigate to Settings → API to generate your key. The key is required since February 2026 when OpenAlex retired the 'polite pool' system.

How does OpenAlex compare to Scopus and Web of Science?

OpenAlex is a fully open, CC0-licensed alternative covering 250M+ works — comparable in scope to Scopus (90M+) and far exceeding Web of Science (90M+). It provides citation metrics, h-indexes, institutional data, and open access detection. The key difference: OpenAlex is completely free with no institutional subscription required, while Scopus and WoS cost thousands of dollars per year.

What data is available for each scholarly work?

Each work includes: title, authors with institutional affiliations, publication year, journal/source, DOI, work type, citation count, open access status and URL, research topics/concepts, and a reconstructed abstract. Author profiles add h-index, total publications, and career affiliations. Institutions include country, type, and research area specializations.

OpenAlex MCP Server

Name: OpenAlex
Availability: InStock
Author: Vinkius

openalex.org

Built by Vinkius GDPR ToolsFree

Access 250M+ scholarly works with open bibliometric data — search papers, authors, institutions, and trending research topics. The open-source alternative to Scopus and Web of Science.

Vinkius AI Gateway supports streamable HTTP and SSE.

Works with every AI agent you already use

…and any MCP-compatible client

OpenAlex MCP Server: see your AI Agent in action

AI Agent→Vinkius→OpenAlex

You

Vinkius AI Gateway

GDPR·High Security·Kill Switch·Ultra-Low Latency·Plug and Play

Built-in capabilities (5)

get_openalex_trending_topics

Essential for understanding global research trends. Discover the most researched scientific topics and concepts globally

get_openalex_work

Accepts OpenAlex ID (e.g. W2741809809 or full URL) or DOI (e.g. 10.1038/nature12373). Get full details of an academic work by OpenAlex ID or DOI

search_openalex_authors

Returns works count, total citations, h-index, current institution, and top research concepts. Find researchers with publication metrics, h-index, and institutional affiliations

search_openalex_institutions

Returns publication counts, citation metrics, country, and top research areas. Covers universities, research labs, hospitals, and government agencies globally. Find research institutions, universities, and organizations worldwide

search_openalex_works

Returns title, authors with institutional affiliations, journal, year, citation count, open access status, concepts, and reconstructed abstracts. CC0 licensed data. Search 250M+ academic works in the world's largest open scholarly database

What this connector unlocks

Connect your AI agent to the world's largest fully open catalog of scholarly works — a free, CC0-licensed replacement for enterprise platforms like Scopus and Web of Science.

What you can do

Works Search — Search 250M+ works with complete metadata including authors, institutional affiliations, citation counts, open access status, and reconstructed abstracts
Author Profiles — Find researchers worldwide with publication counts, total citations, h-index metrics, and current institutional affiliation
Institution Discovery — Explore the research output of universities, labs, hospitals, and government agencies globally with full bibliometric data
Research Trends — Discover the most researched scientific topics ranked by total number of published works to understand where the scientific community is focusing
Open Access Detection — Every work indicates its open access status (green, gold, hybrid, bronze) for instant full-text availability assessment

How it works

1. Subscribe to this server
2. Enter your OpenAlex API key (free — create an account at openalex.org)
3. Start exploring 250M+ scholarly works from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client

Who is this for?

Academic Researchers — run comprehensive bibliometric analyses without expensive Scopus or Web of Science subscriptions
University Librarians — monitor institutional research output, track citation metrics, and identify collaboration opportunities
Science Policy Analysts — analyze global research trends, funding impacts, and institutional performance across countries and disciplines

Frequently asked questions

Give your AI agents the power of OpenAlex

Access OpenAlex and 2,000+ MCP servers — ready for your agents to use, right now. No glue code. No custom integrations. Just plug Vinkius AI Gateway and let your agents work.

DETAILS

CategoryThe Unthinkable

Wolfram Alpha

5 tools

Solve math, science, and engineering queries with computational intelligence.

NCDC Climate Data Online

10 tools

Access authoritative historical weather and climate data via NCDC — track datasets, stations, and climate records directly from your AI agent.

WHO GHO

3 tools

Access 2,200+ health indicators from 194 countries — life expectancy, disease prevalence, mortality rates, immunization coverage, and environmental health data from the World Health Organization.

Fly.io

10 tools

Manage edge infrastructure via Fly.io — monitor apps and machines, scale compute horizontally, handle persistent volumes, and run remote commands directly from any AI agent.

MailerCheck

5 tools

Verify and validate email addresses in real-time or batch via the MailerCheck REST API.

GatherContent

12 tools

Manage structured content projects, track items, and oversee workflows via AI agents with GatherContent.