> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.openalex.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quickstart

> Query the OpenAlex dataset in 5 minutes

Let's use the OpenAlex API to find journal articles published by authors at Stanford University between 2010 and 2020. No login or API key required for basic queries.

<Tip>
  Install a JSON viewer extension like [JSONVue](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jsonvue/chklaanhfefbnpoihckbnefhakgolnmc) to make API responses easier to read in your browser.
</Tip>

## 1. Find an institution

Search for Stanford University using the institutions endpoint:

```bash theme={"dark"}
https://api.openalex.org/institutions?search=stanford
```

The first result has the ID we need:

```json theme={"dark"}
{
  "id": "https://openalex.org/I97018004",
  "ror": "https://ror.org/00f54p054",
  "display_name": "Stanford University",
  "country_code": "US",
  "type": "education"
}
```

## 2. Get a single entity

Fetch the full institution record by ID:

```bash theme={"dark"}
https://api.openalex.org/institutions/I97018004
```

This works for any entity type—works, authors, sources, etc.

## 3. Find works from Stanford

Filter works to show those with at least one Stanford author:

```bash theme={"dark"}
https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=institutions.id:I97018004
```

## 4. Filter by year and sort

Narrow to 2010-2020 and sort newest first:

```bash theme={"dark"}
https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=institutions.id:I97018004,publication_year:2010-2020&sort=publication_date:desc
```

## 5. Group by year

Get counts per year:

```bash theme={"dark"}
https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=institutions.id:I97018004,publication_year:2010-2020&group_by=publication_year
```

Response:

```json theme={"dark"}
[
  { "key": "2020", "key_display_name": "2020", "count": 18627 },
  { "key": "2019", "key_display_name": "2019", "count": 15933 },
  { "key": "2017", "key_display_name": "2017", "count": 14789 }
]
```

## 6. Semantic search (optional)

Find conceptually related works using AI:

```bash theme={"dark"}
https://api.openalex.org/works?search.semantic=machine+learning+in+healthcare&api_key=YOUR_KEY
```

This finds papers about "AI-driven diagnosis" even if they don't use the exact words "machine learning."

<Note>
  Semantic search requires an [API key](/guides/authentication). Basic filtering and searching is free.
</Note>

## 7. Download full text (optional)

For works with available content:

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash PDF theme={"dark"}
  https://content.openalex.org/works/W3038568908.pdf?api_key=YOUR_KEY
  ```

  ```bash TEI XML theme={"dark"}
  https://content.openalex.org/works/W3038568908.grobid-xml?api_key=YOUR_KEY
  ```
</CodeGroup>

Check the `has_content.pdf` filter to find downloadable works.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Works" icon="file-lines" href="/api-reference/works">
    Journal articles, books, datasets, theses
  </Card>

  <Card title="Authors" icon="user" href="/api-reference/authors">
    Researchers and their publications
  </Card>

  <Card title="Filtering" icon="filter" href="/guides/filtering">
    Narrow results with 150+ filter options
  </Card>

  <Card title="Recipes" icon="book" href="/guides/recipes">
    Common API patterns and examples
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

All data is [CC0 licensed](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) — free to access and share.