List of APIs for Scholarly Resources

The Elsevier API access is available to all SMU current faculty, staff, and students. Please note the API access is restricted to SMU Libraries' subscription, which includes ScienceDirect and Scopus. To get the full functionality of this API, you will need API key and Institutional token.

How to get an API Key:

1. Go to Elsevier Developer Portal.
2. Click on "My API Key" on the top menu
3. You will be prompted to sign in. Key in your SMU email. If you have no account yet, you will be prompted to register and create a password.
4. Once you've signed in, click on the "Create API Key" to get a new API Key. You can create multiple API keys as well.

How to get an Institutional token:

• You can request an institutional token by emailing apisupport@elsevier.com.
  • Be sure to mention your API Key, and send the request from your SMU email as a proof that you are a student/staff/faculty of SMU.
  • Please note that the institutional token will be tied to your API key.

Restrictions when using institutional token:

• All requests using institutional token must come over https
• It may be revoked at any time, without notice
• The institutional token must not appear on the address bar. In other words, it needs to be placed inside the HTTP headers (See example below)

# setup the HTTP headers
header = {"Accept": "application/xml", "X-ELS-APIKey": "YOUR APIKey", "X-ELS-Insttoken": "YOUR INST TOKEN"}

# Break down the variables for the search query
api_url = "https://api.elsevier.com/content/search/scopus?query="
search_query = 'AUTHLASTNAME(Smith)'

# Call the API
response = rq.get(api_url + search_query, headers = header)

Return Format

The API can return results in XML or JSON format. You can specify this in the HTTP header under Accept field. See example above.

Limitations

• The API is limited to 200 results per query.
• The API key is valid for 6 months

Useful Links

• API Documentation
• Interactive API: ScienceDirect
• Interactive API: Scopus
• How-to Guides
• Academic Research Use Case
• Use Policies

API Wrappers

Wrappers are API-specific packages that streamlines the process of making API calls. Available wrappers for Elsevier API:

• Elsapy (Python)
• Pybliometrics (Python) - for Scopus only
• rscopus (R) - for Scopus only