Openalex

# OpenAlex Academic Search

Search query: $ARGUMENTS

## Role & Positioning

This skill uses OpenAlex as a **comprehensive open academic graph** source:

| Skill | Source | Best for |
|-------|--------|----------|
| `/arxiv` | arXiv API | Latest preprints, cutting-edge unrefereed work |
| `/semantic-scholar` | Semantic Scholar API | Published venue papers (IEEE, ACM, Springer) with citation counts |
| `/openalex` | OpenAlex API | **Open citation graph, institutional affiliations, funding data, comprehensive metadata** |
| `/deepxiv` | DeepXiv CLI | Layered reading: search, brief, section map, section reads |
| `/exa-search` | Exa API | Broad web search: blogs, docs, news, companies, research papers |
| `/gemini-search` | Gemini MCP / CLI | AI-powered broad literature discovery |

Use OpenAlex when you want:
- **Open citation data** — fully open citation graph (no API key required for basic use)
- **Institutional affiliations** — author institutions and collaborations
- **Funding information** — NSF, NIH, and other funding sources
- **Comprehensive metadata** — topics, keywords, abstract, open access status
- **Cross-database coverage** — indexes 250M+ works from multiple sources

## Constants

- **MAX_RESULTS = 10** — Default number of results. Override with `— max: 20`.
- **DEFAULT_SORT = relevance** — Sort by relevance. Override with `— sort: citations` or `— sort: date`.
- **OPENALEX_FETCHER** — canonical name `openalex_fetch.py`, resolved per
  [`shared-references/integration-contract.md`](../shared-references/integration-contract.md) §2
  (Policy D1 — standalone `/openalex` has no documented inline fallback,
  so unresolved helper terminates with an explicit error).

> Overrides (append to arguments):
> - `/openalex "topic" — max: 20` — return up to 20 results
> - `/openalex "topic" — year: 2023-` — papers from 2023 onward
> - `/openalex "topic" — year: 2020-2023` — papers from 2020 to 2023
> - `/openalex "topic" — type: article` — only journal articles
> - `/openalex "topic" — type: preprint` — only preprints
> - `/openalex "topic" — open-access` — only open access papers
> - `/openalex "topic" — min-citations: 50` — minimum 50 citations
> - `/openalex "topic" — sort: citations` — sort by citation count (descending)
> - `/openalex "topic" — sort: date` — sort by publication date (newest first)

## Setup

### Prerequisites

1. **Python 3.7+** with `requests` library:
   ```bash