---
title: "Search papers"
method: POST
path: "/api/v1/search_papers"
tags: ["general"]
---

# Search papers

`POST /api/v1/search_papers`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://scholarmuse.ai`
- URL: `https://scholarmuse.ai/api/v1/search_papers`
- Auth: HTTP bearer

Search real scholarly papers across OpenAlex, PubMed / Europe PMC, arXiv, INSPIRE-HEP and ERIC, de-duplicated, each source in its own relevance order. Returns DOI, authors, year, venue, citation count and open-access link. Use this instead of recalling references from memory.

Discipline pack: general. Cost: 2 credits per successful call.

## Request body

- object
  - `query` string, required: Topic, keywords or a natural-language question.
  - `year_from` integer: Earliest publication year.
  - `year_to` integer: Latest publication year.
  - `open_access_only` boolean: Only papers with a free full text.
  - `sources` string[]: Limit to these source ids: openalex, pubmed, arxiv, inspire-hep, eric, crossref, dblp. Default: openalex, pubmed and arxiv. Add eric for education research, inspire-hep for high-energy physics, dblp for computer science (dblp currently often blocks scripted requests with a bot check; OpenAlex and arXiv cover most CS papers).
  - `limit` integer: Results to return (default 10).

## Response `200`

The tool result.

- ToolResult
  - `summary` string, required
  - `billing` CreditStatus
    - `creditsRemaining` integer, nullable, required: Spendable, unexpired balance at checkedAt; null if refresh failed. Credits reserved by pending figures are excluded.
    - `status` 'ok' | 'low' | 'empty' | 'unavailable', required
    - `lowBalanceThreshold` integer, required
    - `topUpUrl` string, uri, required
    - `pricingUrl` string, uri, required
    - `checkedAt` string, date-time, required
    - `notice` string
  - `records` Record[]
    - `id` string, required
    - `type` string, required
    - `source` string, required
    - `title` string
    - `url` string
    - `license` string
    - `attribution` string
    - `retrievedAt` string, date-time, required
    - `data` object, required
  - `partial` boolean
  - `failedSources` object[]
    - `source` string
    - `error` string
  - `files` object[]
    - `name` string
    - `url` string
    - `mimeType` string
  - `extra` object
  - `credits_used` number, required
  - `call_id` string, required

## Other responses

- `400`: The call failed and was not charged.
- `401`: The call failed and was not charged.
- `402`: The call failed and was not charged.
- `429`: The call failed and was not charged.
- `502`: The call failed and was not charged.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/scholarmuse/apis/scholarmuse-rest-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/scholarmuse/apis/scholarmuse-rest-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/scholarmuse/apis/scholarmuse-rest-api/revisions/beafd92e4bfb?raw)