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For Agents
Search Scopus and ScienceDirect and retrieve scholarly abstracts by DOI, Scopus ID, EID, PII, or PubMed ID for literature review and citation analysis.
Use for: I want to search Scopus for papers on retrieval-augmented generation, Retrieve a Scopus abstract by DOI, Find articles on ScienceDirect about CRISPR base editing, Get an abstract by PubMed ID
Not supported: Does not handle full-text downloading of paywalled PDFs, manuscript submission, or peer-review workflows - use for searching Scopus and ScienceDirect and retrieving abstracts only.
Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for Elsevier API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The Elsevier Developer API gives programmatic access to Scopus and ScienceDirect - the world's largest abstract-and-citation database and Elsevier's full-text platform - together with abstract retrieval by Scopus ID, DOI, EID, PII, or PubMed ID. Researchers, bibliometric tools, and AI literature copilots use it to search the scholarly record and pull article metadata at scale. Authentication is an X-ELS-APIKey header, optionally combined with an X-ELS-Insttoken header for institutional access.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Elsevier API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Elsevier API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fapi.elsevier.com%2Felsevier" | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fapi.elsevier.com%2Felsevier" | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Elsevier API.
Search the Scopus database with field-specific queries (TITLE-ABS-KEY, AUTHOR, AFFIL) and pagination
Search ScienceDirect for full-text articles via the legacy GET or v2 PUT endpoint
Retrieve a Scopus abstract by Scopus ID for citation metadata and references
Retrieve a Scopus abstract by DOI when only the DOI is known
Retrieve a Scopus abstract by EID, PII, or PubMed ID to bridge identifier systems
Combine API key with institutional token (X-ELS-Insttoken) to unlock subscribed full-text content
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Elsevier API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Literature review automation
Research teams running systematic literature reviews can call GET /content/search/scopus with TITLE-ABS-KEY queries to enumerate relevant papers, then iterate the result list and call GET /content/abstract/scopus_id/{scopus_id} for each to retrieve abstracts and citation references. The two-step pattern produces a structured corpus suitable for screening, coding, and meta-analysis without manual database scraping.
Call GET /content/search/scopus with a TITLE-ABS-KEY query, then iterate the entries and call GET /content/abstract/scopus_id/{scopus_id} for each to compile a corpus
Bibliometrics and citation analysis
Bibliometric tools and research-evaluation platforms can use the Scopus search and abstract endpoints to compute h-indexes, citation networks, and topic co-occurrence at scale. The abstract response includes full citation references, supporting forward and backward citation traversal. Combined with author and affiliation filters this enables institution-level reporting.
Search Scopus by AU-ID for an author, then call GET /content/abstract/scopus_id/{scopus_id} for each paper to extract citation references and build a network graph
DOI-driven metadata enrichment
Reference managers, plagiarism checkers, and reading-list tools can call GET /content/abstract/doi/{doi} to enrich a user-supplied DOI with full Elsevier metadata - title, authors, affiliations, abstract, and references. This avoids the common problem of patchy metadata in public DOI resolvers, especially for older papers.
Given a list of DOIs, call GET /content/abstract/doi/{doi} for each and store the returned abstract, authors, and references in a reference manager
AI literature copilot via Jentic
An AI literature copilot can search Jentic for the Scopus search operation, execute it with a researcher's natural-language query, and pipe abstracts into a summarisation chain. Jentic stores the X-ELS-APIKey credential in the vault, so the agent runs against subscribed content without ever holding the raw key.
Search Jentic for 'search scopus for papers', execute GET /content/search/scopus, then iterate top entries calling GET /content/abstract/scopus_id/{scopus_id} and feed abstracts into a summary chain
Key Endpoints
8 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for elsevier api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/content/search/scopus
Search the Scopus database
PUT
/content/search/sciencedirect
Search ScienceDirect (v2 PUT)
GET
/content/abstract/doi/{doi}
Retrieve abstract by DOI
GET
/content/abstract/scopus_id/{scopus_id}
Retrieve abstract by Scopus ID
GET
/content/abstract/eid/{eid}
Retrieve abstract by EID
GET
/content/abstract/pii/{pii}
Retrieve abstract by PII
GET
/content/abstract/pubmed_id/{pubmed_id}
Retrieve abstract by PubMed ID
GET
/content/search/scopus
Search the Scopus database
PUT
/content/search/sciencedirect
Search ScienceDirect (v2 PUT)
GET
/content/abstract/doi/{doi}
Retrieve abstract by DOI
GET
/content/abstract/scopus_id/{scopus_id}
Retrieve abstract by Scopus ID
GET
/content/abstract/eid/{eid}
Retrieve abstract by EID
GET
/content/abstract/pii/{pii}
Retrieve abstract by PII
GET
/content/abstract/pubmed_id/{pubmed_id}
Retrieve abstract by PubMed ID
Jentic AI Readiness Score
This API is usable in Jentic One now. Its AI-readiness score against Jentic's framework shows where it stands today and where improvements would make it even easier for agents to use.
E
Elsevier API
- AI-Aware (B)66/100
81
Foundational Compliance64
Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility49
AI-Readiness & Agent Experience94
Agent Usability50
Security100
AI DiscoverabilityPowered by JenticScoring Framework 1.0.0 | Scoring Engine 0.4.0
Show dimension breakdown
81
Foundational Compliance
Base layer of spec validity and structural soundness.
Grade: ASignals: 4
98%
Lint Results
Aggregated quality score from linter diagnostics, weighted by severity.
100%
Resolution Completeness
Percentage of `$ref` references that resolve successfully.
100%
Specification Validity
Checks whether the API description parses successfully and conforms to its declared specification (e.g., OpenAPI).
25%
Structural Integrity
Structural correctness score based on schema issues using logarithmic dampening.
64
Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility
Clarity, completeness, and ingestion readiness for developers and tooling.
Grade: BSignals: 4
0%
Example Density
How richly the API is illustrated with examples.
100%
Example Validity
Percentage of examples that conform to their schemas.
62%
Response Coverage
Percentage of operations with complete response definitions (success, client error, server error).
93%
Tooling Readiness
Health of API ingestion, bundling, and resolution within Jentic pipelines.
49
AI-Readiness & Agent Experience
Semantic breadth, depth, and agent comprehension for AI systems.
Grade: D+Signals: 4
43%
Description Coverage
Coverage of descriptions across API elements.
0%
Error Standardization
Coverage of RFC 9457 Problem Details for error responses.
100%
OperationId Quality
Coverage, uniqueness, and casing consistency of operationIds for AI inference.
53%
Summary Coverage
Coverage of summaries across operations/tags/info.
94
Agent Usability
Functional utility, complexity comfort, and AI orchestration readiness.
Grade: A+Signals: 1
94%
Complexity Comfort
Agent comfort level based on API operational and structural complexity.
50
Security
Trust, risk posture, and security compliance.
Grade: C-Signals: 1
50%
Authentication Strength
Average quality of security schemes based on authentication method strength (weakest link for OAuth2).
100
AI Discoverability
Findability, semantic richness, and reasoning readiness.
Grade: A+Signals: 1
100%
Descriptive Richness
Clarity and depth of descriptions across API elements.
Score it yourself
Every API in the directory is allowlisted, so you can re-score it with no key required.
npx @jentic/api-scorecard-cli score <openapi-url>Why Jentic?
What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.
Setup
Wiring Elsevier by hand means setting up its API key auth and coding your own calls across the Scopus search, ScienceDirect search, and abstract retrieval endpoints. Through Jentic you install once, import the Elsevier API from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it.
Permission scoping
Elsevier puts the document identifier in the URL path (/content/abstract/doi/{doi}, /content/abstract/scopus_id/{scopus_id}), and these are read-only lookups, so a rule can pin your agent to abstract retrieval and search only. You choose the operations it may call, so any beyond those you name are not included.
Credential isolation
Your Elsevier API key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'search Scopus for a topic' or 'retrieve an abstract by DOI', and Jentic returns the matching Elsevier operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Elsevier API through Jentic.
Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Elsevier API?
Elsevier does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call Elsevier API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.
What authentication does the Elsevier API use?
An API key passed in the `X-ELS-APIKey` header. Institutional users add `X-ELS-Insttoken` to unlock subscribed full-text content from ScienceDirect. Through Jentic, both headers are stored encrypted in your Jentic One instance and injected at execution time so the agent never sees the raw key or institutional token.
Can I retrieve a Scopus abstract by DOI through Jentic?
Yes. Install with `pip install jentic`, search Jentic for `retrieve a scopus abstract by doi`, load the schema for GET /content/abstract/doi/{doi}, populate the DOI, and execute. The response includes title, authors, abstract text, and citation references.
What is the difference between the legacy GET and v2 PUT ScienceDirect search endpoints?
GET /content/search/sciencedirect is the legacy keyword search retained for backwards compatibility. PUT /content/search/sciencedirect is the v2 endpoint that accepts a richer JSON query body - required for boolean operators, advanced filters, and faceted searches.
What are the rate limits for the Elsevier API?
Elsevier enforces per-key weekly quotas that vary by API product (Scopus Search, Abstract Retrieval, ScienceDirect Search) and by your subscription tier. Typical quotas are in the tens of thousands of calls per week. Check the Elsevier Developer Portal for the limit on your key. Responses include `X-RateLimit-Remaining` headers so agents can back off before hitting 429.
Can I retrieve an abstract by PubMed ID?
Yes. GET /content/abstract/pubmed_id/{pubmed_id} resolves a PubMed identifier to the matching Scopus abstract record, which is useful when integrating with biomedical pipelines that key on PubMed IDs but need Scopus citation data.
Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Elsevier API?
Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, you decide which Elsevier operations your agent may call, and any operation you do not name is unavailable to it. Every Elsevier endpoint here is a read-only lookup that puts the document identifier in the URL path, such as GET /content/abstract/doi/{doi} and GET /content/abstract/scopus_id/{scopus_id}, so you can pin the agent to Scopus and ScienceDirect search and abstract retrieval only. You also control which stored credential the agent uses, keeping it scoped to the searches and lookups you allow.
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