Menu

Individual skill

unpaywall-api

Find free legal full-text versions of scholarly articles via Unpaywall

skills/literature/fulltext/unpaywall-api/SKILL.md

Read pinned source

Source commit bf44b3cd617fa94c8a1b254c5d1987142ca3d631

What was checked

Matches the observed repository HEAD
Yes
Scanner rules are current
Yes
Repository scan complete
No
Skill scan complete
No
Observed behavior
Network or broad shell
Last checked
Nov 5, 2026

These are observations at the recorded commit, not a guarantee of safety. Review the source before running it.

Install this skill

Choose an agent in your Stack or copy a command below. Commands fetch the pinned commit and copy only this skill directory. Existing destinations are refused. Copying a command does not install anything.

An install command is unavailable: current rules, complete repository and skill scans, an eligible behavior level and a permitted license are required.

Repository context

Repository stars (not skill ratings)
310
Repository last updated
Jun 19, 2026
License
MIT

Observed agent integration: No specific integration evidence. Standard SKILL.md installation does not imply verified compatibility.

Files and excerpt

File metadata and permitted, redacted excerpts come from the recorded scan. Source links are pinned to that commit.

Browse files
Read excerpt

# Unpaywall API Guide

## Overview

Unpaywall is a free, open database of over 40 million free scholarly articles. Built by the nonprofit OurResearch, Unpaywall indexes legal open access (OA) copies of papers from thousands of institutional repositories, preprint servers, publisher websites, and government archives. It is the most comprehensive source for finding freely available versions of paywalled academic literature.

Researchers, librarians, and tool developers use Unpaywall to locate open access copies of papers they need, assess the OA status of publications, and integrate OA discovery into their workflows. The database is updated daily, scanning repositories and publisher sites for new open access content. Unpaywall categorizes OA into types: gold (published OA), green (repository copy), hybrid (OA in subscription journal), and bronze (free to read on publisher site).

The API requires only an email address for authentication and is free for non-commercial use with a generous rate limit of 100,000 requests per day.

## Authentication

Authentication is via email address passed as a query parameter. No API key or registration is needed -- just provide a valid email: