# PubMed Scraper (`lulzasaur/pubmed-scraper`) Actor

Search and scrape PubMed biomedical literature via NCBI E-utilities. Get titles, authors, abstracts, journals, MeSH terms, DOIs. Search by keyword or fetch by PMID.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/pubmed-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## PubMed Scraper

Search and scrape biomedical literature from PubMed using NCBI E-utilities. Access 36+ million citations from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.

### Features

- **Search** PubMed with full query syntax (MeSH terms, boolean operators, field tags)
- **Detail** lookup by PubMed ID (PMID)
- Complete article metadata: authors, abstracts, journals, MeSH terms, keywords
- Date range filtering
- Batch PMID lookups (up to 200 per batch)

### Modes

| Mode | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `search` | Search PubMed by keyword/MeSH term |
| `detail` | Fetch specific articles by PMID |

### Input Example

```json
{
    "mode": "search",
    "searchQuery": "CRISPR gene editing",
    "sortBy": "date",
    "maxResults": 100
}
```

### Output Fields

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `pmid` | string | PubMed ID |
| `title` | string | Article title |
| `authors` | array | Author name list |
| `authorDetails` | array | Detailed author info (name, initials, affiliation) |
| `abstract` | string | Full abstract text |
| `journal` | string | Journal name |
| `pubDate` | string | Publication date |
| `volume` | string | Journal volume |
| `issue` | string | Journal issue |
| `pages` | string | Page numbers |
| `doi` | string | Digital Object Identifier |
| `meshTerms` | array | MeSH subject headings |
| `keywords` | array | Author keywords |
| `pubTypes` | array | Publication types |
| `url` | string | PubMed URL |

### Cost

This actor charges $0.005 per result using Pay-Per-Event pricing.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Search PubMed by keyword, or fetch specific papers by PMID.

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

PubMed search query (supports MeSH terms, boolean operators, field tags like \[au], \[ti], \[mh]).

## `pmids` (type: `string`):

Comma-separated PubMed IDs for detail mode (e.g. '12345678,23456789').

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Sort order for search results.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

Start date filter (YYYY/MM/DD format).

## `dateTo` (type: `string`):

End date filter (YYYY/MM/DD format).

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of articles to return.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional proxy configuration.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "cancer",
  "pmids": "",
  "sortBy": "relevance",
  "dateFrom": "",
  "dateTo": "",
  "maxResults": 50
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/pubmed-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lulzasaur/pubmed-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call lulzasaur/pubmed-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=lulzasaur/pubmed-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/SgEnsgTwZuOLJ3jAL/builds/v4ICKarQwPzYnmIji/openapi.json