DataCite API: Research Dataset Search

doi	10.5281/zenodo.4006472
title	FYRE Climate: Temperature
publisher	Zenodo

How it will work: 3 steps

Follow us on ApifyThe tool is built and waits in the queue for the Apify Store. Apify is the cloud platform where our tools run.
Paste your input and press StartNo code needed: you fill in a form (the input). It already has a working example. For example: climate temperature in Search query. Each start is one run.
Download the resultsWhen the run ends, the results are in a table (the dataset). Open Output, press Export and pick Excel or CSV. JSON and the API are there too.

This tool is an Apify Actor: a small program that runs on Apify. You can also run it on a schedule, for example every Monday. New to it? Read how it works, step by step and the 8 words you need first.

Made by Cliqto Media, an independent digital media company. We made this tool. About us

What it does

Search DataCite for research datasets by topic, publisher, funder, publication year and license. The Actor returns one row per DOI with title, creators, rights, related identifiers and DataCite citation counts.

Good for

Find datasets on a topic from 2020 to 2025 and export DOIs and titles.
Find datasets from one repository (for example Zenodo or Dryad) or one funder.
Check which datasets have an open license, such as cc-by-4.0.

Not a good fit

It does not download dataset files. It returns metadata and links.
It returns at most 500 records per run, not the whole DataCite catalog.
DataCite only. Crossref DOIs (most journal articles) are not included.

Who uses it

Researchers

Find datasets on a topic for a study.

Research data managers

List datasets from one repository or funder.

Open science teams

Check which datasets have an open license.

Price

Prices will be shown after release.

Questions

Does it download the data files?

No. It returns metadata and links only.

Why do I see the same title twice?

Each version can have its own DOI. Each DOI is a row.

Does it include journal articles?

No. Most journal articles use Crossref, not DataCite.

Do I need a DataCite key?

No. It uses the public DataCite REST API.

Does license show every license?

No. license is the first entry in rights. A record can have more, and the license filter can match a later one. Check rights for the full list. An empty rights list means the reuse terms are unknown, not that reuse is allowed.

Is citationCount complete?

No. It is the number DataCite reports from its own links. Other citation indexes can show more.

How fresh is the data?

Each run reads DataCite live. sourceUpdatedAt shows when DataCite last changed the record.

Details

Step by step on Apify

Open the Input tab.
Keep the example in Search query: climate temperature.
Keep Resource type = Dataset, years 2020–2025 and Maximum results = 25.
Click Start.
Open the Research datasets view in the Output tab and check the first DOI and title.

Tips for better results

Filter by publisher, like Zenodo or Dryad, to see one repository.
Check the rights list, not only the first license.
One run gives up to 500 records. Split big topics by year.

Limits and good to know

1–500 rows per run, 50 rows per source page, at most 12 pages
Each request has 15 seconds. Temporary 429 and 5xx errors get up to three attempts. All source work stops after 150 seconds
Runs use 256 MB and a 300-second timeout. A larger timeout does not add more source work
Rows are saved one source page at a time. If the run restarts (for example after Apify moves it to another server, or after a resurrect), it first reads the DOIs already in its Dataset and skips them, so a row is not saved twice and is not charged again. Tested on Apify with a run restarted through the API in the middle of a page and with a resurrected finished run; the platform's own move to another server is covered by automated tests only
The source limits count across all processes of a run: 150 seconds of source time, 18 requests and 6 MiB of responses in total. A restarted or manually resurrected run continues with the requests and time it has already used, so it can end partial with SOURCE_BUDGET_EXHAUSTED or PAGINATION_BUDGET sooner than a new run would
While a move to another server is in progress, the summary shows MIGRATING. The run waits at most 90 seconds in total (shared by all its processes) to be restarted; if it is not, it ends as Failed with MIGRATION_FAILED and keeps the saved rows
A run uses at most 3 processes (the first start plus two restarts). A 4th start stops at once with RESTART_LIMIT, without requests, new rows or row charges; the saved rows are kept
A resurrected finished run repeats its last summary and saves and charges no new rows; Apify still charges the start fee for the new start. This includes a run stopped by your spending limit (partial CHARGE_LIMIT): a resurrect does not continue it, even with a higher limit. To get more records, start a new run with a higher limit. A run stopped before it finished (aborted, or ended with MIGRATION_FAILED) continues where it stopped when resurrected, within the shared limits above

Recent updates

Version 0.1 · 13 October 2026

For developers

Sample result

One result from a real test run, in JSON. Real values change from run to run. Some values are changed for privacy. In Excel or CSV each field is a column.

one result · JSON

{
  "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.4006472",
  "title": "FYRE Climate: Temperature",
  "creators": [{ "name": "Author, Example", "nameType": null }],
  "publisher": "Zenodo",
  "year": 2020,
  "resourceType": "Dataset",
  "resourceTypeDetail": null,
  "subjects": [{ "subject": "climate" }],
  "license": "cc-by-sa-4.0",
  "rights": [{ "rightsIdentifier": "cc-by-sa-4.0", "rights": "Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International", "rightsUri": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode" }],
  "url": "https://zenodo.org/record/4006472",
  "doiUrl": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4006472",
  "citationCount": 3,
  "provider": "DataCite",
  "sourceUrl": "https://api.datacite.org/dois/10.5281%2Fzenodo.4006472",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-10-13T04:16:15.078Z",
  "sourceUpdatedAt": "2024-10-06T08:55:31Z",
  "metadataLicense": "CC0-1.0"
}

Data fields (23)

Field	Type	Meaning
`doi`	string	DataCite DOI, for example 10.5281/zenodo.4006472. Unique within one run.
`doiUrl`	string	DOI resolver link: https://doi.org/ plus the DOI.
`provider`	string	Always DataCite.
`sourceUrl`	string	DataCite REST API record for this DOI.
`fetchedAt`	string	ISO 8601 UTC time when this Actor read the record.
`metadataLicense`	string	License of the metadata, always CC0-1.0. It is not the dataset license.
`title`	string	First title as plain text: HTML tags removed (also entity-encoded tags), entities such as & decoded, control characters dropped. Null if blank. Raw titles are in titles.
`publisher`	string	Publisher or repository name, for example Zenodo. Null if missing.
`resourceType`	string	General resource type, for example Dataset or Software.
`resourceTypeDetail`	string	Free-text resource type from the publisher. Null if missing or blank.
`url`	string	Landing page of the record at the publisher. Null if missing.
`license`	string	First rights identifier, URI or name from rights. Null if no rights. Other licenses can be in rights.
`sourceUpdatedAt`	string	ISO 8601 time when DataCite last updated the record. Null if missing.
`year`	number	Publication year as an integer. Null if missing.
`citationCount`	number	Citation count reported by DataCite. 0 is a real value; null if unknown. Not a full citation census.
`titles`	array	All title objects as DataCite returns them; may contain HTML and language tags.
`creators`	array	Creator objects with names, name type, identifiers such as ORCID and affiliations. Empty list if missing.
`subjects`	array	Subject objects (keywords and classification codes). Empty list if missing.
`rights`	array	All rights objects for the dataset: SPDX ID, URI and name. Empty list means unknown reuse rights.
`sizes`	array	Size strings as supplied, for example 2 files or 15 MB. Empty list if missing.
`formats`	array	Format strings as supplied, for example text/csv. Empty list if missing.
`relatedIdentifiers`	array	Links to related works: identifier, type and relation, for example IsCitedBy or IsVersionOf. Empty list if missing.
`fundingReferences`	array	Funding objects: funder name, funder ID and award. Empty list if missing.

Input settings (9)

The main fields of the input form. With the API you send them as JSON.

Setting	Name in the API	Type	Example value
Search query	`query`	string	`"climate temperature"`
Resource type	`resourceTypeGeneral`	string	`"Dataset"`
Sort order	`sortBy`	string	`"relevance"`
Publisher	`publisher`	string
Funder	`funder`	string
Publication year from	`yearFrom`	integer	`2020`
Publication year to	`yearTo`	integer	`2025`
Dataset license	`license`	string
Maximum results	`maxResults`	integer	`25`

DataCite Research Dataset Search

How it will work: 3 steps