10M+ papers.
One search API.
Keyword and full-text search over 100,000+ journals — abstracts, authors, DOIs, journal quartiles and PDF links, all through a single REST endpoint.
Market basket analysis in marketing research
Q2Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy · 2009
…analysis is, to put it simply, analysis of the content of customer's trolley, based on recognition of rules that customers apply while filling their…
Digital transformation strategies for SME marketing teams
Q1Journal of Business Research · 2022
…adoption of digital channels reshapes how small and medium enterprises allocate marketing budget across search, social, and…
Consumer trust and personalization in e-commerce marketing
Q2International Journal of Marketing Studies · 2021
…personalized recommendations increase perceived relevance, but excessive targeting can erode consumer trust in marketing…
Built on a
real index
10M+
Indexed papers
100,000+
Journals
2
Search modes — keyword & full-text
Everything you need to search academic literature
Fast keyword search
Fuzzy-matching search across titles, abstracts, keywords, and authors, with filters for category, year range, and journal quartile.
Full-text PDF search
Search inside the actual paper content, not just metadata, with highlighted matches showing exactly where a term appears.
Abstracts & metadata
Every result includes authors, year, journal, quartile, and abstract — everything you need without a second request.
Original PDFs & sources
Every result links to the original PDF and publisher page when available, so your app can show the real source, not just a snippet.
Simple REST API
One GET endpoint, an API key in a header, JSON back. No SDK required, works from any language.
Works inside Claude and Cursor
Connect as an MCP server in one click — no code, no SDK — and let your AI agent search and cite real papers directly in the conversation.
Search open-access research from 100,000+ journals
Coverage spans business, medicine, engineering, physics, law and more — with new journals added regularly.
- Nature
- Science
- The Lancet
- PLOS ONE
- Springer
- NEJM
- SAGE Journals
- Oxford Academic
100,000+ journals indexed
Publisher names and logos belong to their respective owners and are shown only to indicate indexed sources. No affiliation or endorsement is implied.
One endpoint, every filter you need
Search by keyword and narrow it with filters — same auth, same response shape.
cURL
curl "https://openabstracts.com/api/references-search?q=marketing&mode=papers" \ -H "x-api-key: $OPENABSTRACTS_KEY"
Response
{ "success": true, "total": 21742, "page": 1, "references": [ { "id": "6aafc30105cf5ce509d69aa6", "doi": "10.12775/EQUIL.2009.011", "title": "Market basket analysis in marketing research", "authors": ["Małgorzata Śniegocka-Łusiewicz"], "journal": "Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics", "year": 2009, "pdfUrl": "https://economic-policy.pl/.../567/531" } ] }
MCP server
Search papers straight from Claude, Cursor and other AI assistants
OpenAbstracts runs a remote MCP server, so your assistant can look papers up instead of guessing them. No code, no SDK — connect in one click.
Add the connector
In Claude, add a custom connector and paste the server URL below.
Sign in and choose a key
Click Connect, sign in to OpenAbstracts and pick which API key it may use.
Ask for papers
Ask Claude to find, compare or verify papers — it searches the real index and cites what it finds.
Server URL
https://openabstracts.com/mcp- Standard OAuth sign-in — Claude never sees your API key, and you can revoke access any time.
- Pair it with our Claude Skill so the assistant searches before it cites, and admits when it can't find a source.
Start free, pay only for what you use
No subscription. Prepaid credits, priced per search, never expire.
Free
Everything you need to try it
100 searches every month
- No card required
- Keyword and full-text search
- All filters: category, year, quartile
- REST API and MCP server
Pay as you go
For production traffic
$0.0015 per search
- Prepaid credit that never expires
- Searches with no results are free
- The 100 free searches still apply
- Top up $10 to $1,000 any time
Ready to start searching?
Frequently asked questions
Short answers about the search API.
How many papers are indexed?
10M+ papers across 100,000+ registered journals covering business, medicine, engineering, physics, law and more. New journals are added regularly.
What search modes are available?
Keyword mode matches your terms across titles, abstracts, keywords and authors, with fuzzy matching. Content mode runs a full-text search inside the paper PDFs and returns highlighted snippets showing where each match occurs. Both support filters for category, publication year range and journal quartile.
What does each result include?
Title, authors, year, journal, DOI, abstract, subject category, journal quartile when known, and links to the original PDF and the publisher page where available.
How do I authenticate?
Create an API key on the API Keys page and send it in an x-api-key header. AI clients such as Claude can instead connect to the MCP server and sign in through a Connect page, choosing which key to authorise.
Is there a free tier?
Yes — every account includes 100 free searches per month, no card required. After that searches cost $1.50 per 1,000 requests from prepaid credit that never expires. Searches that return no results are not billed.
Are there rate limits?
You can give each API key an optional request limit and expiry date when you create it. Requests beyond your free allowance are billed from your credit balance; if the balance runs out, requests are declined until you top up.
Can I use it from Claude, Cursor or another AI assistant?
Yes. OpenAbstracts runs a remote MCP server at https://openabstracts.com/mcp exposing a search_papers tool. In Claude, add it as a custom connector and click Connect. There is also a Claude Skill that teaches the assistant to verify citations before using them.
Does it verify or generate citations?
It returns real bibliographic records you can cite from, including DOIs, so an assistant or app can check a reference against the index instead of guessing. It does not generate or rewrite text.