API stands for application programming interface. An API is a protocol that allows a user to query a resource and retrieve and download data in a machine-readable format.
An Application Programming Interface (API) allows different software programs to communicate with one another by allowing for data exchange. In short, APIs allow for the sharing of data that is necessary for Apps to function. This allows for:
Researchers sometimes use APIs to download collections of texts, such as scholarly journal articles, so they can perform automated text mining on the corpus they've downloaded.
Here is a simple tutorial that explains what an API is.
Below are some APIs that are available to researchers. Some are open to the public, while others are available according to the terms of Temple University Libraries' subscriptions. Many require you to create an API key, which is a quick and free process.
To access an API, you can create a simple query in the address bar in a web browser. However, a more complex query generally requires using a programming language. The examples given in the documentation for the APIs listed below typically do not include sample programming code; they only explain how the data is structured in order to help users write a query.
Note that many APIs can change over time, depending on the database vendor's decisions. Querying social media platforms has become popular in media studies and related fields, but recent changes to Twitter and other social media platforms has made research more difficult and expensive.
Each API specifies who may get access to their data and for what purpose. Whether through a third-party app, or directly through code, the data source will want to authenticate the request. There are generally two types of authentication: project-based and user-based.
With project-based approaches, a researcher may be granted an API key tied to a specific project they've identified. Another researcher who has permission to use that key may use it to access the API, and all search results/queries will be saved to the project. The identities of who is utilizing the API key might not be stored.
For user-based approaches, a researcher may be granted a user-specific authentication token. With Google, for example, the authentication token is comprised of a "key" and "secret." The token is tied to the user's Google account. This means that other researchers can not use the authentication token but must apply for their own. Twitter's API uses a similar method for its 30-day searches.
A researcher may write their own code to directly access an API. They may also use packages or third-party apps that have already written the code needed to access the API.
Contact: integrationsupport@elsevier.com
