Aapipick
Search API · Academic

Academic Research Search API

Query peer-reviewed papers and pre-prints across arXiv, PubMed, bioRxiv, and medRxiv from one endpoint. Pre-shaped JSON output ready for LLM tool calling, citation extraction, and RAG over scientific literature.

5 credits / call60 req / minPOST /api/search/academic

Try Academic Search Live

Enter your API key and run a real query against the live endpoint.

API Authentication Required
Enter your API key to access this service. All API calls require authentication.

Don't have an API key?

Sign in to your account to create and manage your API keys.

Sign InManage API Keys
5 sample queries — click to load

API Integration Guide

Learn how to integrate this API into your applications with code examples and detailed documentation.

API Overview
Semantic search across arXiv, PubMed, bioRxiv, and medRxiv. Returns ranked titles, abstracts, and source URLs ready for LLM ingestion.
POST
/api/search/academic

Base URL

https://www.apipick.com

Full Endpoint

https://www.apipick.com/api/search/academic
Parameters
Required and optional parameters for this API
query
required
string

Natural-language search query

max_num_results
optional
integer

1–5, default 5

relevance_threshold
optional
number

0.0–1.0 quality filter

country_code
optional
string

ISO country code (e.g. US, GB)

start_date
optional
string

ISO date YYYY-MM-DD

end_date
optional
string

ISO date YYYY-MM-DD

Code Examples
Copy and paste these examples to quickly integrate the API into your application

cURL Request

curl -X POST "https://www.apipick.com/api/search/academic" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
  "query": "Latest breakthroughs in CRISPR gene editing",
  "max_num_results": 5,
  "country_code": "US",
  "start_date": "2026-01-01"
}'
Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual API key
Response Example
Example response from the API

JSON Response

{
  "query": "Latest breakthroughs in CRISPR gene editing",
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Example result",
      "url": "https://example.com/article",
      "snippet": "Short excerpt of the page content…",
      "source_type": "web",
      "published_at": "2026-04-15",
      "score": 0.92
    }
  ],
  "result_count": 1,
  "credits_used": 5,
  "remaining_credits": 99
}
Integration Tips

✓Best Practices

  • • Always include x-api-key header
  • • Always handle errors gracefully
  • • Validate input data before sending
  • • Use HTTPS for secure communication
  • • Cache responses when appropriate

ℹResponse Headers

  • • Content-Type: application/json
  • • x-api-key: Required for authentication
  • • Status codes: 200 (success), 400 (error), 401 (unauthorized)
  • • No rate limiting applied

Rate Limits

⏱️

Request Rate

60req / min

Per API key, per endpoint. Sliding 60-second window.

🔀

Concurrency

3concurrent

Max simultaneous in-flight requests per API key.

Response Headers

X-RateLimit-LimitMaximum requests allowed per minute
X-RateLimit-RemainingRequests remaining in the current window
X-RateLimit-ResetSeconds until the current window resets
Retry-AfterSeconds to wait before retrying (only on 429)

429 Too Many Requests

HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Retry-After: 12
X-RateLimit-Limit: 60
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 0
X-RateLimit-Reset: 12

{
  "error": "rate_limit_exceeded",
  "message": "Rate limit exceeded: 60 requests/minute per API key. Retry after 12s.",
  "retry_after": 12
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Which sources are covered?

arXiv (computer science, math, physics, etc.), PubMed (biomedical), bioRxiv (biology pre-prints), and medRxiv (medical pre-prints). All four are queried in parallel with one call.

Why so cheap (5 credits) compared to other vertical search APIs?

Open-access academic indexes have lower upstream costs than proprietary financial or legal data. We pass that pricing through with a 2× margin.

Can I restrict to a date range?

Yes. Pass start_date and end_date in YYYY-MM-DD format to filter by publication date.

Are full paper texts returned?

No — results include title, abstract-style snippet, source URL, and relevance score. Use POST /api/extract on the source URL to fetch full content for any paper.

Tool schema for OpenAI / Claude?

GET /api/search/academic/tool-schema returns ready-to-paste OpenAI function and Claude tool-use definitions.