Search authors
Last updated
Last updated
The best way to search for authors is to use the search
query parameter, which searches the display_name
and the display_name_alternatives
fields. Example:
Get works with the author name "Carl Sagan":
https://api.openalex.org/authors?search=carl sagan
Searching without a middle initial returns names with and without middle initials. So a search for "John Smith" will also return "John W. Smith".
Names with diacritics are flexible as well. So a search for David Tarrago can return David Tarragó, and a search for David Tarragó can return David Tarrago. When searching with a diacritic, diacritic versions of the names are prioritized in order to honor the original form of the author's name. Read more about our handling of diacritics here.
You can read more in the search page in the API Guide. It will show you how relevance score is calculated, how words are stemmed to improve search results, and how to do complex boolean searches.
You can also use search as a filter, by appending .search
to the end of the property you are filtering for:
Get authors with the name "john smith" in the display_name:
https://api.openalex.org/authors?filter=display\_name.search:john smith
When searching for authors, there is no difference when using the search
parameter or the filter display_name.search
, since display_name is the only field searched when finding authors.
Search filter | Field that is searched |
---|---|
You can also use the filter default.search
, which works the same as using the search
parameter.
You can autocomplete authors to create a very fast type-ahead style search function:
Autocomplete authors with "ronald sw" in the display name:
https://api.openalex.org/autocomplete/authors?q=ronald sw
This returns a list of authors with their last known affiliated institution as the hint:
Read more about autocomplete.