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GET
/
concepts
/
{id}
Get a single concept (deprecated)
curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.openalex.org/concepts/{id}?api_key='
{
  "id": "https://openalex.org/C41008148",
  "display_name": "<string>",
  "description": "<string>",
  "level": 123,
  "wikidata": "<string>",
  "ids": {
    "openalex": "<string>",
    "wikidata": "<string>",
    "wikipedia": "<string>",
    "mag": 123
  },
  "image_url": "<string>",
  "image_thumbnail_url": "<string>",
  "works_count": 123,
  "cited_by_count": 123,
  "ancestors": "<array>",
  "related_concepts": "<array>",
  "counts_by_year": "<array>",
  "works_api_url": "<string>",
  "created_date": "2023-12-25",
  "updated_date": "2023-11-07T05:31:56Z"
}

Authorizations

​
api_key
string
query
required

Your OpenAlex API key. Get a free key at https://openalex.org/settings/api

Path Parameters

​
id
string
required

OpenAlex ID (e.g., C41008148 for Computer Science)

Query Parameters

​
select
string

Comma-separated list of fields to return. Reduces response size. Example: select=id,display_name,cited_by_count

​
api_key
string
required

Your OpenAlex API key (required). Get a free key at https://openalex.org/settings/api

Response

Successful response

Legacy research area taxonomy (deprecated)

​
id
string

The OpenAlex ID for this concept.

Example:

"https://openalex.org/C41008148"

​
display_name
string

The name of the concept.

​
description
string

A description of this concept.

​
level
integer

The hierarchical level (0 = top level, higher = more specific).

​
wikidata
string

The Wikidata ID for this concept.

​
ids
object

External identifiers:

​
image_url
string | null

URL for an image representing this concept.

​
image_thumbnail_url
string | null

Smaller version of image_url.

​
works_count
integer

The number of works tagged with this concept.

​
cited_by_count
integer

Total citations to works tagged with this concept.

​
ancestors
array | null

Parent concepts in the hierarchy.

​
related_concepts
array | null

Related concepts with similarity scores.

​
counts_by_year
array | null

works_count and cited_by_count for each of the last ten years.

​
works_api_url
string

A URL that returns all works tagged with this concept.

​
created_date
string<date>

When this concept was added to OpenAlex (ISO 8601 date).

​
updated_date
string<date-time>

When this concept was last updated (ISO 8601 datetime).