semantic-scholar

Semantic Scholar Search

Search 200M+ papers across all disciplines with citation graph, author profiles, and recommendations via the Semantic Scholar API.

Authentication

curl -s -H "x-api-key: ${S2_API_KEY}" "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/search?query=example"

Paper Search

curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/search?query=machine+learning+drug+discovery&limit=5&fields=title,authors,year,abstract,citationCount,url"

Parameters: query= (required), limit= (max 100), offset=, fields=, year= (e.g. 2020-2024), fieldsOfStudy= (e.g. Computer Science, Medicine), openAccessPdf, minCitationCount=.

Bulk search (up to 10M results, token-based pagination):

curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/search/bulk?query=CRISPR+gene+editing&fields=title,year,citationCount"

Paper Lookup by Identifier

# DOI
curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/DOI:10.1038/s41586-021-03819-2?fields=title,abstract,authors,year,citationCount"
# arXiv ID
curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/ARXIV:2301.07041?fields=title,abstract,year"
# PubMed ID
curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/PMID:34265844?fields=title,abstract,year"

Citation Graph

# Papers that cite a given paper
curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/ARXIV:2301.07041/citations?fields=title,year,citationCount&limit=20"
# Papers cited by a given paper
curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/ARXIV:2301.07041/references?fields=title,year,citationCount&limit=20"

Author Search

# Search by name
curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/author/search?query=yann+lecun&fields=name,hIndex,paperCount,citationCount"
# Author papers
curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/author/1688681/papers?fields=title,year,citationCount&limit=20"

Recommendations

# Single-paper
curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/recommendations/v1/papers/forpaper/ARXIV:2301.07041?fields=title,year,citationCount&limit=10"
# Multi-paper (POST)
curl -s -X POST "https://api.semanticscholar.org/recommendations/v1/papers/" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"positivePaperIds": ["ARXIV:2301.07041", "ARXIV:2302.13971"], "negativePaperIds": []}'

Available Fields

Paper: paperId, title, abstract, year, venue, citationCount, referenceCount, influentialCitationCount, isOpenAccess, openAccessPdf, fieldsOfStudy, publicationTypes, publicationDate, journal, url, externalIds, tldr

Nested: authors.name, authors.authorId, citations.title, references.title

Rate Limits

• Without API key: 100 requests per 5 minutes
• With API key: 1/sec sustained, 10/sec burst
• Register free at: https://www.semanticscholar.org/product/api#api-key
• HTTP 429 on rate limit; back off and retry

Ready-to-Use Query Templates

Find recent high-impact papers on a topic

curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/search?\
query=YOUR+TOPIC&limit=10&year=2023-2025&minCitationCount=10&\
fields=title,authors,year,citationCount,influentialCitationCount,tldr,venue,isOpenAccess,openAccessPdf,externalIds" \
| python3 -c "
import sys, json
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
print(f'Found {data[\"total\"]} papers')
for i, p in enumerate(data['data']):
    authors = ', '.join(a['name'] for a in (p.get('authors') or [])[:3])
    tldr = (p.get('tldr') or {}).get('text', 'N/A')[:120]
    doi = (p.get('externalIds') or {}).get('DOI', 'N/A')
    print(f'[{i+1}] {p[\"title\"]}')
    print(f'    {authors} ({p.get(\"year\")}) {p.get(\"venue\",\"\")}  Cited:{p[\"citationCount\"]}')
    print(f'    TLDR: {tldr}')
    print(f'    DOI: {doi}')
    print()
"

Build citation graph for a paper

PAPER_ID="DOI:10.1038/s41586-021-03819-2"  # or ARXIV:2301.07041 or S2 ID
# Who cites this?
curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/${PAPER_ID}/citations?\
fields=title,year,citationCount,venue&limit=20" | python3 -c "
import sys,json; data=json.load(sys.stdin)
print(f'{len(data[\"data\"])} citing papers:')
for c in sorted(data['data'], key=lambda x: x['citingPaper'].get('citationCount',0), reverse=True)[:10]:
    p=c['citingPaper']
    print(f'  [{p.get(\"year\",\"?\")}] {p[\"title\"][:80]} (cited:{p.get(\"citationCount\",0)})')
"

Find open access PDF for a paper

curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/DOI:10.xxxx/xxxxx?\
fields=title,isOpenAccess,openAccessPdf" | python3 -c "
import sys,json; p=json.load(sys.stdin)
pdf = p.get('openAccessPdf',{})
if pdf: print(f'OA PDF: {pdf[\"url\"]}')
else: print('No open access PDF available')
"

Best Practices

1. Always specify fields= to reduce response size.
2. Use minCitationCount to filter low-impact results.
3. Use external IDs (DOI, ARXIV, PMID) for precise lookups.
4. Chain citation/reference lookups to build citation graphs.
5. Use tldr field for AI-generated paper summaries.
6. Use influentialCitationCount to identify high-impact papers.
7. Prefer Semantic Scholar over CrossRef for paper discovery searches.
8. Combine with OpenAlex for broader coverage and OA link discovery.
9. NEVER fabricate results. Every paper detail must come from an actual API response. If the API returns no results, report that honestly.
10. Self-check before responding: Did this paper title, DOI, author list, and citation count ALL come from an S2 API call in this conversation?