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The search parameter finds results matching a given text search. Search requests cost **1per1,000calls∗∗(vs.1 per 1,000 calls** (vs. 0.10 per 1,000 for list/filter requests). See pricing. 
# Works with "dna" in title, abstract, or fulltext
https://api.openalex.org/works?search=dna

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What gets searched

Each entity type searches different fields:
EntitySearchable fields
Workstitle, abstract, fulltext
Authorsdisplay_name, display_name_alternatives
Sourcesdisplay_name, alternate_titles, abbreviated_title
Institutionsdisplay_name, display_name_alternatives, display_name_acronyms
Topics/Keywordsdisplay_name, description

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Text processing

OpenAlex uses stemming and removes stop words to improve results:
  • Words like “the” and “an” are removed
  • A search for “possums” also returns “possum”
  • Searches match whole words only (“lun” won’t match “lunar”)
Use search.exact to search without stemming: 
https://api.openalex.org/works?search.exact=surgery
Only one search parameter is allowed per request: search, search.exact, or search.semantic.
Use AND, OR, NOT (uppercase) for complex queries. Surround phrases with double quotes for exact matching: 
# Works about "elmo" AND "sesame street" but NOT "cookie" or "monster"
https://api.openalex.org/works?search=(elmo AND "sesame street") NOT (cookie OR monster)
Words not separated by boolean operators are treated as AND.

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Phrase matching

Use double quotes to search for an exact phrase. Multi-word searches without quotes rank results higher when words appear close together. 
https://api.openalex.org/works?search="fierce creatures"
Append ~N to a quoted phrase to find the words within N positions of each other, without requiring an exact match: 
# "climate" and "change" within 5 words of each other
https://api.openalex.org/works?search="climate change"~5

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Wildcards

Use * to match zero or more characters and ? to match exactly one character:
  • Trailing wildcard: machin* matches “machine”, “machines”, “machinery”
  • Single-character wildcard: wom?n matches “woman” and “women”
The search term must have at least 3 characters before the wildcard. Leading wildcards (e.g., *ology) are not supported. 
https://api.openalex.org/works?search=machin*
Append ~N to a term to allow up to N character edits (insertions, deletions, or substitutions). The edit distance N can be 0, 1, or 2: 
# Matches "machine", "machin", and other close variants
https://api.openalex.org/works?search=machin~1
The search term must have at least 3 characters before the ~. This is useful for catching typos and spelling variations.

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Relevance score

Search results include a relevance_score property and are sorted by it (descending) by default. The score is based on:
  • Text similarity to your search term
  • Citation count (more cited = higher score)
Use keyword search when…Use semantic search when…
You know the exact termsYou want conceptually related works
You need filters/sortingYou’re exploring a new research area
You want specific fieldsYour query is a sentence or paragraph
Semantic search uses AI embeddings to find works by meaning. A query about “machine learning in healthcare” finds papers using “AI-driven diagnosis” or “computational medicine.”
Deprecated. The filter=field.search: syntax still works but is no longer recommended. Use the search query parameter instead.
The .search filter suffix searches a specific field rather than all searchable fields at once: 
# Authors with "Einstein" in their name (deprecated)
https://api.openalex.org/authors?filter=display_name.search:einstein

# Works with "cubist" in the title only (deprecated)
https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=title.search:cubist
The default.search filter is equivalent to the search query parameter. Variants like .search.exact (unstemmed) and .search.no_stem also exist for some fields. These filter-based searches cost the same $1 per 1,000 requests. For autocomplete use cases, use the autocomplete endpoint instead.