[ search · endpoint ]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 / call●60 req / minPOST /api/search/academic

[ 01 · live ]

Try Academic Search Live

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

auth · x-api-key

API Key

Don't have an API key?

[ 02 · integrate ]

Integration guide

Copy a snippet, replace your API key, run. Works in any HTTP client — examples below in cURL, JavaScript, and Python.

spec

POST/api/search/academic

base

https://www.apipick.com

Semantic search across arXiv, PubMed, bioRxiv, and medRxiv. Returns ranked titles, abstracts, and source URLs ready for LLM ingestion.

parameters

querystringrequired

Natural-language search query

max_num_resultsintegeroptional

1–5, default 5

relevance_thresholdnumberoptional

0.0–1.0 quality filter

country_codestringoptional

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

start_datestringoptional

ISO date YYYY-MM-DD

end_datestringoptional

ISO date YYYY-MM-DD

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"
}'

● 200 · 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
}

[ 03 · limits ]

Rate limits

Throttling is per API key, sliding 60-second window. Hit the limit and you get a clean 429 with a Retry-After header.

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
}

[ faq ]

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 is this cheaper than other vertical search APIs?

Open-access academic indexes (arXiv, PubMed, bioRxiv, medRxiv) are inexpensive to query relative to proprietary financial or legal datasets. The credit price reflects that.

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.