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GET
/
subfields
/
{id}
Get a single subfield
curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.openalex.org/subfields/{id}?api_key='
{
  "id": "https://openalex.org/subfields/1702",
  "display_name": "<string>",
  "description": "<string>",
  "display_name_alternatives": [
    "<string>"
  ],
  "field": {
    "id": "<string>",
    "display_name": "<string>"
  },
  "domain": {
    "id": "<string>",
    "display_name": "<string>"
  },
  "topics": [
    {
      "id": "<string>",
      "display_name": "<string>"
    }
  ],
  "siblings": [
    {
      "id": "<string>",
      "display_name": "<string>"
    }
  ],
  "ids": {
    "openalex": "<string>",
    "wikidata": "<string>",
    "wikipedia": "<string>"
  },
  "works_count": 123,
  "cited_by_count": 123,
  "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

Subfield ID (e.g., 1702 for Artificial Intelligence)

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

Third-level category in the topic hierarchy (254 total)

​
id
string

The OpenAlex ID for this subfield.

Example:

"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702"

​
display_name
string

The English-language label of the subfield.

​
description
string

A description of this subfield.

​
display_name_alternatives
string[]

Alternate names for this subfield.

​
field
object

The field containing this subfield (parent level).

​
domain
object

The domain containing this subfield (top level of hierarchy).

​
topics
object[]

The topics within this subfield. Each object has id and display_name.

​
siblings
object[]

Other subfields at the same level (across all fields). Each object has id and display_name.

​
ids
object

External identifiers:

​
works_count
integer

The number of works tagged with topics in this subfield.

​
cited_by_count
integer

Total citations to works in this subfield.

​
works_api_url
string

A URL that returns all works tagged with this subfield.

​
created_date
string<date>

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

​
updated_date
string<date-time>

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