bioRxiv API

bioRxiv is a preprint server for biology. The API provides metadata for preprints, including title, authors, abstract, DOI, and publication status.

Important: The bioRxiv API has no keyword search. It supports date-range browsing and DOI lookup only. For keyword search of bioRxiv preprints, use Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, or CORE instead.

Base URL

https://api.biorxiv.org

Authentication

None required. Fully public API.

Key Endpoints

1. Content Detail -- Browse by date range

GET /details/biorxiv/{interval}/{cursor}/{format}

Optional query parameter: ?category=neuroscience (filter by category, use underscores for spaces)

Examples:

https://api.biorxiv.org/details/biorxiv/2024-01-01/2024-01-31/0
https://api.biorxiv.org/details/biorxiv/5
https://api.biorxiv.org/details/biorxiv/10d
https://api.biorxiv.org/details/biorxiv/2024-01-01/2024-01-31?category=neuroscience

2. Content Detail -- DOI lookup

GET /details/biorxiv/{doi}/na/{format}

Example:

https://api.biorxiv.org/details/biorxiv/10.1101/2024.01.16.575895/na/json

3. Published Article Links

GET /pubs/biorxiv/{interval}/{cursor}
GET /pubs/biorxiv/{doi}/na

Links preprints to their published journal versions. Accepts both preprint DOI and published DOI.

4. Publisher Filter

GET /publisher/{prefix}/{interval}/{cursor}

Find bioRxiv papers published by a specific publisher (by DOI prefix).

Example:

https://api.biorxiv.org/publisher/10.15252/2024-01-01/2024-06-01/0

Response Format

{
  "messages": [{
    "status": "ok",
    "count": 100,
    "total": "1029",
    "cursor": 0
  }],
  "collection": [{
    "title": "Paper title...",
    "authors": "Surname, A.; Surname, B.",
    "author_corresponding": "Full Name",
    "author_corresponding_institution": "Institution",
    "doi": "10.1101/2024.01.16.575895",
    "date": "2024-01-20",
    "version": "1",
    "type": "new results",
    "license": "cc_no",
    "category": "cancer biology",
    "jatsxml": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/.../source.xml",
    "abstract": "Full abstract text...",
    "published": "10.1158/2159-8290.CD-24-0187",
    "server": "bioRxiv"
  }]
}

• published is "NA" if not yet published in a journal, or the published DOI if it has been.
• type values: new results, confirmatory results, contradictory results

Pagination

All multi-result endpoints return 100 results per page. Use cursor to paginate. The messages object tells you the total count.

Rate Limits

No documented rate limits. No authentication required. Be reasonable with request frequency.

Categories

animal-behavior-and-cognition, biochemistry, bioengineering, bioinformatics, biophysics, cancer-biology, cell-biology, clinical-trials, developmental-biology, ecology, epidemiology, evolutionary-biology, genetics, genomics, immunology, microbiology, molecular-biology, neuroscience, paleontology, pathology, pharmacology-and-toxicology, physiology, plant-biology, scientific-communication-and-education, synthetic-biology, systems-biology, zoology