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Research Data Services

Background and links to more information about data management issues.

Web of Science APIs

Dartmouth faculty, students, and researchers can automate access to Web of Science (Wos) Data using the Web of Science Starter API.* It is the recommended access method for those who want to automate access to and conduct repeated queries of this data. Please see our Web of Science access page for other ways to access WoS data.

The Starter API offers access to the following Web of Science fields:

  • metadata (author, title, year, publication title, volume / issue / pages, WoS / ISSN/ DOI ids)
  • keywords
  • Wos Citation count (aka. "Times Cited count": the number of times an article or book is cited by other sources found within the WoS dataset)

To read more about the information accessible via the Starter API, view the Starter API documentation page.

However, the Starter API does not provide access to:

  • content summary information (abstract, Research Areas / WoS Categories)
  • reference information (author, title, and DOI ids for all works cited in a document)

For this data, you will need to use the WoS web interface or SQL database instead.

Data Limits

With the Starter API, each user is limited to:

  • 5,000 data requests / day
  • 50 records returned / request
  • for a maximum of 250,000 records retrieved / day

* We also have access to the Web of Science Lite API. However, the Starter API is more comprehensive and better documented, thus it is our recommended API.

Getting Started 1: Acquiring a WoS Starter API Key

Dartmouth faculty, students, and staff need to acquire their own unique API Key to access the WoS Starter API. To request a Starter API Key:

1. Open the Web of Science Starter API webpage in a browser.

2. Select Log In at the bottom of the page and create a user account using your Dartmouth email (or log in if you already have one)

3. Clarivate, the analytics company that manages the Web of Science platform, will send you your API Key via email. The key is a 40-character string of numbers and letters. Store this key in a place you can easily find.

* Note: Please be aware that it may take a few days for Clarivate to send an API Key after receiving your request.

 

 

Getting Started 2: Using Python to access the Starter API

The Research Data Services team is in the process of creating some Python notebooks that users can use and adapt for accessing WoS data using the Starter API.  Stay tuned for more information here....

In the meantime, for help using the API (once you have acquired a key), please contact us at: ResearchDataHelp@groups.dartmouth.edu.