FAQ

How do I cite OpenAlex?

See our citation section here.

Can you index my journal?

We automatically index new journals and articles so there is nothing you need to do. We primarily retrieve new records from Crossref. So if you are not seeing your journal or article in OpenAlex, it is best to check if it is in Crossref with a query like https://api.crossref.org/works/<doi> (example). We do not curate journals or limit which journals will be included in OpenAlex. So any discoverable journals will be added to the data set.

If your example DOI is in Crossref but not in OpenAlex, please send us a support request so we can look into it further!

Where does your data come from?

See our data overview page.

How is OpenAlex licensed?

OpenAlex data is licensed as CC0 so it is free to use and distribute.

How much does OpenAlex cost?

It's free! The website, the API, and the database snapshot are all available at no charge. As a nonprofit, making this data free and open is part of our mission.

For those who would like a higher level of service and to provide direct financial support for our mission, we offer OpenAlex Premium. Click here to learn more.

What's your sustainability plan?

Our nonprofit (OurResearch) has a ten-year track record of building sustainable scholarly infrastructure, and a formal commitment to sustainability as part of our adoption of the POSI principles.

We're currently still exploring our options for OpenAlex's sustainability plan. Thanks to a generous grant from Arcadia, we've got lots of runway, and we don't need to roll anything out in a rush.

Our Unpaywall project (a free index of the world's open-access research literature) has been self-sustaining via a freemium revenue model for nearly five years, and we have recently introduced a similar model in OpenAlex Premium. Access to the data will always be free for everyone, but OpenAlex Premium offers several benefits in service above the services we offer for free.