Text Data Mining

Elsevier Developer Portal provides non-commercial users free access to its text data via several API Products including ScienceDirect and Scopus, two of Elsevier’s largest databases.

• ScienceDirect provides access to full-text journal articles and ebooks primarily published by Elsevier. ScienceDirect APIs provide access to peer-reviewed, full-text scientific, technical, and medical content from all scholarly publications indexed by ScienceDirect.

• Scopus provides access to the metadata and abstracts of journal articles, conference proceedings, and ebooks from thousands of publishers, including Elsevier. Scopus APIs provide access to abstracts and citation data from all scholarly journals indexed by Scopus, but does not include full-text. 

• ScienceDirect API: Full-text journals and books published by Elsevier on the ScienceDirect.
• Scopus API: Citation data, metadata, and abstracts from scholarly journals, as indexed by Scopus.
• Engineering Village API: Bibliographic records of engineering resources, with current, archival, and interdisciplinary content across applied engineering and physical sciences by Engineering Village.

Important: the data available depends on your institutional subscriptions and only when you are making calls from within your institutional network are you considered a subscriber. Use the NYU VPN if you attempt to access a subscriber-only feature when off-campus.

What is the difference between ScienceDirect and Scopus data?

Scopus indexes nearly the entire ScienceDirect database, but without the articles’ full text. Scopus builds the profiles and metrics using that data. The distinction between ScienceDirect and Scopus data is demonstrated in the diagram below. Additional information is available here.

Note: ScienceDirect cannot be searched using Scopus-native identifiers like AF-ID, Scopus ID, etc.

What are the Elsevier Research Products APIs?

APIs (Application Programming Interface) are tools that allow for computer-to-computer interaction. Typically, API access requires technical skills including basic-to-intermediate fluency with Python, JSON, and XML. Elsevier Research Products APIs help researchers integrate Elsevier data into their work by providing access via typical API or via interactive API tools.

How do I start using the Research Products APIs?

1. Log into the Elsevier Developer Portal using your NYU NetID.
2. Create an API Key under the My API Key tab. 
3. Once you have an API Key, refer to: 
   1. Getting Started Guide for Scopus APIs
   2. Interactive APIs to get familiar with the different APIs, see how to generate GET requests, and test their responses in a web page interface
   3. How to Guides for more in-depth explanation and use cases
   4. API Interface Specification for quick access to all Elsevier API endpoints

Note:

• API Keys have quotas which can be monitored by following the instructions provided by the Elsevier Developer Portal.
• Find more supporting information from Frequently Asked Questions.