Entities

Works Overview

Works are scholarly documents like journal articles, books, datasets, and theses. OpenAlex indexes hundreds of millions of works.

Field meanings

What each field on a work means, its type, and how it’s structured are documented in the canonical Work object field dictionary. This page covers the endpoint mechanics: which fields you can filter, sort, and group on, and the query syntax.

The most-used fields, at a glance (full definitions and the complete field list are in the dictionary):

Field Type Meaning
id String The work’s OpenAlex ID
doi String The work’s DOI (canonical external ID)
title String The work’s title (= display_name)
type String Work type — see Work types
publication_year Integer Year of publication
authorships List Authors + their institutions (first 100)
primary_location Object Best (version-of-record) copy’s location
locations List All places the work lives
open_access Object is_oa, oa_status, oa_url
primary_topic Object Top-ranked topic
cited_by_count Integer How many works cite this one
referenced_works List Works this one cites
fwci Float Field-Weighted Citation Impact
abstract_inverted_index Object Abstract as an inverted index
is_retracted Boolean Whether the work is retracted

Filter, sort, and group_by fields

The API supports filtering, sorting, and grouping on works fields. See Filtering, Sorting, and Grouping for syntax.

Fields marked (deprecated) are .search filters — use the search parameter instead.

Top-level

Field Sort Group_by Filter
authors_count ✓ ✓ ✓
best_open_version ✓ ✓ ✓
cited_by ✓
cited_by_count ✓ ✓ ✓
cites ✓
concepts_count ✓ ✓ ✓
corresponding_author_ids ✓ ✓ ✓
corresponding_institution_ids ✓ ✓ ✓
countries_distinct_count ✓ ✓ ✓
created_date ✓ ✓
datasets ✓ ✓ ✓
display_name ✓ ✓
doi ✓ ✓
doi_starts_with ✓ ✓ ✓
from_created_date ✓ ✓
from_publication_date ✓ ✓
fulltext_origin ✓ ✓ ✓
fwci ✓ ✓
has_abstract ✓ ✓
has_doi ✓ ✓ ✓
has_embeddings ✓
has_fulltext ✓ ✓ ✓
has_oa_accepted_or_published_version ✓ ✓
has_oa_submitted_version ✓ ✓
has_old_authors ✓ ✓
has_orcid ✓ ✓ ✓
has_pdf_url ✓ ✓ ✓
has_pmcid ✓ ✓ ✓
has_pmid ✓ ✓ ✓
has_raw_affiliation_strings ✓ ✓
has_references ✓ ✓ ✓
indexed_in ✓ ✓ ✓
institutions_distinct_count ✓ ✓ ✓
is_corresponding ✓ ✓ ✓
is_oa ✓ ✓
is_paratext (deprecated — use type:paratext) ✓ ✓ ✓
is_retracted ✓ ✓ ✓
is_xpac ✓ ✓ ✓
journal ✓ ✓ ✓
language ✓ ✓ ✓
locations_count ✓ ✓ ✓
mag ✓ ✓
mag_only ✓ ✓
oa_status ✓ ✓
openalex ✓ ✓ ✓
openalex_id ✓ ✓
pmcid ✓ ✓
pmid ✓ ✓
publication_date ✓ ✓
publication_year ✓ ✓ ✓
raw_affiliation_strings ✓ ✓ ✓
referenced_works ✓ ✓
referenced_works_count ✓ ✓ ✓
related_to ✓
repository ✓ ✓ ✓
to_created_date ✓ ✓
to_publication_date ✓ ✓
to_updated_date ✓ ✓
topics_count ✓
type ✓ ✓ ✓
updated_date ✓ ✓
version ✓ ✓ ✓

Abstract

Field Sort Group_by Filter
abstract.search (deprecated) ✓
abstract.search.no_stem (deprecated) ✓

Apc List

Field Sort Group_by Filter
apc_list.currency ✓ ✓ ✓
apc_list.provenance ✓ ✓ ✓
apc_list.value ✓ ✓ ✓
apc_list.value_usd ✓ ✓ ✓

Apc Paid

Field Sort Group_by Filter
apc_paid.currency ✓ ✓ ✓
apc_paid.provenance ✓ ✓ ✓
apc_paid.value ✓ ✓ ✓
apc_paid.value_usd ✓ ✓ ✓

Author

Field Sort Group_by Filter
author.id ✓ ✓
author.orcid ✓ ✓

Authorships

Field Sort Group_by Filter
authorships.affiliations.institution_ids ✓ ✓ ✓
authorships.author.id ✓ ✓ ✓
authorships.author.orcid ✓ ✓ ✓
authorships.countries ✓ ✓ ✓
authorships.institutions.continent ✓ ✓ ✓
authorships.institutions.country_code ✓ ✓ ✓
authorships.institutions.id ✓ ✓ ✓
authorships.institutions.is_global_south ✓ ✓ ✓
authorships.institutions.lineage ✓ ✓ ✓
authorships.institutions.ror ✓ ✓ ✓
authorships.institutions.type ✓ ✓ ✓
authorships.is_corresponding ✓ ✓ ✓

Awards

Field Sort Group_by Filter
awards.doi ✓ ✓ ✓
awards.funder_award_id ✓ ✓ ✓
awards.funder_display_name ✓ ✓ ✓
awards.funder_id ✓ ✓ ✓
awards.id ✓ ✓ ✓

Best Oa Location

Field Sort Group_by Filter
best_oa_location.is_accepted ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.is_oa ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.is_published ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.landing_page_url ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.license ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.license_id ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.raw_type ✓
best_oa_location.source.host_organization ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.source.host_organization_lineage ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.source.id ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.source.is_in_doaj ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.source.is_oa ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.source.issn ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.source.type ✓ ✓ ✓
best_oa_location.version ✓ ✓ ✓

Biblio

Field Sort Group_by Filter
biblio.first_page ✓ ✓
biblio.issue ✓ ✓ ✓
biblio.last_page ✓ ✓
biblio.volume ✓ ✓ ✓

Citation Normalized Percentile

Field Sort Group_by Filter
citation_normalized_percentile.is_in_top_10_percent ✓ ✓ ✓
citation_normalized_percentile.is_in_top_1_percent ✓ ✓ ✓
citation_normalized_percentile.value ✓ ✓

Cited By Percentile Year

Field Sort Group_by Filter
cited_by_percentile_year.max ✓ ✓ ✓
cited_by_percentile_year.min ✓ ✓ ✓

Concept

Field Sort Group_by Filter
concept.id ✓ ✓

Concepts

Field Sort Group_by Filter
concepts.id ✓ ✓ ✓
concepts.wikidata ✓ ✓ ✓

Default

Field Sort Group_by Filter
default.search (deprecated) ✓

Display Name

Field Sort Group_by Filter
display_name.search (deprecated) ✓
display_name.search.no_stem (deprecated) ✓

Fulltext

Field Sort Group_by Filter
fulltext.search (deprecated) ✓

Funders

Field Sort Group_by Filter
funders.id ✓ ✓ ✓

Has Content

Field Sort Group_by Filter
has_content.grobid_xml ✓ ✓ ✓
has_content.pdf ✓ ✓ ✓

Ids

Field Sort Group_by Filter
ids.mag ✓ ✓
ids.openalex ✓ ✓ ✓
ids.pmcid ✓ ✓
ids.pmid ✓ ✓

Institution

Field Sort Group_by Filter
institution.id ✓ ✓

Institution Assertions

Field Sort Group_by Filter
institution_assertions.country_code ✓ ✓ ✓
institution_assertions.id ✓ ✓ ✓
institution_assertions.lineage ✓ ✓ ✓
institution_assertions.ror ✓ ✓ ✓
institution_assertions.type ✓ ✓ ✓

Institutions

Field Sort Group_by Filter
institutions.continent ✓ ✓
institutions.country_code ✓ ✓ ✓
institutions.id ✓ ✓ ✓
institutions.is_global_south ✓ ✓ ✓
institutions.ror ✓ ✓ ✓
institutions.type ✓ ✓ ✓

Keyword

Field Sort Group_by Filter
keyword.search (deprecated) ✓ ✓

Keywords

Field Sort Group_by Filter
keywords.id ✓ ✓ ✓

Locations

Field Sort Group_by Filter
locations.is_accepted ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.is_oa ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.is_published ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.landing_page_url ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.license ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.license_id ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.raw_type ✓
locations.source.has_issn ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.source.host_institution_lineage ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.source.host_organization ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.source.host_organization_lineage ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.source.id ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.source.is_core ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.source.is_in_doaj ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.source.is_oa ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.source.issn ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.source.publisher_lineage ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.source.type ✓ ✓ ✓
locations.version ✓ ✓ ✓

Open Access

Field Sort Group_by Filter
open_access.any_repository_has_fulltext ✓ ✓ ✓
open_access.is_oa ✓ ✓ ✓
open_access.oa_status ✓ ✓ ✓

Primary Location

Field Sort Group_by Filter
primary_location.is_accepted ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.is_oa ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.is_published ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.landing_page_url ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.license ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.license_id ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.raw_type ✓
primary_location.source.has_issn ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.source.host_institution_lineage ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.source.host_organization ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.source.host_organization_lineage ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.source.id ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.source.is_core ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.source.is_in_doaj ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.source.is_oa ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.source.issn ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.source.publisher_lineage ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.source.type ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_location.version ✓ ✓ ✓

Primary Topic

Field Sort Group_by Filter
primary_topic.domain.id ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_topic.field.id ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_topic.id ✓ ✓ ✓
primary_topic.subfield.id ✓ ✓ ✓

Raw Affiliation Strings

Field Sort Group_by Filter
raw_affiliation_strings.search (deprecated) ✓

Raw Author Name

Field Sort Group_by Filter
raw_author_name.search (deprecated) ✓

Semantic

Field Sort Group_by Filter
semantic.search (deprecated) ✓

Sustainable Development Goals

Field Sort Group_by Filter
sustainable_development_goals.id ✓ ✓ ✓
sustainable_development_goals.score ✓ ✓

Title

Field Sort Group_by Filter
title.search (deprecated) ✓
title.search.no_stem (deprecated) ✓

Title And Abstract

Field Sort Group_by Filter
title_and_abstract.search (deprecated) ✓
title_and_abstract.search.no_stem (deprecated) ✓

Topics

Field Sort Group_by Filter
topics.domain.id ✓ ✓ ✓
topics.field.id ✓ ✓ ✓
topics.id ✓ ✓ ✓
topics.subfield.id ✓ ✓ ✓
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