OpenURL
Our OpenURL service is used primarily by library link resolvers but can also be used to look up metadata records. Please note that OpenURL retrieval includes only bibliographic metadata.
On this page, learn more about:
How to access OpenURL
Access to the OpenURL service is free, but it does require you to identify yourself using your email address. You do not need to register your email address with us in advance, but you do need to include your email address in your query. Find out more.
If you are a librarian and you need to use OpenURL with your library link resolver, an email address should be supplied in queries that the link resolver sends to Crossref. This will be configured in your link resolver.
Providing an email address in your queries means that we can identify and contact a user in the rare event that their queries are overloading our system or otherwise causing issues. Any contact information that you provide in your requests will only stay in our logs for 90 days. We do not give this contact information to anyone else.
OpenURL access using an email address
You need to include your email address in the pid parameter of the OpenURL request. (Please note, in this context, pid stands for personal ID and does not mean a persistent identifier such as a DOI, ROR or ORCID iD).
For interfaces that require a key, your email address is your key.
Use the format below but include your own email address instead of name@someplace.com:
https://doi.crossref.org/openurl?pid=name@someplace.com&aulast=Maas%20LRM&title= JOURNAL%20OF%20PHYSICAL%20OCEANOGRAPHY&volume=32&issue=3&spage=870&date=2002
The OpenURL query interface uses metadata to identify a matching DOI, and redirects the user to the target of the DOI.
For example, this query contains an author name, a journal title, volume, issue, first page, and publication year:
https://doi.crossref.org/openurl?pid=email@address.com&aulast=Maas%20LRM&title= JOURNAL%20OF%20PHYSICAL%20OCEANOGRAPHY&volume=32&issue=3&spage=870&date=2002
The OpenURL query interface matches the query with a metadata record and redirects the user to the relevant persistent identifier landing page at https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0485(2002)032<0870:CT>2.0.CO;2.
The OpenURL Query Interface can accept these parameters:
- issn
- title (journal title)
- aulast (family name, preferably of first author)
- volume
- issue
- spage (first page)
- date (publication year YYYY)
- stitle (short title, which may be supplied as an alternative to title)
Other parameters
- pid (your email address). Note: pid (personal id) is different from PID (persistent identifier)
- redirect (set to false to return the DOI in XML format instead of redirecting to the target URL. The default is true)
- multihit (set to true to return DOIs for more than one content item if our system does not find an exact match. The default is false)
- format (set to unixref to return metadata in UNIXREF format)
OpenURL results
By default, an OpenURL match will direct the user to the landing page registered for the matched metadata record.
In most instances, only a single identifier will be returned. If more than one identifier is returned, the user will be directed to a list of all available DOIs. For example, the query:
https://www.crossref.org/openurl?pid=email@address.com&title=Science&aulast=Fernández&date=2009
will return multiple results.
OpenURL may be used to retrieve metadata records by setting the redirect parameter to “false”. By default an OpenURL response uses the XSD XML format. The UNIXREF format may be requested by setting the format parameter to “unixref”.
This query will return an XSD-formatted XML metadata record:
https://doi.crossref.org/openurl?issn=03770273&aulast=Walker&volume=54&spage=117&date=1983**&redirect=false**&pid=email@address.com
There are multiple matches for this query, when multihit=true the metadata record is returned for all results:
https://doi.crossref.org/openurl?issn=03603016&volume=54&issue=2&spage=215&date=2002&multihit=true&pid=email@address.com
Setting multihit=exact will return no matches:
https://doi.crossref.org/openurl?issn=03603016&volume=54&issue=2&spage=215&date=2002&multihit=exact&pid=support@crossref.org
Example DOI queries
We support DOI queries formatted as OpenURL version 0.1 requests:
Open URL query
https://doi.crossref.org/openurl/?pid=email@address.com&id=doi:10.1103/PhysRev.47.777&noredirect=true
Crossref query
https://doi.crossref.org/servlet/query?pid=email@address.com&id=10.1006/jmbi.2000.4282
Like metadata queries, DOI query results are returned in XML format.
NISO 0.1 or 1.0 URLs
We also support NISO 0.1 and 1.0 URLs as well as some common deviations. In general it supports the San Antonio Profile #1, including in-line, by-value, and by-reference. In the presence of a url_ver= Z39.88-2004 parameter this service will operate on a info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx context format with referent formats info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal or info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:book.
Simple reverse lookup
https://doi.crossref.org/openurl?pid=email@address.com&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:doi/10.1103/PhysRev.47.777
https://doi.crossref.org/openurl?pid=email@address.com&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:doi/10.1361/15477020418786&noredirect=true
A journal article lookup
https://doi.crossref.org/openurl?pid=email@address.com&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.atitle=Isolation of a common receptor for coxsackie B&rft.jtitle=Science&rft.aulast=Bergelson&rft.auinit=J&rft.date=1997&rft.volume=275&rft.spage=1320&rft.epage=1323
