Guides: OpenAlex: Exploring Research Intelligence Using Open Data: What is OpenAlex?

What is OpenAlex ?

OpenAlex is an open source platform to index the research literature, journals, researchers and institutions all over the world. Its name is inspired by the ancient Library of Alexandria in Egypt. This project is run by OurResearch which is a nonprofit that aims to make scholarly communication fairer, more inclusive, and more transparent.

Compared with the traditional literature databases, such as Scopus and Web of Science, OpenAlex is free to access its underlying data and source code and also the database makes use of PIDs (Persistent Identifier) to get data from different open sources, including Crossref, ORCID and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

This platform offers numerous features, such as the ability to explore research outputs by institution, country and more, an interactive interface to visualize research outputs and tools to analyze research trends.

How to access data?

In general, there are three ways to retrieve data from OpenAlex:

Making use of APIs to extract data as no authentication is required (Most recommended because of its flexibility and generous daily limit)
A web-based graphical user interface (GUI) is launched since July of 2023, and this interface can make it easier to access the data
Downloading a database snapshot in JSON Lines format

What are the data sources and types?

OpenAlex is a platform that collects and standardizes data from various sources. The two most important data sources are MAG (Microsoft Academic Graph), which is a large database of scholarly publications and related information and Crossref, which is a non-profit organization that provides a digital infrastructure for scholarly contents. Some other sources are also included as below:

ORCID, ROR, DOAJ, Unpaywall, Pubmed, Pubmed Central, The ISSN International Centre, Internet Archive and more

8 Types of Data:

Works - journal articles, books, datasets, and theses
Authors - people creates works
Sources - such as journals, conferences, and repositories
Institutions - Universities and other organizations to which authors claim affiliations
Concepts - Topics assigned to works
Publishers: Companies and organizations to distribute works
Funders: Organizations fund research
Geo: Locations in the world

#4 EdUHK's Publications With Highest Citations For Last 10 Years

Year	Publication Titles	Citation
2014	Occurrence, sources, and fate of pharmaceuticals in aquatic environment and soil Environmental Pollution, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2014.01.015	677
2015	Sulfur-doped g-C3N4 with enhanced photocatalytic CO2-reduction performance Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2015.03.045	1121
2016	Plastic waste in the marine environment: A review of sources, occurrence and effects Science of The Total Environment, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.05.084	1294
2017	Least Squares Generative Adversarial Networks 2017 IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCV.2017.304	4053
2018	Review on nanoscale Bi-based photocatalysts Nanoscale horizons, https://doi.org/10.1039/C8NH00062J	447
2019	Heavy metals in food crops: Health risks, fate, mechanisms, and management Environment International, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.01.067	1331
2020	Source, migration and toxicology of microplastics in soil Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105263	746
2021	Design, Fabrication, and Mechanism of Nitrogen‐Doped Graphene‐Based Photocatalyst Advanced Materials, https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202003521	372
2022	Isotherm models for adsorption of heavy metals from water - A review Chemosphere, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.135545	240
2023	What Is the Impact of ChatGPT on Education? A Rapid Review of the Literature Education Sciences, https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13040410	508

Conclusion

The guide provides an overview of OpenAlex, an open scholarly database that offers a range of features. We showcase EdUHK's research intelligence by exploring the number of Open Access (OA) publications, publishing trends, contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and publications with the highest citations. OpenAlex, along with traditional scholarly databases like Scopus and Web of Science, contributes to a more transparent research community through the availability of open data.

Explore EdUHK’s research intelligence using OpenAlex data

Data were retrieved using OpenAlex for the past 10 years on 6 August, 2024. We will explore EdUHK research in term of several perspectives as below:

#1 Number of Open Access Publications at EdUHK (2014-2023)

* Data retrieved on 6 August 2024

Findings:

The data shows that EdUHK has been increasing the number of research publications available through Open Access (OA) in recent years, and there is a noticeable rise since 2019. The change is likely related to the OA transformative agreement (TA) signed between the Library and publishers, which allows EdUHK authors to publish OA articles.

#3 Publishing Trends Among EdUHK Researchers For Last 10 Years

Findings:

Over the past decades, EdUHK researchers have actively collaborated with reputable publishers, including Springer Nature, Elsevier BV, Taylor & Francis, Springer Science+Business Media, and others. This suggests that EdUHK researchers have engaged in collaborations with reputable publishers for disseminating their research findings. The articles published in Springer Nature, Elsevier BV, Taylor & Francis, Springer Science+Business Media are the majority of all publications from EdUHK, and the number of publications are relatively stable.

#2 EdUHK Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) For Last 10 Years

Findings:

EdUHK has made significant efforts to contribute to SDGs, particularly in the areas below:

1. quality education: EdUHK's performance in promoting quality education shows a consistent upward trend from 2014 to 2023, and it has the highest number of publications.

2. reduced inequalities

3. good health and well-being: After 2020, there is a significant increase in the number of publications. We may guess that the focus of research is about the health because of COVID-19.

4. no poverty, peace

5. peace, justic, and strong institutions