authorBio: Retrieve Author Biographical Information from OpenAlex

In bibliometrix: Comprehensive Science Mapping Analysis

Retrieve Author Biographical Information from OpenAlex

Description

This function downloads comprehensive author information from OpenAlex based on a DOI and the numerical position of the author in the co-authors list. It provides detailed biographical data, bibliometric indicators, and affiliation information.

Usage

authorBio(
  author_position = 1,
  doi = "10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007",
  verbose = FALSE,
  return_all_authors = FALSE,
  sleep_time = 1,
  max_retries = 3,
  retry_delay = 2
)

Arguments

author_position	Integer. The numerical position of the author in the authors list (default: 1)
doi	Character. DOI of the article used to identify the authors
verbose	Logical. Print informative messages during execution (default: FALSE)
return_all_authors	Logical. If TRUE, returns information for all co-authors (default: FALSE)
sleep_time	Numeric. Seconds to wait between API calls to respect rate limits (default: 1)
max_retries	Integer. Maximum number of retry attempts for failed API calls (default: 3)
retry_delay	Numeric. Base delay in seconds before retrying after an error (default: 2)

Details

The function first retrieves the work information using the provided DOI, then extracts author IDs from the authorships data, and finally fetches detailed author profiles from OpenAlex. It enriches the author data with paper-specific information such as authorship position, corresponding author status, and affiliations as listed in the paper.

The function implements automatic retry logic with exponential backoff to handle rate limiting (HTTP 429 errors) and temporary network issues. It respects OpenAlex API rate limits by adding configurable delays between requests.

IMPORTANT: For better rate limits, set your OpenAlex API key using: Sys.setenv(openalexR_apikey = "YOUR_API_KEY") Get a free API key at: https://openalex.org/

Value

If return_all_authors = FALSE, returns a tibble with comprehensive information about the specified author including:

• Basic information (name, ORCID, OpenAlex ID)

• Bibliometric indicators (works count, citations, h-index, i10-index)

• Affiliation details from both the paper and author profile

• Research topics and areas

• Paper-specific metadata (corresponding author status, position type)

If return_all_authors = TRUE, returns a list of tibbles, one for each co-author.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Get information for the first author
first_author <- authorBio(doi = "10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007")

# Get information for the second author with verbose output
second_author <- authorBio(
  author_position = 2, 
  doi = "10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007", 
  verbose = TRUE
)

# Get information for all co-authors with custom rate limiting
all_authors <- authorBio(
  doi = "10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007", 
  return_all_authors = TRUE,
  sleep_time = 0.5,
  max_retries = 5
)

## End(Not run)

bibliometrix documentation built on Nov. 8, 2025, 5:06 p.m.