Crossref

How to Use This API

1. Get Work by DOI

https://api.crossref.org/works/10.1038/nature12373

Returns full metadata for a specific DOI. Include DOI prefix and suffix.

2. Search by Title

https://api.crossref.org/works?query.title=machine+learning&rows=5

https://api.crossref.org/works?query.title=climate+change&rows=20&offset=0

Title search with rows (max 1000) and offset (0-based) for pagination.

3. Search by Author

https://api.crossref.org/works?query.author=einstein&rows=3

https://api.crossref.org/works?query.author=feynman&filter=type:journal-article

Search by author name. Combine with filter for type, year range, or publisher.

4. Search by Funder

https://api.crossref.org/funders?query=nsf

https://api.crossref.org/works?filter=funder:10.13039/100000001

First find funder IDs, then query works funded by that organization.

5. Get Works by ORCID

https://api.crossref.org/works?filter=orcid:0000-0002-1825-0097

Retrieve all works associated with a specific ORCID identifier.

6. Response Format

{
  "status": "ok",
  "message-type": "work",
  "message": {
    "DOI": "10.1038/nature12373",
    "title": ["A title..."],
    "author": [
      {"family": "Author1", "given": "First", "sequence": "first"},
      {"family": "Author2", "given": "Second"}
    ],
    "container-title": ["Nature"],
    "volume": "500",
    "issue": "7462",
    "page": "123-125",
    "published": {"date-parts": [[2013, 7, 4]]},
    "abstract": "Abstract text...",
    "is-referenced-by-count": 456,
    "references-count": 30
  }
}

7. JavaScript — Get Citation Info

fetch('https://api.crossref.org/works/10.1038/nature12373')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(d => {
    const m = d.message;
    console.log(`Title: ${m.title[0]}`);
    console.log(`Authors: ${m.author.map(a => a.family).join(', ')}`);
    console.log(`Journal: ${m['container-title']?.[0]}`);
    console.log(`Published: ${m.published['date-parts'][0].join('-')}`);
    console.log(`Cited by: ${m['is-referenced-by-count']} papers`);
  });

8. Python — Search and Display Results

import requests

resp = requests.get(
    'https://api.crossref.org/works',
    params={'query.title': 'quantum computing', 'rows': 5}
)
data = resp.json()
for work in data['message']['items']:
    authors = ', '.join(a['family'] for a in work.get('author', []))
    journal = work.get('container-title', [''])[0]
    year = work.get('published-print', {}).get('date-parts', [[None]])[0][0]
    print(f"{work['title'][0][:80]}")
    print(f"  by {authors} ({year}) — {journal}")

9. Python — Paginate Through All Results

import requests

all_works = []
rows = 100
offset = 0

while True:
    resp = requests.get(
        'https://api.crossref.org/works',
        params={
            'query.title': 'climate change',
            'rows': rows,
            'offset': offset
        }
    )
    data = resp.json()
    items = data['message'].get('items', [])
    if not items:
        break
    all_works.extend(items)
    offset += rows
    print(f"Retrieved {len(all_works)} of {data['message']['total-results']}")

print(f"Total works: {len(all_works)}")