{
  "markdown": "# OpenAlex — Open Catalog of Scholarly Works\n\nOpenAlex is a free, open replacement for Microsoft Academic Graph (which shut down in 2022). 240M+ scholarly works with structured data on authors, institutions, concepts, citations, and venues. Open-source data model, generous API. Free, no auth (polite User-Agent + email recommended).\n\nPart of [Pipeworx](https://pipeworx.io) — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1476+ live data sources.\n\n## Why this matters for AI agents\n\nWhere [Semantic Scholar](/docs/reference/semantic-scholar) is search-focused and [Crossref](/docs/reference/crossref) is DOI-focused, OpenAlex is the most comprehensive structured graph: papers + authors + institutions + funders + concepts, all linked. For institutional analysis, citation networks, or systematic literature review, OpenAlex covers ground the others don't.\n\nCommon flows:\n\n- **Work lookup.** Find a paper by DOI, title, or OpenAlex ID; get full structured record.\n- **Author / institution.** Search Yale's CS department's papers in 2024.\n- **Concept browsing.** Papers tagged with \"transformer architecture\" or \"CRISPR Cas9.\"\n- **Citation graph.** \"Who cites paper X?\" or \"What does paper X cite?\"\n\nCitable URI: `pipeworx://openalex/work/{work_id}`.\n\n## Auth\n\nFree, public. OpenAlex strongly encourages identifying yourself via `mailto=` query parameter or User-Agent for \"polite pool\" priority. Pipeworx forwards `mailto=support@pipeworx.io` and `User-Agent: Pipeworx (mailto:support@pipeworx.io)` automatically.\n\n## Entity types\n\nOpenAlex models 5 entity types, each with stable IDs:\n\n| Entity | ID prefix | Example |\n|---|---|---|\n| Work (paper) | W | W2741809807 |\n| Author | A | A1234567890 |\n| Institution | I | I97018004 (Yale) |\n| Venue (journal/conference) | V | V202381698 |\n| Concept (subject taxonomy) | C | C41008148 (computer science) |\n\nWorks are linked to authors, institutions (where authors are affiliated), venues (where they were published), and concepts (what they're about). Cross-entity queries are powerful.\n\n## Common pitfalls\n\n- **Author disambiguation.** OpenAlex makes a serious effort but isn't perfect. The same person may have separate Author IDs across early-career vs late-career; common-name authors split across entities. Cross-reference with ORCID where available.\n- **Concept hierarchy depth.** OpenAlex concepts form a 6-level tree. \"Computer science\" level 0 is too coarse for most queries; level 3-4 (\"transformer model\", \"BERT model\") is more useful.\n- **Open access status.** OpenAlex tracks `oa_status` (gold, green, hybrid, bronze, closed). Use it to surface free-to-read versions in your output.\n- **Citation count vs. cited-by.** OpenAlex computes citation counts from its own corpus. Same paper can show different counts in Google Scholar (broader) and Web of Science (narrower).\n- **Lag.** New papers appear within weeks. Citations to those papers take longer because citing papers must themselves be indexed.\n- **Tied to Semantic Scholar?** OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar are separate projects with separate data. Some overlap in coverage; some divergence in metadata. Use both for comprehensive lookups.\n\n## Quick Start\n\nAdd to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):\n\n```json\n{\n  \"mcpServers\": {\n    \"openalex\": {\n      \"url\": \"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/openalex/mcp\"\n    }\n  }\n}\n```\n\n### What this endpoint actually serves\n\n`tools/list` at `https://gateway.pipeworx.io/openalex/mcp` returns the tools in the table\nabove **plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools** — `ask_pipeworx`,\n`discover_tools`, `search_within`, `remember`/`recall` and the rest of the\ngateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a\nsingle-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the\npack's own. The connection's `initialize` response states its exact scope, and\nis the authoritative answer for a given day.\n\nThis is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a\nscoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via\n`ask_pipeworx`, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a\nsecond MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without\nthem; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,\nconnect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.\n\nOr connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed\ndirectly, instead of just this one's:\n\n```json\n{\n  \"mcpServers\": {\n    \"pipeworx\": {\n      \"url\": \"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp\"\n    }\n  }\n}\n```\n\nBoth URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1476+ data sources. The\nonly difference is which pack's tools are listed **directly**; `ask_pipeworx`\nreaches all of them from either one.\n\n## Using with ask_pipeworx\n\nInstead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English —\nthis works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:\n\n```\nask_pipeworx({ question: \"your question about Openalex data\" })\n```\n\nThe gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.\n\n## More\n\n- [Docs and guides](https://pipeworx.io/docs)\n- [pipeworx.io](https://pipeworx.io)\n\n## License\n\nMIT\n",
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