/openalex

name: openalex
description: Search academic papers via OpenAlex API for open citation data, institutional affiliations, and funding information. Use when user says "openalex search", "search openalex", "open citation graph", or wants comprehensive academic metadata beyond arXiv/Semantic Scholar.
argument-hint: "[search-query]"
allowed-tools: Bash(*), Read, Write

OpenAlex Academic Search

Search query: $ARGUMENTS

Role & Positioning

This skill uses OpenAlex as a **comprehensive open academic graph** source:

| Skill | Source | Best for | |-------|--------|----------| | `/arxiv` | arXiv API | Latest preprints, cutting-edge unrefereed work | | `/semantic-scholar` | Semantic Scholar API | Published venue papers (IEEE, ACM, Springer) with citation counts | | `/openalex` | OpenAlex API | **Open citation graph, institutional affiliations, funding data, comprehensive metadata** | | `/deepxiv` | DeepXiv CLI | Layered reading: search, brief, section map, section reads | | `/exa-search` | Exa API | Broad web search: blogs, docs, news, companies, research papers | | `/gemini-search` | Gemini MCP / CLI | AI-powered broad literature discovery |

Use OpenAlex when you want:

• **Open citation data** — fully open citation graph (no API key required for basic use)
• **Institutional affiliations** — author institutions and collaborations
• **Funding information** — NSF, NIH, and other funding sources
• **Comprehensive metadata** — topics, keywords, abstract, open access status
• **Cross-database coverage** — indexes 250M+ works from multiple sources

Constants

• **MAX_RESULTS = 10** — Default number of results. Override with `— max: 20`.
• **DEFAULT_SORT = relevance** — Sort by relevance. Override with `— sort: citations` or `— sort: date`.
• **OPENALEX_FETCHER** — canonical name `openalex_fetch.py`, resolved per

[`shared-references/integration-contract.md`](../shared-references/integration-contract.md) §2 (Policy D1 — standalone `/openalex` has no documented inline fallback, so unresolved helper terminates with an explicit error).

> Overrides (append to arguments): > - `/openalex "topic" — max: 20` — return up to 20 results > - `/openalex "topic" — year: 2023-` — papers from 2023 onward > - `/openalex "topic" — year: 2020-2023` — papers from 2020 to 2023 > - `/openalex "topic" — type: article` — only journal articles > - `/openalex "topic" — type: preprint` — only preprints > - `/openalex "topic" — open-access` — only open access papers > - `/openalex "topic" — min-citations: 50` — minimum 50 citations > - `/openalex "topic" — sort: citations` — sort by citation count (descending) > - `/openalex "topic" — sort: date` — sort by publication date (newest first)

Setup

Prerequisites

1. **Python 3.7+** with `requests` library:

   pip install requests

2. **Optional: API key and email** — Set the variables you use in the same shell **before starting Claude Code** so helper commands inherit them:

   export OPENALEX_API_KEY='your-key-here'
   export OPENALEX_EMAIL='your-email@example.com'
   claude

The helper reads `OPENALEX_API_KEY` and `OPENALEX_EMAIL` from its process environment. A separate tool-shell `export` does not update an already running host. If you keep credentials in an environment file, load it explicitly before starting the host rather than relying on automatic `.env` loading.

3. **Get API keys** (optional but recommended):

• **OpenAlex API key**: Free tier $1/day (10,000 list calls, 1,000 search calls) from [openalex.org](https://openalex.org/)
• **Email for polite pool**: Faster response times (no registration needed)

Verify Setup

python3 "$OPENALEX_FETCHER" search "machine learning" --max 3

(Resolve `$OPENALEX_FETCHER` via the canonical chain first — see Step 2 below.)

Workflow

Step 1: Parse Arguments

Parse `$ARGUMENTS` for:

• **query**: The research topic (required)
• **max**: Override MAX_RESULTS
• **year**: Publication year filter (e.g., `2023-`, `2020-2023`)
• **type**: Work type filter (`article`, `preprint`, `book`, `book-chapter`, `dataset`, `dissertation`)
• **open-access**: Only include open access papers
• **min-citations**: Minimum citation count threshold
• **sort**: Sort order (`relevance`, `citations`, `date`)

Step 2: Locate Script

Resolve `$OPENALEX_FETCHER` via the canonical strict-safe chain (see [`shared-references/integration-contract.md`](../shared-references/integration-contract.md) §2). Policy D1: there is no native inline fallback for OpenAlex (retrieval requires the `requests` SDK + optional API key — the fetcher script encapsulates pagination, throttling, and per-source parameters), so unresolved helper terminates with explicit remediation.

cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)" || exit 1
if [ -z "${ARIS_REPO:-}" ] && [ -f .aris/installed-skills.txt ]; then
    ARIS_REPO=$(awk -F'\t' '$1=="repo_root"{print $2; exit}' .aris/installed-skills.txt 2>/dev/null) || true
fi
if [ -z "${ARIS_REPO:-}" ] && [ -f "$HOME/.aris/repo" ]; then
    ARIS_REPO=$(cat "$HOME/.aris/repo" 2>/dev/null) || true
fi
OPENALEX_FETCHER=".aris/tools/openalex_fetch.py"
[ -f "$OPENALEX_FETCHER" ] || OPENALEX_FETCHER="tools/openalex_fetch.py"
[ -f "$OPENALEX_FETCHER" ] || { [ -n "${ARIS_REPO:-}" ] && OPENALEX_FETCHER="$ARIS_REPO/tools/openalex_fetch.py"; }
[ -f "$OPENALEX_FETCHER" ] || {
  echo "ERROR: openalex_fetch.py not resolved at .aris/tools/, tools/, \$ARIS_REPO/tools/, or via ~/.aris/repo." >&2
  echo "       Fix: rerun bash tools/install_aris.sh or smart_update.sh (refreshes ~/.aris/repo), export ARIS_REPO, or copy the helper to tools/." >&2
  echo "       Also ensure 'requests' is installed: pip install requests" >&2
  exit 1
}

Step 3: Execute Search

**Basic search:**

python3 "$OPENALEX_FETCHER" search "QUERY" --max 10

**With filters:**

python3 "$OPENALEX_FETCHER" search "QUERY" --max 10 \
  --year 2023- \
  --type articl