OpenAlex Topics Search Scraper is a BrowserAct Bot template for collecting structured public topic records from OpenAlex. Configure a base URL, keyword, and result count, then run the Bot to return ranked topic metadata for research landscape analysis, taxonomy mapping, trend discovery, catalog enrichment, or automation workflows.
What Does BrowserAct OpenAlex Topics Search Scraper Do?
This template opens OpenAlex's public topics search API, parses topic records, and returns one structured record per topic.
Key Features
- Extract public OpenAlex topic search results without requiring a login.
- Capture topic ID, URL, display name, description, keywords, field, subfield, domain, works count, cited-by count, related topics, update date, and keyword.
- Configure base URL, keyword, and count.
- Page through public results for larger requests.
- Handle empty or low-match searches cleanly.
What Data Can I Extract from OpenAlex?
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
rank |
Search result position assigned by the Bot. |
topic_id |
OpenAlex topic ID. |
topic_url |
Public OpenAlex topic URL. |
display_name |
Topic display name. |
description |
Topic description. |
keywords |
Topic keywords as a semicolon-separated string. |
field_name |
Parent field name. |
subfield_name |
Parent subfield name. |
domain_name |
Parent domain name. |
works_count |
Number of works associated with the topic. |
cited_by_count |
Total cited-by count. |
related_topics |
Sibling or related topic names. |
updated_date |
OpenAlex updated date. |
search_keyword |
Keyword used for the run. |
How to Use OpenAlex Topics Search Scraper
- Click Run task.
- Enter the OpenAlex API base URL.
- Enter a research area, method, discipline, or topic keyword.
- Set how many topic records to collect.
- Run the Bot and review the structured topic results.
- Reuse the Bot with another keyword or connect the output to your workflow.
Input Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
base_url |
Yes | https://api.openalex.org |
OpenAlex API base URL without a trailing slash. |
keyword |
Yes | machine learning |
Search phrase matched against OpenAlex topics. |
count |
Yes | 20 |
Maximum number of topic records to collect. |
Example Output
The table below uses records preserved from the validated Bot run. Up to the first 5 records are shown, and long values are shortened in this documentation preview.
| rank | topic_id | topic_url | display_name | description | keywords | field_name | subfield_name | domain_name | works_count | cited_by_count | related_topics | updated_date | search_keyword |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | T11948 | https://openalex.org/T11948 | Machine Learning in Materials Science | This cluster of papers focuses on the application of materials informatics... | Materials Informatics; Machine Learning; High-Throughput | Materials Science | Materials Chemistry | Physical Sciences | 137829 | 1061153 | Graphene research and applications; Catalytic Processes in Materials Science | 2026-08-20T03:01:33 | machine learning |
How Does it Work?
BrowserAct builds the public OpenAlex API URL in the format {base_url}/topics?search={keyword}&per-page={count} for default-sized runs. OpenAlex returns JSON with topic records and metadata.
For larger runs, BrowserAct uses OpenAlex pagination with per-page=200&page=N, appends records across pages, assigns cumulative ranks, and stops when the requested count is reached or OpenAlex has no more results.
How to Build a New Scraper Bot with Agent Built
Step 1: Describe the Data You Need
Open BrowserAct and start Agent Built from the Home prompt box or from Create -> Build with Agent. Paste a clear request that includes the website, the records to collect, the filters or search conditions, the fields to return, the result limit, and the inputs you want to reuse later.
Step 2: Let BrowserAct Build and Test the Bot
BrowserAct explores the live website, works out the navigation and extraction path, and validates the result. If BrowserAct asks for clarification, reply in the same build conversation with the missing URL, condition, field, example, or expected output.
Step 3: Run the Bot and Review the Result
When the build is complete, run the Bot with the default inputs first. Review the structured records, source URLs, missing fields, and row count before reusing the Bot with new inputs or connecting it to another workflow.
Why Scrape OpenAlex Topic Results?
OpenAlex topic data helps teams map research landscapes, discover related areas, compare works and citation signals, enrich taxonomies, build research dashboards, and route public scholarly topic metadata into alerts or agent workflows.
Who Can Use This Template?
- Researchers mapping a topic area.
- Academic product teams building taxonomy features.
- Libraries and knowledge teams enriching catalogs.
- Data teams creating research trend pipelines.
- Automation builders routing topic metadata into spreadsheets, databases, alerts, or agents.
How Many Results Can You Scrape?
Use count to control the number of topic records returned. OpenAlex serves up to 200 records per page, and the Bot pages through public results for larger requests up to the public paging limit verified during build.
Automation and Export
BrowserAct returns structured OpenAlex topic records first. You can then use the output through API JSON responses, n8n workflows, Make scenarios, Zapier automations, MCP-based agent workflows configured from the Bot's Integrations tab, or manual CSV review.
Need Help?
Contact us at
Discord: Discord Community
E-mail: service@browseract.com
